20 Years at Quad City Music Guild- Part 2- 2011-2021
How far did I get in my last entry? Oh yes, All Shook Up.
This gets me to the long, long, lengthy period where I stepped off-stage to work full-time as a Personal Care Provider at the Arc of the Quad Cities, teach English as a Second Language for the Quad Cities River Bandits, and teach night classes in ESL at Casa Guanajuato.
The next time I would find myself on the Music Guild stage would be 2012.
I was thirty when I showed up for auditions for that summer slate.
Meet Me in St. Louis was actually my 2nd choice to try out for after Hello, Dolly. But I went with my gut and auditioned. For one thing, my then-girlfriend, Sara Laufer (we're married now), was the choreographer.
On one hand, I didn't want to put her in a position of nepotism in casting. (Again, I was going to be proposing to her in the not too distant future.) On the other hand, if I didn't try out for the show, director Tom Swegle would never forgive me for not trying out for the show my girlfriend was choreographing.
Thus it was on a frosty Saturday in February of 2012 I took off with about thirty minutes notice to myself and auditioned for Meet Me in St. Louis. My audition piece was the 1984 Phil Collins song "Against All Odds." The very same one the widower of a woman who perished in the same helicopter crash as Kobe Bryant performed on America's Got Talent a week ago.
The dance audition piece was to Skip to My Lou. And this sort of brought me instantly back to childhood. Skip to My Lou was on the cassette tape of the Wee Sing Wee Color book that I had picked out from the Walden Books at South Park Mall for my 5th birthday. It instantly retrieved memories from deep in the long term compartment.
You know the movie Cinderella Man? There's a scene where James Braddock, played by Russell Crowe, hasn't boxed in months. It's about 1934. His manager, Joe Gould, played by Paul Giamatti, shows up on his doorstep one afternoon while he's out playing with his kids. Braddock has been working on the loading docks, and has developed a good left hook, after breaking his right wrist in a title fight. Gould tells Braddock I got you a title fight against Corn Griffin for a small purse. Will you take it? In an endearing scene, Braddock tells Gould I'll fight your grandma for that much money. "Teeth in or teeth out?" says Gould. They go back and forth with banter, and then they embrace.
The next scene, Braddock is back on stage.
Sara was the one who patched the call through to me that I had gotten a part in Meet Me in St. Louis, my first stage role since All Shook Up. Much as Jim Braddock was about 30 and going up against younger boxers, I would be a thirty year old keeping up with teenagers in dance numbers. But I was flattered that, at thirty, I could pull an Olivia Newton-John and pass myself off as a teenager.
Meet Me in St. Louis opened on Friday, June 8th, 2012. It was directed by Tom Swegle. Eric Field assistant directed. Susan Granet stage-managed. Colleen Callahan was the music director. Sara of course choreographed. I got to watch Sara choreograph Skip to My Lou and the Banjo. I got to learn from Sara how to do the promenades and the grape vines. She choreographed a number of other songs as well. But those two were the big production numbers I was in. I got to play the role of Pee Wee Drummond. He was one of the three nerds. Matthew Greer was Sidney Purvis. Jacob Dodd was Clinton Badger. It was one of the most fun roles I have ever had. And I only had one line of dialogue. No matter.
And the friendships I made in the show! Lasting friendships! I was a little out of my depth, at first, with Skip to My Lou. I once almost dropped my dance partner at the rehearsal, Wednesday before production week. But she gave me a hug and brushed it off. What could have been a disaster was a phoenix rising from the ashes moment for me. (Speaking of birds rising from the ashes, I was reading The Hunger Games trilogy while participating in that show.)
That's to say nothing of the talent.
Lauren Van Speybroeck as Esther Smith, the Judy Garland character in the Smith family.
Elisabeth Gonzalez as Rose Smith.
J.J. Johnson as Lon Smith.
Jay Rakus as Lonnie Smith Sr.
Leigh Van Winkle as Mrs. Smith.
Hannah Dodd as Agnes.
Leilah Hailey as Tootie.
John Donald O'Shea as Grandpa.
Spencer Praught as Warren Sheffield.
