Huntington Playhouse, Bay Village, Ohio - August 14th - September 7th, 2008
Directed by Geoff Short
Musical Direction by John Franks
Choreography by Jennifer Glowe
Starring
Liz Baumgartner Benjamin Czarnota Colleen Zettler Maureen Clark and Bob Stoesser
Directed by Geoff Short
Musical Direction by John Franks
Choreography by Jennifer Glowe
Starring
Liz Baumgartner Benjamin Czarnota Colleen Zettler Maureen Clark and Bob Stoesser
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Imagine a nice Summer night filled with the beautiful music of Rodgers and Hammerstein at a theatre tucked in the Cleveland Metroparks. That's what this musical revue is all about. The show is a collection of some of the most beloved melodies of the musical theatre performed by 5 phenomenal singers. The show includes selections from all the Rodgers and Hammerstein classics like Oklahoma, South Pacific, Carousel, Flower Drum Song, The King & I and more.
"My vision for this show was to try to breathe a little fresh air into these beautiful musical theatre classics. So the last thing I wanted was 5 people in tuxes and evening gowns standing around crooning. I wanted a more hip, urban, gritty feel. The materials for this show describe act one being backstage at a theatre and act 2 being on stage. Instead, I wanted to set this revue on a city street. Our cast was dressed in street clothes and then later, more formal hip nightclub wardrobe. The whole idea of a music revue is to share the amazing music and keep it alive. It is our musical storytelling handed down through generations. But I wanted to find a way to do that while keeping the presentation fresh and relevant. I came up with the concept of the "enchanted" radio.
One of Geoff's early "street scene" set renderings.
The final version of the set still incorporated levels, brick facade and street window themes along with the bench and street light motifs. The musicians were on stage. Notice the drummer under the platform and the keyboard player above as in the original rendering.
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Our show started with the image of a mysterious homeless person (the spirit of the music?) coming on stage with a shopping cart full of his belongings. He takes an old radio out of his cart, leaves it on stage and exits. Soon our cast finds the radio and magically the actual voices of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein are heard coming from it describing their music in their own words at various points throughout the show. This provided an interesting narrative throughout the revue, informing the audience of the writers' original intent of the music. Of course, at the end of the show, the homeless man returns and the cast gives him back his radio so that he may take it somewhere else and continue to share this wonderful music everywhere."
- Geoff Short 
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Video
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Photos
Geoffrey Short
South Florida Entertainer
South Florida Entertainer