Four New Interns Lend Their Talents to B'dale and TIV

Posted by Bruce Miller
I hope you will join me in welcoming four talented, dedicated interns to the Barksdale and Theatre IV family. They will be invaluable this season, as we seek to complete all of our production responsibilities. In alpha order, they are:

Libby Majette - Scenic Arts / Props Intern:
Libby is originally from Richmond and left to attend the University of Virginia, where she earned a degree in Math and Drama in 2009. In addition to her Scenic Charge and Scenic Designer credits at UVA, she worked as Scenic Charge for the Ash Lawn Opera in Charlottesville. She recently completed an Internship with Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota, where she worked as Scenic Charge and Props Master. She will be working directly with our acting Master Scenic, the amazingly talented Julie Gallager.

Richard Mooney - Electrics Intern:
Richard is originally from Fredericksburg, VA, and he completed his undergraduate education in Theatre Arts at James Madison University. After graduation, Richard moved to DC to work with Virginia’s Tony Award-winning Signature Theatre, where he served as a light board operator. In lieu of accepting a position offered to him by Signature, Richard chose to pursue his MFA in Media and Performing Arts from Savannah College of Art and Design. Following the completion of this program, Richard spent time in Orlando, FL, working as an editor for a novel, and then for a film script. Richard did the lighting design for the film when it was produced, and soon after joined the team at Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV as our Electrics Intern. He will be working directly with our Master Electrician, the dedicated and highly skilled Matt Landwehr.

Luke Robinson - Carpentry Intern:
Luke is from Charlotte, NC, and is a recent graduate of Catawba College in Salisbury, NC, where he earned a degree in Theatre Arts. At Catawba, Luke worked as a Carpenter on various productions and served as Technical Director / Master Carpenter for a black box production of Mary, Mary his senior year. He has professional experience as a carpenter on shows in various genres of theatre, and he joins Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV after taking a brief reprieve from his non-stop involvement with summer stock in order to spend some time with his family in Charlotte, NC. Richard will be working directly with our Technical Director and Master Carpenter, the exemplary Bruce Rennie and Hans Paul.

Chris Withers - Theatre Administration / House Management Intern:
Chris is a Richmond native who was first introduced to Theatre IV at a young age. He recalls seeing Theatre IV touring shows during his elementary school years, and he even performed in Barksdale Theatre's collaboration with the Steward School in Grease. Chris is a recent graduate of Christopher Newport University, where he majored in Theatre and worked in various positions, including as an RA, a Front Desk Assistant, an Orientation Leader, and a Welcome Desk Greeter. He also has experience in event planning and public relations. He will be working directly with our new Production Assistant, the accomplished and promising Bryan Leach.

I know I’m laying on the superlatives here, which is a little silly, but I’m honestly honored to be working with four such able individuals, and with our outstanding staff. I’m looking forward to a GREAT season.

--Bruce Miller

"West Side Story" Showcases Great Young Talent

Posted by Bruce Miller
My daughter and I went to see SPARC’s production of West Side Story this evening, and were once again blown away by the young talent. Standouts in the large cast include:

Jeanna Daniels who plays Maria, making her SPARC debut. Jeanna is a college student at AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy) in NYC. She sings like an angel, with one of the clearest and most effortless sopranos I’ve heard in a long time. She's perfect for this role.

Chris Adams who plays Tony, returning to SPARC after playing the title role in Pippin and Munkustrap in Cats. Chris attends college at VCU and J. Sargeant Reynolds, and I continue to be completely impressed by his beautiful voice and charm.

Gianna Barone who plays Anita, returning to SPARC after appearing as Ronette in last summer’s Little Shop of Horrors. Gianna is also a student at VCU, and has the powerhouse voice and great dancing abilities to prove it.

Kate Belleman, playing Margarita, whose face and dancing light up the America number. Kate is a student at UNC-Greensboro and returns to SPARC after 2005’s Pippin (and many previous productions as well).

Christian Griggs-Drane who plays Baby John, making his first appearance with SPARC. Christian, a junior at Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, has Baby John’s wide-eyed innocence down just right.

Anna Maples who plays Anybody’s and sings the Somewhere solo. Seriously. Until I read the playbill to write this post, I had NO IDEA that the spunky, fun actress playing Anybody’s was the same magnificent singer who raised the roof with Somewhere. Anna is a junior vocal performance major at VCU, and definitely a talent I need to know.

Calvin McCullough who plays Bernardo in his SPARC debut. Calvin is in the theatre program at VCU, where he appeared in Smokey Joe’s Café and Volume of Smoke. He’s also an alum of Sycamore Rouge in Petersburg.

Robert McKenna who plays Action and is making his SPARC debut. Robert is a musical star at Benedictine High School, with a bright future ahead of him. He’s a believable tough guy who can sing and dance, and they’re hard to find. Trust me. Really hard to find.

Andrew Schappacher who plays Riff and is an outstanding alum of Barksdale’s summer musicals at Steward School. It’s hard to believe that Andrew is only a sophomore at Clover Hill High School. He’s such a talented dancer, constantly improving singer, and committed actor. You can't take your eyes off him. I’ll go see Andrew in anything and consider myself blessed.

Michael Willoughby who plays A-rab and is making his SPARC debut. Like Andrew, Michael has a lot more maturity than one would expect from a high school sophomore. He attends Powhatan H. S., and like Robert McKenna, he’s nailing the talented tough guy thing.

Grace Adams, Jason Campbell, T J Ellis, Michael Hawke, Michael Hoke, Amanda O’Toole, Zack Rogers, Andrea Ross, Liz van’t Riet and Chris Withers are all honored members of the Barksdale and Theatre IV families, and they all do us proud in West Side Story.

