Monday, July 1, 2019

What Kind Of Show Is This?

Meredith Wilson wrote about what he knew. He grew up in Iowa and eventually became a member of John Philip Sousa's band. This show is a love letter to his own youth, a sort of living postcard to us from the past.

It's a show that doesn't have a mean bone in its body. Even the comic characters are meant to be affectionately portrayed, not ugly cartoons. It's a show about how music can energize a community and bring it to life. It's about a guy who finds what he didn't even realize he was looking for. But I love that the show isn't just fluffy mush-- it's also a battle of wits between some pretty sharp folks.

It's also a show that is well-suited to our neck of the woods. Franklin and Oil City were much like River City at that time, and so the show sort of echoes our own history.

This is one of my bucket list shows to direct, and I am excited that the FCOA board is giving me a shot at it. I expect this to be an awful lot of fun, and I hope that one way or another you'll jin us for this adventure.

Special Opportunity For Civic Veterans

Because this is the Applefest show for the sixtieth anniversary FCOA season, I would like to try something a bit different.

This is a show about community, and what better way to celebrate community than by including a reminder of the theater community that has given Franklin 60 years of great community theater. I'm inviting everyone who has ever been a part of an FCOA show to make a cameo appearance as a resident of River City. You don't need to commit to every single performance, and you will need to make only a rehearsal or two, but in the end you will be able to say that you were there--a part of the FCOA 60th anniversary applefest show.

Details will be forthcoming, but for right now, if you're a regular civic player who was thinking, "Oh, I'd like to be part of this production, but I really don't have the time..." well, yes, you do.

Casting: Chorus and Etc.

If you've ever done a show with me before, you know how important I believe the chorus is. It's the background players that give a show a rich reality. It's the chorus that's really responsible for letting the audience know ho to feel about what they just saw or heard.

This show requires a small town. We need families, generations, whole  social groups. Outside of River City we have the traveling salesmen of the very first scene, but within River City, we have families and friends. The Pickalittle ladies who pal around with Mayor Shinn's wife. The teens and children who have their own social groups. And of course the teens and children who will become the members of the band. There are many townsfols who are given names (how can you not love Ethel Toffelmeier) but each one is a distinct and colorful character.

We can use singers, dancers, and people to delver a line or two. We can use young and old, men and women, to make this town seem full and real. All ages are welcome for this show.

The men of the chorus have the opening number, which requires rhythm but  not so much singing. The women of the chorus have the "pick-a-little talk-a-little" number. There are  two big dance numbers-- one for mostly the younger crowd and another for any and all who are game. And there are ample opportunities for those who just want to stand and hoot and holler.