Volume 12, Number 8                  March, 2006

Main Stage Series Continues!

Lend Me a Tenor

in Second Weekend

ACT I's 98th production, Lend Me a Tenor, continues this weekend for the final three performances of its run at the Palace as the second installment of this season's Main Stage Series.  The door slamming bedroom farce by Ken Ludwig delighted audiences during its first week with the hilarious antics of the eight characters in the story, which is a spoof of the opera world.  The production, sponsored by Clingman Pharmacy of Vinton, will be performed this weekend, on Friday, March 17 and Saturday, March 18 at 7:00 at the Palace Theatre in Vinton and Sunday, March 19 at 2:00 at the theatre.  All seats are $5.00.

The theme for the current ACT I season is "You can fool all of the people some of the time," and Lend Me a Tenor fits this theme to a "T."  Set in Cleveland, Ohio in 1934, the plot revolves around a performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Otello by the Cleveland Grand Opera Company.  The company has booked the world famous Italian tenor Tito Merelli for the role of Otello.  But when the womanizing, chianti guzzling, pill popping tenor is found dead in his hotel room, the unscrupulous opera manager Henrietta Saunders schemes to fool the audience by substituting another tenor without the audience knowing it rather than refund the $50,000 in box office receipts.

Featured in the cast are Anthony Bopp as Max, the assistant manager of the opera company.  David Canaday appears as Tito Merilli, Linda Merritt is Henrietta Saunders, the opera company's General Manager, and Rachel Kramer is Maggie Saunders, daughter of Mrs. Saunders and the love interest for Max.  The cast also features Bunny Feller as Diana, the soprano who sings Desdemona in the opera; Cathi Calderwood as Maria Merelli; Jill g. Lockard-Bopp as Julia Leverett, the chairman of the Opera Guild, and Jesse Bunge as the Bellhop.

The humor in the play is very visual, with plenty of slapstick and mistaken identity along with the play's wonderfully witty dialogue.  Lend Me a Tenor takes place in the living room and bedroom of a luxury hotel suite in Cleveland.  The set for the production was created by Jim Huber, and features two rooms with an invisible dividing wall between them.  At many points during the play, action occurs simultaneously in both rooms, with characters in one room not knowing what is happening in the other room.

The play is directed by long time opera fanatic Steve Arnold.  Suzy Westlund serves as assistant director and stage manager.  Lighting design is by Kevin Bookmeier.  Costume construction is by Ida Higgins and Jill g. Lockard-Bopp.

Performance Photographs from the First Act on Opening Night, March 10

Nervously awaiting the arrival of opera star Tito Merelli, Max is bothered by Maggie's obsession with the singer, which is thwarting his own romantic interest in Maggie

The bellhop bursts into an operatic aria as he enters with the Merelli's luggage

Opera Manager Henrietta Saunders grimaces impatiently as the bellhop lavishes Mrs. Merelli with an Italian apology for his intrusion.

Tito Merelli and his wife hurl insults at each other.

In the bedroom of their suite, the Merelli's make up momentarily before the next round of insults begins.

Max and Tito prepare to share some Chianti

Diana, the soprano singing opposite Tito Merelli in the opera, arrives at the hotel suite after the afternoon rehearsal of Otello.

After finding the great tenor dead in the bedroom of the hotel suite, Max and Mrs. Saunders frantically try to decide what to do next.

With the performance only a couple of hours away, Mrs. Saunders senses doom as she sits with Max beside the body.

In hopes that no one discovers the body lying in the bedroom, Mrs. Saunders nervously but cheerfully greets Opera Guild chairman Julia Leverett, who has arrived in the living room of the hotel suite, hoping to meet Tito Merelli before the performance.

Lend Me a Tenor is presented with one intermission and runs slightly under two and a half hours.  Because some of the humor in the play is of a sexual nature, parental discretion is advised in bringing younger audience members to the production.

For additional information about this production, including more photographs and other information, go to the Lend Me a Tenor show page of this website at www.act1.org/tenor.htm.

  For additional information about this production, including photographs and a complete cast list by character, go to the Blithe Spirit show page of this website at www.act1.org/blithe.htm.

With the hilarious comedy Lend Me a Tenor currently onstage at the Palace, we turn to that cast of that show to feature a cast member who is one of the reasons that show is such a comic success; a great lady of the theatre who has lately become a regular with ACT I.  She is currently playing her third major role with us and her second major role this season - she has also been a member of this year's play selection committee for next season.  It is with great pleasure that we introduce our Member of the Month for March, Linda Merritt, in a feature written by her husband, Rich!

Linda Merritt of Cedar Rapids as the hard nosed opera manager Henrietta Saunders,
currently onstage at the Palace Theatre in Lend Me a Tenor.

by Rich Merritt

Linda has never had a boring life. She originally planned to be a translator for the United Nations or work for the State Department, so she studied foreign languages at Kent State University.  She majored in Spanish and minored in French and music.  A natural with languages, she also speaks
English and German. "I always wanted to travel and see the world," she says. "After all, I can be boring in four languages." 