Sue Claeys-Somes as the maid.
This group looked out for each other. We had a lot of stress getting the big production numbers down. But once we did, it was fireworks. That Tuesday before opening night, the night that Leigh got it taped, it was one of the happiest nights of my life.
After Meet Me in St. Louis, I remember giving Sara a hug in the lobby, my voice too choked up for me to even speak. It was so great to be back. It was great to work on a 2nd show with her (our first was Promises, Promises at Playcrafter's in '08.) I went to the car, drove a block, pulled over on 34th Avenue and sobbed.
But don't worry! I was back on stage again before the end of the year!
Always has been a bucket list item for me to play a World War 2 veteran.
I got cast as Ernie the Cab Driver in Music Guild's Christmas production of It's A Wonderful Life in 2012. He was the one who parachuted into France. And he reads the telegram from Sam Wainwright that officially ends any debt George Bailey has. That was an awesome show. Deb Shippy directed.
Sara got roped into sound design on this show, so we got to do a third show together!
I've always loved It's a Wonderful Life. Nathan Bates was George Bailey. Jennifer Sondgeroth was Mary. I loved doing a Christmas show at the theater, and getting to be there during a different part of the year. I noticed there was slightly less competition for the parts, and I was able to decide to audition a half hour before auditions, and still walk away with a decent part.
In 2013, I got myself cast in Peter Pan at Music Guild.
Directed by Beth Marsoun, music direction by Ben Holmes, and the choreography by Sean McGinn's wife, I auditioned with "Who am I?" from Lés Misérables. I was thrilled to receive the news that I was cast right between picking up a pizza at Le Quonset in Waukegan, Illinois, and watching the Academy Awards with Mike Scimeca. I was Cecco the pirate. I would get to get to play a villain again. I got my ear pierced. I grew a beard. I took care of the kids backstage. We worked on a play together, Superman's Back. It was a deliberately light take on Superman. Anything goes. If one of the Lost Boys, or John, or Michael, or any of the other kids had a suggestion, I took it. I wrote it into there. Adam Lounsberry and I had fun. We did a Pirates tango, which resulted in an improvised move where I bit the rose, and he spun me around. Literally, off the ground. Sarah Lounsberry got some good Olympic style still photos from the late dress rehearsals shortly before opening. Claire became a friend of mine backstage, and since I had finished reading The Hunger Games series, she was the one who introduced me to Divergent. That filled the dystopian futuristic book hole for a while.
Then in 2014, my nephew Mason and I got into Oklahoma.
Oklahoma was just a great show to be a part of. I had brought Mason backstage, along with his sisters Alaina and Kayla, on a performance night of Peter Pan. I was babysitting them on short notice, and happened to be able to get them each a ticket for the Thursday night performance 2nd weekend. All three of them had spoken about wanting to try out for Music Guild. Mason, for his part, actually followed through on auditioning. He told me at about noon that he was thinking of auditioning, and this was two hours before I went in. We grabbed him an audition piece at the Moline library. The rest is history. I had picked up "It Only Takes a Moment," from Hello Dolly, at the music library on the campus of WIU in Macomb. I had been practicing this for weeks. Mason had less than two hours to practice "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.
The night I got the call that we were both cast, I drove over to visit Mason. I told him I had bad news and good news. The bad news was that he wouldn't have as much time to cream me in basketball in pick up games at the Rock Island Fitness and Activity Center. The good news was of course that we had gotten into the play. Then I went out and got us Culver's.
I had seen Oklahoma only once before, at Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, in May of 2007. But I knew that I loved the play. And it was a great cast. David Miller as Curly, Jen Sondgeroth as Laurie, Allyson Martens as Ado Annie, Jacob Rutchotzke as Will Parker. This was one of those shows where I don't think I had a single off night between our first rehearsal at the Butterworth Garage and the opening night. It was worth it. It was worth it when we slid on the boots and danced to Kansas City, Dream Laurie, It's a Scandal, The Farmer and the Cowman, and Oklahoma. It was five numbers that required a lot of rehearsal. Harold Truitt directed. Susie Adams choreographed. Deb Swift was the music director.
