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1940's Radio Hour
Production Team
Director - Richard Gang
Music Director - Marilyn Fox
Choreographer - Richard Gang
Stage Manager - Richard Holcomb
Set Design & Construction - Alex Bass
Rehearsal Pianist - Marilyn Fox
Cast
Pops Bailey - Harvey Sage
Lou Cohn - Brian Murray
Clifton A. Feddington - Scott Icenhower
Neal Tilden - Ronnie Jones
Ann Collier - Kathy Andren
Geneva Lee Browne - Katie Icenhower
Biff Baker - Gary Hopson
Connie Miller - Katharine Lowery
Johnny Cantone - Tim Eubanks
Ginger Brooks - Bethany Briggs
B.J. Gibson - Rob Taylor
Wally Ferguson - Danny Hamm
Zootsie Doubleman - Marilyn Fox
Stanley - Benjamin Seay
‘Radio Hour’ is a feast of
comedy and bands
By Charity Apple, Times-News
The Gallery Players’ new production of “The
1940s Radio Hour” is full of delightful characters and toe-tapping music.
The talented area actresses and actors transport
theatergoers back to Dec. 21, 1942, to one night in the life of a live radio
broadcast at New York City’s station WOV. Walton Jones’ lively musical
is a comic romp through schtick-filled scenes. I can’t recall a scene
during Wednesday’s premiere that I didn’t laugh out loud — this show
is that funny.
Director Richard Gang, a professor of method
acting, voice and diction in the pre-professional acting program at Elon
University, has described this musical as “a show without a story,” and
he’s on the mark. However, the talented performers yuck it up enough that
the audience won’t care.
This musical is similar to the 1980s TV show,
“WKRP In Cincinnati,” only funnier. A silly cast of characters, 14 in
all, fills the stage. There’s Pops Bailey (Harvey Sage), a cantankerous
old coot who is constantly shooing young radio stars away from his desk and
his coffee; radio show operator Clifton A. Feddington (Scott Icenhower), who
frantically tries to supervise the performers; and Stanley (Benjamin Seay),
the radio technician.
The stars of the radio show include the timid but
talented B.J. Gibson (Rob Taylor); the suave but sloshed Frank Sinatra-like
singer Johnny Cantone (Tim Eubanks); the sweetheart of the radio dial, Ann
Collier (Kathy Andren); and the cute Connie Miller (Katharine Lowery).
Bethany Briggs gives a sultry performance as Ginger
Brooks, the gum-smacking waitress with a sock-it-to-ya voice. In one scene,
Briggs makes an ice cream commercial so hot that the actors begin fanning
themselves.
For a show without a story, the chemistry is
red-hot. The goo-goo eyes that Ginger and Lou (Brian Murray) make at each
other are sizzling. And Tim Eubanks’ rendition of “Love Is Here To
Stay” is dreamy.
The vocal stylings of Katie Jo Icenhower (songstress
Geneva Lee Browne) are enough to send chills up and down your spine.
Icenhower combines lyrical talent with sheer showmanship.
Ronnie Jones, a Gallery Players veteran, also will
delight theatergoers with his comical performance as Neal Tilden, a man who
dreams of being the star of the show. Jones’ unusual rendition of “Blue
Moon” is comedy at its best.
Music director Marilyn Fox plays the orchestra
leader, Zootsie. Fox’s direction, along with a talented band, add the
musical flair this show needs. Theatergoers will hear classic big band songs
like “I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good,” “That Old Black Magic,”
“You Go To My Head” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy From Company B.”
This show has a Christmas theme, but it is the
undertones of war that will interest modern audiences. Many of the somber
feelings of the 1940s can be felt now as the letters to soldiers are read
aloud and as Biff Baker, a trumpeter and Army lieutenant, departs the show
and heads off to war.
Despite the dramatic tidbits, “The 1940s Radio
Hour” is a rousing comedy filled with catchy musical numbers, carefully
constructed choreography and hilarious commercials of yesteryear. Don’t
miss this Gallery show.
