Volume 12, Number 5 November, 2005
Events Series Begins!
The Diary of
Adam and Eve
Returns ACT I Audience to Vinton
Country Club for
Dinner Theatre
Mike Modrow as Adam and Paula Weber as Eve are the featured actors in the ACT I dinner theatre production of The Diary of Adam and Eve.
Our season
theme of "You can
fool all of the people some of the time" moves from River City, Iowa to the
Garden of Eden when our Events Series
presents the dinner theatre production of The Diary of Adam and Eve at
the Vinton Country Club this Friday and Saturday night. The play is an
adaptation by Mark Bucci of a short book by Mark Twain and features Mike Modrow
as Adam, Paula Weber in her ACT I debut as Eve and Alex Martinez-Vasquez as the
snake. Twain's original book was published in 1893, and presents the dawn
of mankind in a humorous manner that addresses more modern concerns about
relations between the sexes. We see at first a reclusive Adam and a
chattering Eve who, over time, learn to care for one another.
Directors of the production are Mary Horst and Alex Martinez-Vasquez. Dinner, served by the Vinton Country Club staff, precedes the 8:00 pm performance. Cocktails will be at 6:30, with dinner at 7:00. A great menu is planned! Please note that reservations ARE needed for the performance! Call the ACT I box office at 472-9957 for reservations and specify table for 2, 3, or 4. Cost for tickets is $15.00 per person which includes both dinner and the performance.
For additional information about this production, including photographs and a complete cast list by character, go to The Diary of Adam and Eve show page of this website at www.act1.org/adam.htm.
The ACT I Ticket information line and Palace Theatre Box Office number is (319) 472-9957! Although the remainder of this run is a virtual sellout, keep this number handy for the remainder of our season!
.
Meredith
Willson's
The Music Man:
A look Back
Performance photographs from the final two performances of our recent musical, which closed September 25!
For additional information about this production, including photographs and a complete cast list by character, go to The Music Man show page of this website at www.act1.org/musicman.htm.
Lend Me a Tenor
Auditions for our next Main Stage production, Lend Me a Tenor by Ken Ludwig, will be held Sunday, December 4 at 2:00 pm and Monday, December 5 at 7:00 pm at the ACT I Studio above Clingman Pharmacy. Production dates are March 10 - 19, 2006. Rehearsals will begin in January. Four men and four women, with a variety of ages, are needed. Steve Arnold directs the production, a comic farce set in 1934, about the Cleveland Opera Company producing Verdi's opera Otello with the world's greatest tenor, Tito Morelli. For more information, e-mail SArnoldIA@aol.com.
Birth Announcement
ACT I welcomes Matthew Christian Bookmeier into our family, born September 24, 2005. His early arrival pulled both mom and dad out of the last two performances of The Music Man. Mom Michelle was our light operator and dad Kevin was a chorus member, dancer, salesman, and lighting designer. The show went on without Kevin and Michelle, but the rest of his family was in the Palace for the final two performances, including Grandpa Ray Bookmeier (one of the quartet) Grandma Barb Bookmeier (co-house manager) Uncle Jason Yessak (a salesman) Aunt Anita Yessak (sound and substitute lighting operator) and cousin Jordan Yessak (chorus). (Cousin Marissa Yessak was the only family member not in this show!) Kevin is one of the all around most active members of this organization but the whole family is always ready to pitch in on ACT I projects! We're sure that as soon as Matt can pick up a hammer or walk on stage that he'll be ready to start earning his own ACT I credits!
On Our Stage
5 - 10 - 15 - 20 - 25 Years Ago
Like The Diary of Adam and Eve, many past ACT I shows have been staged in late fall. As there was no issue of Grease Paint last month, this month we look at past plays produced during the months of October and November!
Twenty-five years ago this month, ACT I presented The Man Who Came to Dinner, our second production, staged at the Old Creamery Theatre in Garrison November 14 and 16, 1980. The show was directed by Howard Blanning and featured Dick Paulus as Sheridan Whiteside. The cast also included Colleen Stufflebeam, Theresa Juhl, Joe Paulus, Alinda Campbell, Linda Westcott, Sally Ludden, Linda Radcliffe, Everett Hidlebaugh, Helen Bruce, Dan Campbell, Becky Mossman, Marsh Berry, Jill Roberts, Bill Cosgrove, Roger Stark, Bill Buffington, Mark Sinnott, Anna Bess Rice, Steve Corlett, Jim Flanders, Terry Potthoff, and Keith Mossman.
On October 24, 25, 26, and 27, 1985 at the Old Creamery Theatre, ACT I presented Agatha Christie's popular thriller, The Mousetrap. The world's longest running play, it has been running continuously in London since it opened in 1952. The ACT I production was directed by Cherryl Dyrland (now Cherryl Moon Thomason, a frequent performer at The Old Creamery, Theatre Cedar Rapids, and the Classics at Brucemore). The cast included Nancy Beckman, Tom Noonan, Steve Corlett, Becky Mossman, Richard Paulus, Lois Young, Jim Hilliard, Bruce Gardner, and Marc Greenlee.