I had the luxury of a very good dance partner in Jeanine. I had a car accident one night of rehearsal. I was okay. My car was banged up, and needed work. I wasn't liable. But I did have to hurry up from having the accident report filled out to the Butterworth Garage. Jeanine gave me her Kashi cereal bar as a snack, since I had missed dinner. This set the tone of us looking out for each other. Mike Millar was the assistant director. So we got his Best Show Ever speeches, starting at one of the rehearsals a week and a half out, then every performance night. He gave one of these during Peter Pan as well, and that was what fired Mason up to audition for Oklahoma.
After Oklahoma, I wasn't back onstage again, save for a full rehearsal of Grease at Lewistown, where I filled in for Vince Fontaine; until Mary Poppins in 2015. Again, this one was directed by Harold Truitt, assistant directed by Joe Miller, again choreographed by Susie Adams, again music directed by Deb Swift. This was a busy show. I chose not to run the Bix 7 in 2015, as my nights and weekends were completely consumed with dance numbers such as Jolly Holiday, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Step in Time, the Step in Time reprise, Playing the Game, and Anything Can Happen. Heather Herkleman was Mary Poppins. John Whitson was Bert. Rob Keech, so great with his British accent, was George Banks, and Sheri Olsen was equally great with the British accent as Mrs. Banks. Then there were the Banks children. Molly Ahern as Jane. Brennan Hampton as Michael. Those kids were perfect. Such good diction, such good acting. Ornery angels who just needed the right nanny to show up and tame them with tough love.
It was my first time doing a Disney show. (Though I had performed Seize the Day with the Alleman Music Theater Workshop in 1995.) This group bonded over opening night parties in the McDonald's parking lot on Avenue of the Cities (Susie Adams bought me ice cream), a big party at Kevin Peiper's house, a big outdoor party at the Crumbleholmes, a closing night bowling at the QC Family Entertainment Center (everyone targets me, haha), and finally, a laser tag reunion.
In 2007, I was in Sunset Boulevard, this time playing a character a little older than myself. This was my second Andrew Lloyd Webber show, as he had also composed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This show is based off of an Academy Award nominated 1950 movie by the same name. Joe Gillis, a screenwriter, is down on his luck when he is trying to outrun the debt collectors. He winds up at Norma Desmond's mansion. She wants him to help script-doctor Salome. And her ideas are atrocious. She is fifty. She wants to play Salome as a sixteen year old. There is some tongue in cheek humor at the beginning. But soon we realize Joe Gillis is in over his head. I enjoyed being in the ensemble as much as I did playing the jerk movie producer. I loved singing the Movies song at "Schwabbes," and "This Time Next Year." Although I had to watch what I ate in this show. My suits were sewn and cinched to my measurements.
Ian Sodawasser was Joe Gillis. Christina Myatt was Norma Desmond. Jennifer Sondgeroth was Betty, the young page who was entrepreneurial about getting her own screenplay, Blind Windows, done. It is a much better looking script than Salome.
For a show about hard times in Hollywood, we had a lot of good times. Walking tacos and beers at Troy's house. Going to that one party in Bettendorf where we had all the desserts. Striking the set, then going to Los Agaves.
2018 I had tried out for Shrek. Now, I knew Pinnochio would be a long-shot. I was thirty-six years old. My desire to get to play the wooden marionette in Shrek was about on par with Norma Desmond thinking she could play the biblical character Salome. I was just too old. I was happy to take a role as Goddard in the Richmond Hill Theatre's production of Busybody instead that summer. Still saw Mame, A Chorus Line, and Shrek. Still bought a ticket for Miracle at Bedford Falls.
2019, though, was a busy year at the Music Guild for me.
I worked as a spotlight operator for the spring production of Jesus Christ Superstar. I had sung Herod's song at the Annual Brunch in 2018. And Dave Beesson did an amazing job with that part in the show. Chase Austin as Jesus. Adam Sanders as Judas. Emily Majetic as Mary Magdalene. Marissa Elliott as Annas. Adam Beck as Caiaphas. "I Don't Know How to Love Him." "Gethsemane." "Heaven on Their Minds." "Gethsemane." "Damned For All Time." "Everything's Alright." "Jesus Christ Superstar." Everything worked in this show.