The Gallery Players will perform “1940s Radio
Hour” at 8 p.m. today and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday; 8 p.m. Sept. 20-21 and
Sept. 27-28; and 2 p.m. Sept. 22 and 29 at the Paramount Theater. Tickets
are $20 and can be reserved by calling 222-TIXS.
Twelve
Angry Jurors
Production Team
Director - Jane
McLelland
Cast
Guard - Tim Weist
Foreman - Dorothy Cowan
Juror Two - Lorna Dreher
Juror Three - Steffanie Vaughan
Juror Four - Tim Brown
Juror Five - Amy Hensley
Juror Six - Joan Blanchard
Juror Seven - Patrick J. Mitchell
Juror Eight - Bethany Briggs
Juror Nine - Mac Monroe
Juror Ten - Joe Don Baker
Juror Eleven - Rob Taylor
Juror Twelve - Chip Barnette
New play ‘Jurors’ is a noisy civics
lesson
By Tom Dillon, Times-News
While I’ve been
called for jury duty before, I’ve yet to really serve on a jury. After
seeing Gallery Players new production of “Twelve Angry Jurors” at the
Paramount Theater, I’m not sure I want to.
This is an intense production with a lot more action in it than you might
expect. While short — an hour and 40 minutes in Wednesday’s dress
rehearsal, with two short intermissions — it’s seamless.
It seems, to one who’s never been there, a good look at what might go on
in a jury room among the 12 people deliberating a serious crime — though
deliberating hardly seems the word. There’s nothing deliberate about this
play.
At the opening of the play, we hear an offstage
judge instructing the jurors about reasonable doubt and the requirement to
be unanimous and so forth.
Then the 12 people thrown together by the vagaries of the legal system file
in, and when they start discussing the case it seems as if it’s going to
be pretty open and shut. A teenager is accused of killing his father,
someone saw him do it, and someone else heard it.
As you almost have to expect, however, one juror
has doubts, and those doubts lead into a lot of argument, a lot of emotion,
a fair bit of yelling and screaming and a lot of quite convincing acting.
This play is not for young kids, but it is a pretty good civics lesson.
Authors Reginald Rose and Sherman Sergel, one is led to believe, have been
here before.
The play is odd in that no one has a name. There
are only a foreman, a guard and jurors two through 12. We never see the
judge, we never see the accused, and we never see the accusers. But
they’re all present, all the time. Only a little way into the play, one
has a mental picture of all of them.
Though it’s not specified, the play seems to have
taken place sometime around the 1950s, as suggested by the absence of air
conditioning — it’s hot — and the old music. You get the impression
it’s in Chicago, since the case involved an elevated train.
I was particularly impressed with the acting of
Bethany Briggs as the doubting juror, Steffanie Vaughan as one of the
angriest jurors and Rob Taylor as the immigrant juror. He’s the only one
of the 13 characters who has to affect an accent. But really, there is no
weak acting in the play.
My only disappointment, really, is that the jury is
all white, something that probably wouldn’t be happening in Chicago at
least today; I don’t know about 1950. That’s of course a function of the
people Gallery draws to auditions, but it’s too bad. Some minority faces
in the cast would have helped make this more believable.
Others in the cast are Dorothy Cowan, Lorna Dreher,
Tim Brown, Amy Hensley, Joan Blanchard, Patrick Mitchell, Mac Monroe, Joe
Don Baker, Chip Barnette and Tim Wiest (as the guard). Stage manager is
Nikita Pasour, producers are Scott and Katie Jo Icenhower and director is
Jane McLelland.
It’s McLelland’s first job directing for
Gallery after more than 10 years on stage here, and she’s created an
interesting play with a lot of lessons to teach. Go see it.
“Twelve Angry Jurors” is performed at 8 p.m. today and Saturday and Nov.
15-16 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Nov. 17. Tickets are $12 and $10 at the
Paramount Theater from noon to 3 p.m. weekdays or at 222-TIXS.