Her international travel plans got sidetracked when she met Rich, married him, and settled down in Columbus, Ohio. Rich didn't want to travel overseas, so their weekends were spent working as timers for SCCA races, where Linda met the likes of Mark Donohue and Roger Penske. Linda and Rich also did sports car rallying, eventually competing in the SCCA Pro Series, where cars run all night, for 400 miles over horrible roads such as fire trails, logging roads, snowmobile trails, and deer runs through the forests and strip mines of Ohio, New York and Michigan.

"Rich conned me into that," Linda remembers. "He came home one night from a sports car club meeting, announced that he was going to try offroad rallying, and said he would have to find another navigator because girls were not tough enough. 'Oh, yeah??,' I said. Next thing I knew, I was belted into the passenger seat of a rally car running 100 mph down a one-lane track in the woods."

Their biggest achievement in racing was finishing the grueling, 1500-mile Press on Regardless Rally, the first World Championship held in America. She was the only American woman to finish that year. After that, she was offered a pro ride with Cooper Tires. "I still hold it over Rich that I got a pro offer and he didn't," she laughs. "I also have the biggest trophy in our family."

Linda onstage in her debut role for ACT I,
the brittle, unforgiving Grandma Kurnitz in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers.

Children came along next, so Linda decided to go into politics. She became a committee person in the suburban Philadelphia area, worked the phones, raised money,  ran for delegate to the national convention, and campaigned actively for (Pennsylvania Senator) Arlen Spector. "I went to ham-and-oyster dinners all over rural Pennsylvania, giving speeches for Arlen." Alas, a  political career was not possible. "Rich and I went to every political gathering in the county," she says. "I would 'work the room' while Rich stood in a corner and drank wine. Then, one day,  they offered Rich a shot at State Rep.  He told them he was no politician; they should talk to me. 'Oh, no,' they said. 'We could never elect a woman in this county.' That was the end of my political career."

Linda worked as a teacher in Philadelphia, so, when she and Rich moved to Iowa, she sought a teaching position here. None was to be had, so she went back to school at UI and got a degree in business. Rich took her to Paris to celebrate. Linda enjoyed the law, so she went to law school at UI, and got a law degree. Rich took her to Hawaii to celebrate. "Wow, where will he take me if I get a medical degree?," she asked. "To the poor house," said Rich. "Get a job."

Today, Linda is a successful bankruptcy attorney in Cedar Rapids, and has her own practice.

Meanwhile, the children - Cathy and Rob - are growing up. One day, Rob said, "Mom, I only want one thing for my birthday. I want you to audition with me for The Music Man in Anamosa." Linda did.  Even though she had not done any acting since before the children had been born, she landed the role of Mrs Paroo, and was hooked all over again. For the past eight years, she's appeared in productions in Anamosa, Theater Cedar Rapids, Iowa City Community Theater, Cedar Falls, Waterloo and our own Vinton.  For ACT I, she has performed as Grandma Kurnitz in Lost in Yonkers, Mrs Paroo -- again! -- in The Music Man, and, lately, as Henrietta Saunders in Lend Me a Tenor.

Linda Merritt as Mrs. Paroo in the ACT I production of The Music Man in September, 2005.

Linda has also been able to realize her dream of traveling.  Linda and Rich both fell in love with Europe and Hawaii, and try to take a trip to either one every year. "I've been to England, Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, France, Belgium and Germany," says Linda. "This year, we are going to Italy and Germany." As for Hawaii, she says, "We've been to every island. When I die and go to heaven, if it doesn't look like Hawaii, I'm coming back."

They also go to New York once a year to see plays. "We leave on Wednesday morning, get there in time to catch Wednesday matinee and evening shows, then go to shows on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday matinee and evening shows. We see six shows in four days, then come home on Sunday." Linda wants to try a similar long weekend adventure  in London some time. "There's a redeye out of O'Hare at 11 pm that gets us into London at 9 am, and you can see a matinee every day. Tickets cost half as much as New York. That means we could see eight shows in four days!"

Linda and Rich just returned from a four-day weekend in New York, where they were trapped by a blizzard that dropped 27 in. of snow overnight -- the biggest snowfall in Manhattan's recorded history. "We had to stay an extra day, so we got to see two more shows," she says.

Linda and her family were stranded in New York City during the recent record breaking snowstorm.  She took this photograph of people cross country skiing in Times Square with 26 inches of snow in Manhattan!

I might add (and I know that everyone in the cast of Lost in Yonkers, The Music Man, and Lend Me a Tenor will agree) that Linda Merritt is a total delight to work with and that her professionalism and talent make her a favorite with fellow cast members and audience members alike.  Here's hoping that we see much more of Linda Merritt in future ACT I shows!