That brings us to Sister Act. An endearing note about Sister Act. I got into this habit where I would picture my cat, Pam, in various plays that I either was in or saw. Sara will tell you. I imagine that cat in everything from A Christmas Survival Guide to A Chorus Line. Pam was dying of congestive heart failure in the weeks leading up to the audition. The night before she died, my goodbye to her was "So we're going to audition for Sister Act together, okay, we're going to go audition for Sister Act. You're going to be the parish cat. And you're going to learn to sing" while caressing her on the bathroom floor.
Well, Pam pulled some strings as she looked down on my audition from the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.
Sister Act was one of those rare auditions where I walked out of the audition with the part. Director Dave Blakey needed a Spanish speaker to play the mob toadie Pablo. There were three lackeys to Curtis Jackson (not the rapper 50 Cent). I got through my audition piece, "Normandy" from Once Upon a Mattress. (We were putting it up at Lewistown).
"Are you auditioning for any other shows this summer?"
"No," I responded.
"Good," Dave said.
That being said, I still played up the casting call. I was at a rehearsal for Once Upon a Mattress in Lewistown Community High School when Kathy Schutter called me to offer the part. Big hugs all around with the cast of the show I was working on.
Sister Act gave me the opportunity to work with Chelsea, Marissa, Michelle, Dolores, Abbey, Tim, Robbie, Matt, Wendy, Peggy, Anna, Alex, Sara N., and everyone else who was so engaging and wonderful to work with. Yes, I had to grow a hideous mustache. Yes, I went from the NCAA Tournament in April through to Back to School without getting a haircut. The Alan Menken musical was set between 1977 and 1978. So I let my hair grow wild. I remember looking at it in the mirror at Los Agaves and realizing it was longer than I could ever remember it being. Now, as a villain, I was tasked with singing about killing people and seducing nuns.
But oh, watching the nuns. The nuns had fun. They really had a lot of fun.
Curtis Fischer-Oelschlaeger was the music director, and he took mercy on me, letting me sing my solo in Lady in a Long Black Dress in my chest voice.
While working on Sister Act, I began taking voice lessons. I had Megan Warren as a teacher. I worked my way back to a tenor range over a two year range.
And it allowed me to keep singing through 2020.
I was devoid of Music Guild in 2020. I was devoid of theatre in 2020. The Coronavirus was lurking in other countries by late December of 2019. By February, it had found its way to pg. A-12 of the Chicago Tribune.
By March 12th, when I went to cover the Secret Garden rehearsal, it was evident that an unprecedented quarantine was about to take place, and the show was in jeopardy. Getting through 2020 with none of the usual trappings of the summer, I can best characterize it with the Elton John song "Cold as Christmas," off of his 1983 album "Too Low For Zero."
"And I call my kids on the telephone say there's something wrong I fear. It's July, but it's cold as Christmas in the middle of the year." I'd get myself choked up listening to it in the car. I'd sing along with Elton John to the lyrics. And I'd hit the high notes in an attempt to imitate Sir Elton John's head and chest voice mix.
Then I would go to voice lessons, and Megan would have me try to hit high notes, in songs like "My Petersburg" from Anastasia and "Wonderful" from Wicked.
I had Zoom lessons through the tail end of March into the last week of June. In July, I returned to in person lessons, socially distanced. It was the same weekend I went to see my nephew Mason play for the Quad Cities Rage in a baseball tournament. It was the first weekend where things seemed to start to return to normal.
In 2021, I got to play Jacey Squires in a Countryside Community Theatre production of The Music Man. It was a throughline from Sister Act to The Music Man, where I learned to sing lighter, sing head and chest blended, hit and hold high notes. It was wonderful. It was wonderful to get back onto a stage.
And I dearly hope that after the long and dreadful 2020, I will have the opportunity to get back on the Music Guild stage again. I got close! I got to operate a spotlight for the filming of "Spamalot" the Musical. And I got to busgreet for Mamma Mia. I had a ticket to see it Sunday, but I decided to sneak up to the balcony on Saturday night after bus greeting. On a whim, I sat down and watched the two and a half hour show. I left very satisfied. And I loved it from the floor the very next day.