The Pirates of Penzance
Production Team
Alex Bass - Director & Set Design
Ken White - Music Director
Heather Wall - Choreographer
Donny McMullan - Stage Manager
Sound - Andrew Whitelaw
Props/Dresser - Hannah Rhodes
Rehearsal Pianist - Tommy Dunn
Costumer - Dianne Daniels
Light Board Operator - Harriet Whitley
Producers - Kay Kirkpatrick, Ronnie Jones, and
Malinda Whitelaw
Cast
PIRATE
KING-
Joe Don Baker
FREDERIC-
Chris Bridges
RUTH-
Peggy Bazakas
SAMUEL-
Reid Dalton
PIRATE- Chip Barnette
PIRATE-
Andrea Bazakas
PIRATE-
Jane McLelland
PIRATE-
Eddie Pavon
PIRATE-
Craig Wilson
MAJOR GENERAL STANLEY-
Jim Schwankl
MABEL-
Steffanie Vaughan
KATE-
Sarah Emerson
EDITH-
Kathy Collier
ISABEL-
Lindsay Totten
DAUGHTER-
Yvonne Ator
DAUGHTER-
Eileene Braxton
DAUGHTER-
Bethany Briggs
DAUGHTER-
Megan Dixon
DAUGHTER-
Katie Griggs
DAUGHTER-
Sherri Hendrix
SERGEANT OF POLICE-
Patrick Mitchell
POLICEMAN-
Sean Brandt
POLICEMAN-
Tanya Davis
POLICEMAN - Donny McMullan
POLICEMAN - Kathryn O’Bryant
POLICEMAN-
John Parker
POLICEMAN
- Ashleigh Stewart
POLICEMAN - Tiffany Taitt
POLICEMAN - Jeremy Zachary
"Gallery Players fight ice storms and the bad guys"
By Tom Dillon, Times-News
Those of you who think Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner” had
problems, what with that ice and all, ought to consider what has befallen the
cast of Gallery Players’ “The Pirates of Penzance” the last two weeks.
First, there was a snowstorm that canceled a number of practices. Then, a couple
of the leads got sick, and the opening week’s performances –– it was
supposed to start last weekend –– had to be put off.
They seem to have it together this week. “We’re ready to do a play,”
director Alex Bass said a few days ago. It’s for sure his cast is. “We
can’t wait for it to open,” declared Joe Don Baker, who plays the pirate
king, two weeks ago.
And then came yesterday’s ice storm, the day of the dress rehearsal. Outside,
it really did look like one of those scenes from “The Ancient Mariner,” with
all the ice. And inside, there were some changes, too, due to performers not
being able to get to the Paramount Theater. The band was forced to perform
without some of the instruments, among other things, and everyone was worried
about getting home afterward.
Because of all that, it wouldn’t be fair to write a complete review of the
dress rehearsal, as has been our practice in recent years. You don’t perform
without part of the orchestra and not miss a pickup or two. It just doesn’t
happen.
Instead, look at the pieces of the production: the constant flow of songs (more
than in most musicals), the fun this British farce is, and some wonderful voices
–– particularly Steffanie Vaughan, who plays Mabel, one of the daughters of
Major General Stanley. And I have no problem in saying this will be a charming
and fun evening for anyone who takes it in the next two weekends.
The 19th-century play is a product of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, who also
gave the world such productions as “The Mikado” and “H.M.S. Pinafore.”
You shouldn’t see it without understanding a little bit about 19th-century
Britain, the code of honor and duty and the adoration of Queen Victoria ––
who in the end solves everything, even if she’s not a character.
But once you understand all that, there’s some wonderful stuff here. The
choruses are absolutely beautiful, and the comedy –– though it’s
Victorian, remember –– is great. There’s even some stuff that’s
reminiscent of Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” routines.
The play, which was first produced in New York and London in 1879, is a pointed
spoof of Victorian morals and morality. It involves a young pirate apprentice
who’s going back into society, his attempts to defeat his former comrades, and
his relationships with the women he meets. Consider, of course, that they’re
the only women he has ever known except for his old nanny, the one who
mistakenly put him into pirate apprenticeship.
Particularly impressive in this performance, besides Vaughan, should be Joe Don
Baker as the pirate king and Jim Schwankl as Major General Stanley of the
British Army. Schwankl has the hardest solo in almost any musical in the song,
“I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General,” and he pulled it off with
nary a tied tongue Thursday –– even with only part of the band.