View the past articles in our Member of the Month series!  All previous Member of the Month features (beginning with September, 1998) have been archived and can be accessed in one convenient place.  Older articles in this archive section have been updated to bring the members' accomplishments up-to-date!  To visit the Member of the Month Archives, go to www.act1.org/mom.htm.

Few stage props offer as much possibility for comedy as a closed door.   What is on the other side?  What new character could come popping out from behind a closed door?  What transformation might a familiar character have undergone when the door opens and he comes out next?  And what could be funnier than an onstage chase scene, with characters going in and out of slamming doors? 

Lend Me a Tenor is a perfect example of a door comedy, with five doors onstage and an  appropriate amount of mayhem coming in and out of them between the two rooms on the set.  ACT I has staged many past productions in which doors play a prominent role.  How many of these past ACT I productions can you remember?

1.  Like Lend Me a Tenor, this “door comedy” featured a split set with a cutaway wall, with one of the doors leading to an elevator.

2.  Among the comic routines coming in and out of the doors of this comedy was a door which was opened and closed by an invisible character.

3.  Although not strictly a comedy, the ACT I production for this play was a “concept production,” which used a stylized, semi-abstract set, featuring five closed doors that represent the five characters, with black curtains instead of solid walls.

4.  This rollicking door comedy set in a hospital featured a dizzying array of comings and goings through the four doors and one window of the set, including guys in drag, bodies on gurneys, a crashing wheel chair, and a young man trying to elude a police officer.

5.  Possibly the ultimate door comedy, this show featured actors coming and going through eight doors and one window on the set, with all these openings seen from both sides at various times in the show.

Submit answers to: act1ofBC@aol.com or mail to:

        Message from
the Editor

I read about Lend Me a Tenor the day after it opened on Broadway, and I've wanted to do it ever since.  Upon seeing the show for the first time, I declared it to be the funniest thing I'd ever seen onstage, and I've never backed away from that statement.  This show is drop dead funny from start to finish.  Our rehearsals have been nothing if they haven't been a laugh fest every night.  Everyone in the cast seems to agree, none of us have ever had this much fun putting a  show together.  It's been a fantastic group to work with, one of the two best directing experiences I've ever had (the other being last fall's The Music Man.)

Being the director for such an excellent group of performers is humbling.  In addition to being a fantastic script, the joys of our local production from this top flight ensemble cast are endless. Although not out of necessity, I cast the role of Saunders with a woman – Linda Merritt – rather than a man as the script was written.  Linda has been a revelation in the role – and with the script changes limited to altering a few pronouns, she has transformed the rough talking, hard nosed opera manager into a completely believable female character which takes nothing away from the original.  Rachel Kramer, the only cast member who has not previously played a major role in an ACT I production, has shown tremendous growth as an actress and certainly holds her own beautifully with more experienced actors. High school student Jesse Bunge as the young bellhop transitions himself beautifully into an adult role after many previous children’s roles in ACT I and ACT I STAGE! productions.  Cathi Calderwood, the member of this company with whom I have worked with most frequently through the years, delivers the shrill Maria Merelli with all the comic flair we have come to expect of her, but this time with  an Italian accent! David Canaday as opera star Tito Merelli, proves that over the top comedy can still be played with a careful, subtle touch.  Jill Bopp delivers her usual brand of completely solid comedy.  Her over the top character is dressed in an over the top gown she created herself.  Bunny Feller has been a regular performer for ACT I since 1993, but nothing you have ever seen her do onstage before will prepare you for the character she plays this time!  If you thought you knew Bunny, just wait till you see this role! Finally, Tony Bopp, with whom I worked for the first time earlier this season, plays his third leading role in less than a year with ACT I and captures the essence of the bumbling Max perfectly.  Tony’s energy and skill as a performer fuels the madcap pace of this comedy from beginning to end.

But for all the laughs this show generates, nothing for me is quite as funny as the final 90 seconds of the play, which contains 110 individual pieces of stage direction.  (And required a full two hours to put together in the first blocking rehearsal!)  This comic tour de force is a real credit to this acting company.

Finally, deserving praise are Suzy Westlund, our assistant director and stage director, Jim Huber, building a set with us for the very first time (Rome may not have been built in a day, but Cleveland WAS!) and Kevin Bookmeier, who created our light and sound design.  And Kathy Tranel does a wonderful job with hair and makeup, especially during some fast changes, which you will observe if you are able to see the show!

Insiders know that my comfort level both in performing and directing comedies is low if it exists at all. And while I’m not ready to trade drama for farce, I certainly feel relieved that everyone in this production made this particular comedy as painless for me as possible.  Even when I missed nearly two weeks worth of rehearsals due to illness, this amazing group kept the show going in my absence and I sincerely hope everyone in our audience is able to be there this weekend to see their triumph.

Thanks, to a great company!

Steve

That's Grease Paint for March, 2006!

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