Quad City Music Guild has given me so much, as a patron, as an actor, as a singer, as a dancer. As a spotlight worker. I audition for shows. I join families. I make friends. Shake hands with a stranger at the potluck who then a mere eight weeks down the line feels like a friend I have known for decades, and we embrace when we get our scene down. I know that the cast of one given show is never back together again. But you always have the fragments of the family. You have them at other shows. You get clusters of people together again, and all of the sudden, you realize you have a history. You have these great shared experiences.
Twenty years at Music Guild. I'm just getting warmed up.
This gets me to the long, long, lengthy period where I stepped off-stage to work full-time as a Personal Care Provider at the Arc of the Quad Cities, teach English as a Second Language for the Quad Cities River Bandits, and teach night classes in ESL at Casa Guanajuato.
The next time I would find myself on the Music Guild stage would be 2012.
I was thirty when I showed up for auditions for that summer slate.
Meet Me in St. Louis was actually my 2nd choice to try out for after Hello, Dolly. But I went with my gut and auditioned. For one thing, my then-girlfriend, Sara Laufer (we're married now), was the choreographer.
On one hand, I didn't want to put her in a position of nepotism in casting. (Again, I was going to be proposing to her in the not too distant future.) On the other hand, if I didn't try out for the show, director Tom Swegle would never forgive me for not trying out for the show my girlfriend was choreographing.
Thus it was on a frosty Saturday in February of 2012 I took off with about thirty minutes notice to myself and auditioned for Meet Me in St. Louis. My audition piece was the 1984 Phil Collins song "Against All Odds." The very same one the widower of a woman who perished in the same helicopter crash as Kobe Bryant performed on America's Got Talent a week ago.
The dance audition piece was to Skip to My Lou. And this sort of brought me instantly back to childhood. Skip to My Lou was on the cassette tape of the Wee Sing Wee Color book that I had picked out from the Walden Books at South Park Mall for my 5th birthday. It instantly retrieved memories from deep in the long term compartment.
You know the movie Cinderella Man? There's a scene where James Braddock, played by Russell Crowe, hasn't boxed in months. It's about 1934. His manager, Joe Gould, played by Paul Giamatti, shows up on his doorstep one afternoon while he's out playing with his kids. Braddock has been working on the loading docks, and has developed a good left hook, after breaking his right wrist in a title fight. Gould tells Braddock I got you a title fight against Corn Griffin for a small purse. Will you take it? In an endearing scene, Braddock tells Gould I'll fight your grandma for that much money. "Teeth in or teeth out?" says Gould. They go back and forth with banter, and then they embrace.
The next scene, Braddock is back on stage.
Sara was the one who patched the call through to me that I had gotten a part in Meet Me in St. Louis, my first stage role since All Shook Up. Much as Jim Braddock was about 30 and going up against younger boxers, I would be a thirty year old keeping up with teenagers in dance numbers. But I was flattered that, at thirty, I could pull an Olivia Newton-John and pass myself off as a teenager.
Meet Me in St. Louis opened on Friday, June 8th, 2012. It was directed by Tom Swegle. Eric Field assistant directed. Susan Granet stage-managed. Colleen Callahan was the music director. Sara of course choreographed. I got to watch Sara choreograph Skip to My Lou and the Banjo. I got to learn from Sara how to do the promenades and the grape vines. She choreographed a number of other songs as well. But those two were the big production numbers I was in. I got to play the role of Pee Wee Drummond. He was one of the three nerds. Matthew Greer was Sidney Purvis. Jacob Dodd was Clinton Badger. It was one of the most fun roles I have ever had. And I only had one line of dialogue. No matter.
And the friendships I made in the show! Lasting friendships! I was a little out of my depth, at first, with Skip to My Lou. I once almost dropped my dance partner at the rehearsal, Wednesday before production week. But she gave me a hug and brushed it off. What could have been a disaster was a phoenix rising from the ashes moment for me. (Speaking of birds rising from the ashes, I was reading The Hunger Games trilogy while participating in that show.)