Others who warrant mention include Chris Bridges as Frederic, the apprentice,
and Peggy Bazakas as Ruth, the nanny. But the whole crew is fine and is clearly
having fun.
The play is in two acts covering about an hour and 45 minutes, and I predict it
will be well worth your time. The play opens at 8 p.m. today with other
performances Saturday and Sunday this week.
Harvey
Production Team
Director—Jamie Lawson
Production Managers - Fred Combs
Set Design & Construction - David Hoxie
Costumer - Emily Peterson and Cary Worthy
Cast
Myrtle Mae Simmons - Lindsey Smith
Veta Louise Simmons - Jane McLelland
Elwood P. Dowd - Jon Young
Miss Johnson 1- Megan Dixon
Miss Johnson 2 - Angela Callis
Mrs. Ethel Chauvenet - Heidi Edwards
Ruth Kelly, R. N. - Kathy Collier
Duane Wilson - Bob Fliss
Lyman Sanderson, M. D. - John Collier
William R. Chumley, M. D. - David Anthony Wright
Betty Chumley - Sally Fox
Judge Omar Gaffney - Reid Dalton
E. J. Lofgren - Chip Barnette
Ensemble: (Tea Guests, Chumley's Rest Guests, et al):
Reid Dalton, Heidi Edwards, David Anthony Wright, Sally Fox, Megan
Dixon, Angela Callis, Chip Barnette
Gallery Players bring invisible ‘Harvey’
to life
By Brian Rose Times-News
I must be seeing things. After all, could there really be a
6-foot-tall white rabbit running around the Paramount Theater?
“Six-foot, one and a half,” points out Elwood P. Dowd, speaking
of his imaginary and invisible friend, Harvey. Of course, he’s
invisible to everyone but Elwood. Or is he really? Actor Jon Young
portrays Elwood in the Gallery Players’ production of
“Harvey,” the 1945 Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy penned by Mary
Chase. You can catch a peek at “Harvey” at 8 tonight at the
Paramount Theater in downtown Burlington when the play opens for a
two-weekend run. Other showtimes include 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m.
Sunday, 8 p.m. May 2-3 and 2 p.m. May 4. Director Jamie Lawson
brings the tale of Elwood and his “pooka” to life — a pooka
being a “fairy spirit in animal form,” as the audience later
finds out. Elwood and Harvey seem inseparable, and because of that,
most of the townspeople think Elwood’s crazy. That especially goes
for his sister Vita (Jane McLelland) and niece Myrtle May (Lindsey
Smith). Elwood introduces Harvey to everyone he meets and, as such,
becomes the laughingstock of the town and an embarrassment to his
family. The only way to resolve the problem, as Vita and Myrtle May
see it, is to have Elwood admitted to an insane asylum. What ensues
is a madcap romp between fact and fiction, between reality and
fantasy. “It seems to me the world of this play is one where we
are never quite sure who or what is real,” writes Lawson in the
director’s notes. That theme follows through to the play’s
ending, because no one seems to know whether or not Harvey is real
— except Elwood. In one poignant moment of the play, Vita and Dr.
Chumley, a psychiatrist played by the theater’s managing director,
David Wright, are discussing the difference between photography and
paintings. “Photography is so mechanical; it just shows
reality,” Vita says. Then, not cognizant of a painting of Elwood
and Harvey behind her, she says paintings are much better forms of
art, because “they show not only reality, but the dreams behind
it.” Maybe Harvey is real; maybe he isn’t. But whatever we
choose to dream is ours, and no one can take that away. So, if you
see a giant white rabbit hopping around downtown Burlington, don’t
be afraid. Charming little Elwood can’t be far behind, and he’ll
introduce you to the furry pooka with big ears.
Brian Rose is the Accent copy editor at the Times-News. Contact him
at (336) 506-3056. or via e-mail at brian_rose@link.freedom.com
Jacob Thorbridge's Estate Sale and Eulogy
by Scott Icenhower
2003 Fundraiser
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