It is difficult enough to mount this complex play on a Broadway stage, but Wayside found a way to create a set on their comparatively small stage and make it work - not an easy feat, to say the least.

The cast was well-chosen and very capable, but Petr Smejkal was nothing short of superb in the leading role of Starbuck. He looked the part, he acted the part, and somehow he managed to actually become Starbuck. One might think that his slight Czech accent would be out of place in the famous American classic, but that was not so.

In fact the accent, as slight as it was, added a touch of believeability to Starbuck's strange manner and it identified him as very different from the classic American western family into whose lives he forced his way.

Petr was so real in the part that he was in danger of "stealing the show", but the rest of the cast seemed to perform even better because of his dynamic portrayal of "Starbuck".

The Rainmaker is not an easy play for anyone, as it has so many different levels of meaning and emotion, and we take our hats off to Petr Smejkal for being the best Starbuck ever!