That's to say nothing of the talent.
Lauren Van Speybroeck as Esther Smith, the Judy Garland character in the Smith family.
Elisabeth Gonzalez as Rose Smith.
J.J. Johnson as Lon Smith.
Jay Rakus as Lonnie Smith Sr.
Leigh Van Winkle as Mrs. Smith.
Hannah Dodd as Agnes.
Leilah Hailey as Tootie.
John Donald O'Shea as Grandpa.
Spencer Praught as Warren Sheffield.
Sue Claeys-Somes as the maid.
This group looked out for each other. We had a lot of stress getting the big production numbers down. But once we did, it was fireworks. That Tuesday before opening night, the night that Leigh got it taped, it was one of the happiest nights of my life.
After Meet Me in St. Louis, I remember giving Sara a hug in the lobby, my voice too choked up for me to even speak. It was so great to be back. It was great to work on a 2nd show with her (our first was Promises, Promises at Playcrafter's in '08.) I went to the car, drove a block, pulled over on 34th Avenue and sobbed.
But don't worry! I was back on stage again before the end of the year!
Always has been a bucket list item for me to play a World War 2 veteran.
I got cast as Ernie the Cab Driver in Music Guild's Christmas production of It's A Wonderful Life in 2012. He was the one who parachuted into France. And he reads the telegram from Sam Wainwright that officially ends any debt George Bailey has. That was an awesome show. Deb Shippy directed.
Sara got roped into sound design on this show, so we got to do a third show together!
I've always loved It's a Wonderful Life. Nathan Bates was George Bailey. Jennifer Sondgeroth was Mary. I loved doing a Christmas show at the theater, and getting to be there during a different part of the year. I noticed there was slightly less competition for the parts, and I was able to decide to audition a half hour before auditions, and still walk away with a decent part.
In 2013, I got myself cast in Peter Pan at Music Guild.
Directed by Beth Marsoun, music direction by Ben Holmes, and the choreography by Sean McGinn's wife, I auditioned with "Who am I?" from Lés Misérables. I was thrilled to receive the news that I was cast right between picking up a pizza at Le Quonset in Waukegan, Illinois, and watching the Academy Awards with Mike Scimeca. I was Cecco the pirate. I would get to get to play a villain again. I got my ear pierced. I grew a beard. I took care of the kids backstage. We worked on a play together, Superman's Back. It was a deliberately light take on Superman. Anything goes. If one of the Lost Boys, or John, or Michael, or any of the other kids had a suggestion, I took it. I wrote it into there. Adam Lounsberry and I had fun. We did a Pirates tango, which resulted in an improvised move where I bit the rose, and he spun me around. Literally, off the ground. Sarah Lounsberry got some good Olympic style still photos from the late dress rehearsals shortly before opening. Claire became a friend of mine backstage, and since I had finished reading The Hunger Games series, she was the one who introduced me to Divergent. That filled the dystopian futuristic book hole for a while.
Then in 2014, my nephew Mason and I got into Oklahoma.
Oklahoma was just a great show to be a part of. I had brought Mason backstage, along with his sisters Alaina and Kayla, on a performance night of Peter Pan. I was babysitting them on short notice, and happened to be able to get them each a ticket for the Thursday night performance 2nd weekend. All three of them had spoken about wanting to try out for Music Guild. Mason, for his part, actually followed through on auditioning. He told me at about noon that he was thinking of auditioning, and this was two hours before I went in. We grabbed him an audition piece at the Moline library. The rest is history. I had picked up "It Only Takes a Moment," from Hello Dolly, at the music library on the campus of WIU in Macomb. I had been practicing this for weeks. Mason had less than two hours to practice "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music.
The night I got the call that we were both cast, I drove over to visit Mason. I told him I had bad news and good news. The bad news was that he wouldn't have as much time to cream me in basketball in pick up games at the Rock Island Fitness and Activity Center. The good news was of course that we had gotten into the play. Then I went out and got us Culver's.
