A Tale of Two Shows

Sorry my posting has been a bit sporadic of late, gentle readers - things have been hectic out there in the real world.

A lot of that is because I've been splitting my time between two different shows.

The first is the upcoming Seussical the Musical, which First Stage Theatre Company will be presenting at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center the last two weekends in April.

I've just been helping a little bit around the edges - the show is being directed by the wonderful Mary Smirl, and she's assembled an amazing, talented cast and a terrific directing team to assemble the musical.

It's one of my all-time favorite shows, and I can't wait to see the beloved Dr. Seuss characters come to life on stage.

The other show I've involved with is the one I hinted about recently. ARTS will be staging the musical 1776 at the end of April / beginning of May. As you'd expect, it focuses on the birth of American Independence - and does so in a show that is very funny, entertaining as can be and full of surprises and great songs.

It's a show I adore, but when auditions rolled around I wasn't able to try out, so I resigned myself to watching it from the audience.

But then a couple of weeks ago I got a call from my pal Clint McElroy (who's playing John Adams in the show), asking if I could help them out - a member of the cast had to drop out, and the part was the Rev. John Witherspoon - the same character I played when HOT staged the show in 2001.

It's the perfect part for me - a small role, no solos to sing, not too many lines to memorize - how could I refuse? Heck, I even get to wear the same costume!

So I signed on, and we've been having a great time at rehearsals. It's an amazing cast, including my pals Mike Murdock as Ben Franklin, Jim Lamp as John Dickinson, C.E. Wilson as John Hancock, Mark Near as Col. Thomas McKean, Jerry Morse as James Wilson and Stephen Vance as Thomas Jefferson (among many others).

The show is directed by my pal Bil Neal, and he's made the production a lot of fun to be part of (not an easy task).

You'll be hearing a lot more about both shows in the weeks ahead - fair warning!