The show closes tomorrow, so if you haven’t seen it, please do. West Side is one of the greatest American musicals of all time, and the talented young actors in the SPARC production deserve all our support.

--Bruce Miller

Bidding Bye Bye to "Birdie"

Posted by Bruce Miller

I was sad to be out of town (or otherwise engaged) during the recent run of Bye Bye Birdie at Dogwood Dell. The original "rock ‘n’ roll musical" was performed six times from August 3 until 11 as the grand finale in the Dell’s 51st annual Festival of the Arts, produced by Richmond’s Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities. From all reports, it was a huge success, attracting, I’ve been told, the largest Dell crowds in a decade.

Bye Bye Birdie won the Best Musical Tony in 1961, and put Charles Strouse on the road to earn the Broadway legend status he enjoys today. Charles has quite a few Richmond connections, and that’s one reason I really wanted to see Birdie. But more about that in a future blog entry.

The main reason I wanted to see Birdie was to enjoy the work of all of my friends who were involved in the production.

The show was directed by Tony Sharpenstein, a fine fellow who co-starred in a production of The Prince and the Pauper that I directed years ago at Theatre IV—a production I remember fondly. It would have been my first time seeing Tony’s work as a director, so I’m really sorry that my schedule didn't allow me to attend.

I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t know who choreographed, music directed and/or designed Bye Bye Birdie. The press releases that I can find on line simply don't list that information. If someone wants to leave me that info in a comment, I’d appreciate it.

Among Birdie's adult cast, Robert Fuhrman is an alum of Barksdale’s Where’s Charley?, David Janosik appeared as a child in Theatre IV’s Charley and the Chocolate Factory, Dee Lynch co-starred in Theatre IV’s production of Cowgirls and music directed Barksdale’s productions of The Full Monty and Anything Goes, and Terri Moore was wonderful in that same production of The Prince and the Pauper that I mentioned earlier.

Among the young people in the Birdie cast, Charlie Dacus recently dazzled me with his backbends in Theatre IV’s The Wizard of Oz; Ryan Lynch, Hannah Martin and Liz Van’t Reit were a joy to direct in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (also at Theatre IV); and Sarah Pruden, Robert Watkins and Chris Withers simply knocked my socks off in last summer’s Greater Richmond High School All Star Musical, Grease, co-produced by Barksdale Theatre and The Steward School.

I'm told that Robbie Fuhrman and Sarah Pruden were terrific as the leads in Birdie, playing Albert Peterson and Kim McAfee, respectively, so I’m especially sorry to have missed their performances.

Anyway, I’m proud of all our Theatre IV and Barksdale veterans, and look forward to the next time when I’ll be able to catch them on stage. If Birdie was half as good as friends told me it was, you all did a GREAT job.

--Bruce Miller

The Greater Richmond H S All Star Robe

Posted by Bruce Miller
What do the first two Greater Richmond High School All Star Musicals (Grease and Disney’s High School Musical) have in common? Well, lots of things. But even after noting the similarities in plot, characters and tone, one is struck by the central theme running through the final number of both shows.

“We go together,” the entire cast of Grease sings at show’s end, “Like rama lama lama ke ding a de ding a dong. Remembered forever, like shoo bop shoo wadda wadda yipitty boom de boom. Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo bop, That’s the way it should be!”

And from Disney’s High School Musical …

“Together, together, together everyone

Together, together, come on let’s have some fun

Together, we’re there for each other every time

Together, together, come on let’s do this right

Here and now its time for celebration

I finally figured it out

That all our dreams have no limitations

That's what it’s all about

Everyone is special in their own way

We make each other strong

We’re not the same

We’re different in a good way

Together's where we belong

We're all in this together

Once we know that we are
We're all stars and we see that

We're all in this together

And it shows when we stand hand in hand

Make our dreams come true”

Last summer, the company of Grease began a tradition at their closing night party to recognize the togetherness that existed among them, and to pass that spirit of unity on to the cast of the Greater Richmond High School All Star Musical 2007. They each wrote a signed message of best wishes onto a cardboard tag, and pinned them all onto the turquoise silk robe worn by Sarah Pruden in the show.

Each member of the company who had graduated and was leaving high school behind (Tyler Adams, Deejay Gray, Claire Harvey, Andy Nestor, Emily Perkins, Sarah Pruden, Steven Ralph, Robert Watkins and Chris Withers) put on the robe and circled the cast. Finally, a pink poodle representing Grease was sewn onto the robe before it was returned to costume storage for the long cold winter.

This year, on Opening Night of Disney’s High School Musical, the Robe, now aged in a year’s worth of love and good will (thereby earning the right to spell its name with a capital R), was presented to Suzanne Spicer, the actor in the ensemble who had reached the highest grade level and enjoyed the most experience in previous editions of the Greater Richmond High School All Star Musical. Suzanne put on the Robe, and, before the show, visited each company member throughout the theatre, inviting them to connect with the Robe (and the spirit it represents) for good luck. They all did. Dave Amadee buried his face in the darn thing.

OPENING NIGHT WAS A HUGE SUCCESS! Following the final performance of Disney’s High School Musical next Sunday, the entire company will be invited again to create personal expressions of best wishes and pin them onto the Robe as a gesture of support for next summer’s cast. A three-dimensional symbol of High School Musical will be sewn onto the Robe also, so that the Grease poodle won’t have to spend another winter alone.

Then, next July, another cast of talented High School All Stars will take their turn on the stage and in the Robe.

As Stephanie Carr, last summer’s Rizzo, wrote on her tag: “Appreciate this opportunity with all of your heart. You make one-of-a-kind friends and walk away with unforgettable memories. HAVE FUN. Break a leg.”

“We’re all in this together.” “That’s the way it should be.”

--Bruce Miller