On October 27 - Nobember 4, 1995, ACT I presented its first major musical, our original production of The Sound of Music, running at the Old Creamery Theatre. The production was directed by Steve Arnold with Judy Trygstad in charge of music, and featured Ray Bookmeier, Annette Williams. The show was revived in 2004 as part of our 25th anniversary celebration. Also playing major roles in the large cast were Dottie Anthony, LuAnn Urlaub, Cathi Calderwood, Emily Zimmer, Larry Adams-Bowers, Donna Coulter, Kevin Bookmeier, and Eric Upmeyer. The children, who were double cast, were Maggie Karr, Burns Mossman, Melissa Hanneman, Josh Deutsch, Peggy Moen, Jessica Coulter, Kim Hanneman, Sarah Pohlmann, Brian Hanneman, Beckie Stravers, Dan LaGrange, Megan Williams, Stacy Williams, and Chloe Stuff. Joan Cooling was the choreographer.
ACT I TRIVIA QUIZ
The American Musical onstage for ACT I
How much trivia do you
know about the musicals ACT I has staged for local audiences?
1. The Music Man, unlike most musicals, was not a collaborative effort among several creative artists, but entirely the work of one person, without any source material other than the author's own experience. Which other musical presented by ACT I also was created by only one artist with no special source material?
2. Unlike The Music Man, many Broadway musicals feature foreign settings, and musicals set in the American midwest are not common. Name the past ACT I musical which was set in Sweet Apple, Ohio.
3. Which past ACT I musical was set in Baltimore, Maryland?
4. Which past musical staged by ACT I was set in New York City?
5. Which past ACT I musical, owing to the nationality of its creator, does NOT qualify as an American musical?
Submit answers to: act1ofBC@aol.com or mail to:
ACT
I of Benton County Trivia
Quiz
Box 222, Vinton, Iowa 52349
REMEMBER:
You do NOT need to have all the answers in order to submit an entry!
The Music Man
How much trivia and lore
about this glorious show can you identify?
1. Who was the original first choice for the role of Harold Hill when casting the original Broadway production? (This actor never even discussed the role with Meredith Willson or director Morton DaCosta, but used his wife for the rebuff, who informed the production team that "My husband is not interested in playing a con man in a musical.") Danny Kaye
2. It's hard to imagine the film version of The Music Man with a different actor from Robert Preston, but he almost didn't get the chance to reprise his stage role for posterity when the film was made. However, Meredith Willson nixed the choice of the studio bosses by refusing to make the film without Preston. Name the actor who many expected to be the film Harold Hill. Frank Sinatra
3. The eleven-year boy who was the original Winthop was discovered by Meredith Willson's wife Rini when she saw him on a television quiz show. Following his Broadway run, the boy enjoyed a brief career as a well known child star. Name him. Eddie Hodges
4. The Music Man swept the Broadway Tony Awards in 1958, including the award for Best Musical. What other very famous musical from 1957 was the principal competition that year at the Tonys? West Side Story
5. Which is the only song from the original score not to make it into the movie when the film version of the play opened in 1962? My White Knight (replaced in the film by "Being in Love," added to the show presumably in hopes of getting a "Best Song" Oscar, which it failed to win.)
6. Name the composer of the only tune in the play NOT written by Meredith Willson. Ludwig van Beethoven (composer of the Minuet in G)
7. Meredith Willson earned a place in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations with what line from The Music Man? "There's trouble right here in River City"
8. The music man is full of references to personalities, products and items commonly known in 1912 which would still have been well known to audiences in 1957 when the show first opened that are no longer known to most audience members today. Identify the following which are mentioned in the script: (No fair asking a cast member for the definitions!)
a. Bevo - a non alcoholic beer product
b. cubebs - a kind of pepper which could be dried and smoked in cigarettes
c. tailor mades - factory made cigarettes
("They'll be tryin' out bevo, tryin' out cubebs, tryin' out tailor mades like cigarette fiends!")
d. Dan Patch - a famous champion race horse of the day from harness racing competitions
("Not a wholesome trottin' race, no, but a race where they sit down right on the horse! Like to see some stuck up jockey boy sittin' on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil? Well I should say!")
e. tierce - a container holding 42 gallons ("Gone with the tub and the pail and the tierce!")
f. Captain Billy's Whiz Bang - a popular boys' magazine with a questional reputation. This is an anachronism to the show since the magazine didn't go into publication until after about 1917. ("Is he memorizing jokes out of Captain Billy's Whiz Bang?")
Message
from
the Editor
This is a busy time for theatre goers! It's also a chance to see ACT I performers in other venues! High school goes into production with the end of football season and numerous college and community theatre productions are running as well. This weekend, Washington High School in Vinton presents the musical Little Shop of Horrors directed by ACT I's Marcy Horst, and several members of our Music Man production company will be seen onstage at Tilford Auditorium for that. (The same show ran last weekend at Benton Community High School with ACT I's designer Mary Horst, who designed our set for the Music Man, creating the set design!) In addition, though this is a belated recognition, the Kirkwood Community College theatre production of the musical Urinetown, which completed its run last weekend, featured ACT I veterans Jake Fowler in the cast and Derek Ferguson in the pit orchestra. (Derek was also in our orchestra for The Music Man.) Upcoming at Theatre Cedar Rapids you can catch ACT I's Alan Nebola (Jayce Squires from The Music Man) in their holiday production of A Wonderful Life. You also still have this weekend to catch It Runs in the Family at the Old Creamery Theatre. If you saw the ACT I production, you'll have a chance to compare ours with theirs! Mr. Pennypincher's Christmas opens at the Old Creamery next weekend.
Steve
That's Grease Paint for November, 2005!
To look back at previous online issues, visit our Grease Paint Archives page by clicking here!
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