I had seen Oklahoma only once before, at Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse, in May of 2007. But I knew that I loved the play. And it was a great cast. David Miller as Curly, Jen Sondgeroth as Laurie, Allyson Martens as Ado Annie, Jacob Rutchotzke as Will Parker. This was one of those shows where I don't think I had a single off night between our first rehearsal at the Butterworth Garage and the opening night. It was worth it. It was worth it when we slid on the boots and danced to Kansas City, Dream Laurie, It's a Scandal, The Farmer and the Cowman, and Oklahoma. It was five numbers that required a lot of rehearsal. Harold Truitt directed. Susie Adams choreographed. Deb Swift was the music director.
I had the luxury of a very good dance partner in Jeanine. I had a car accident one night of rehearsal. I was okay. My car was banged up, and needed work. I wasn't liable. But I did have to hurry up from having the accident report filled out to the Butterworth Garage. Jeanine gave me her Kashi cereal bar as a snack, since I had missed dinner. This set the tone of us looking out for each other. Mike Millar was the assistant director. So we got his Best Show Ever speeches, starting at one of the rehearsals a week and a half out, then every performance night. He gave one of these during Peter Pan as well, and that was what fired Mason up to audition for Oklahoma.
After Oklahoma, I wasn't back onstage again, save for a full rehearsal of Grease at Lewistown, where I filled in for Vince Fontaine; until Mary Poppins in 2015. Again, this one was directed by Harold Truitt, assistant directed by Joe Miller, again choreographed by Susie Adams, again music directed by Deb Swift. This was a busy show. I chose not to run the Bix 7 in 2015, as my nights and weekends were completely consumed with dance numbers such as Jolly Holiday, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, Step in Time, the Step in Time reprise, Playing the Game, and Anything Can Happen. Heather Herkleman was Mary Poppins. John Whitson was Bert. Rob Keech, so great with his British accent, was George Banks, and Sheri Olsen was equally great with the British accent as Mrs. Banks. Then there were the Banks children. Molly Ahern as Jane. Brennan Hampton as Michael. Those kids were perfect. Such good diction, such good acting. Ornery angels who just needed the right nanny to show up and tame them with tough love.
It was my first time doing a Disney show. (Though I had performed Seize the Day with the Alleman Music Theater Workshop in 1995.) This group bonded over opening night parties in the McDonald's parking lot on Avenue of the Cities (Susie Adams bought me ice cream), a big party at Kevin Peiper's house, a big outdoor party at the Crumbleholmes, a closing night bowling at the QC Family Entertainment Center (everyone targets me, haha), and finally, a laser tag reunion.
In 2007, I was in Sunset Boulevard, this time playing a character a little older than myself. This was my second Andrew Lloyd Webber show, as he had also composed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. This show is based off of an Academy Award nominated 1950 movie by the same name. Joe Gillis, a screenwriter, is down on his luck when he is trying to outrun the debt collectors. He winds up at Norma Desmond's mansion. She wants him to help script-doctor Salome. And her ideas are atrocious. She is fifty. She wants to play Salome as a sixteen year old. There is some tongue in cheek humor at the beginning. But soon we realize Joe Gillis is in over his head. I enjoyed being in the ensemble as much as I did playing the jerk movie producer. I loved singing the Movies song at "Schwabbes," and "This Time Next Year." Although I had to watch what I ate in this show. My suits were sewn and cinched to my measurements.
Ian Sodawasser was Joe Gillis. Christina Myatt was Norma Desmond. Jennifer Sondgeroth was Betty, the young page who was entrepreneurial about getting her own screenplay, Blind Windows, done. It is a much better looking script than Salome.
For a show about hard times in Hollywood, we had a lot of good times. Walking tacos and beers at Troy's house. Going to that one party in Bettendorf where we had all the desserts. Striking the set, then going to Los Agaves.
2018 I had tried out for Shrek. Now, I knew Pinnochio would be a long-shot. I was thirty-six years old. My desire to get to play the wooden marionette in Shrek was about on par with Norma Desmond thinking she could play the biblical character Salome. I was just too old. I was happy to take a role as Goddard in the Richmond Hill Theatre's production of Busybody instead that summer. Still saw Mame, A Chorus Line, and Shrek. Still bought a ticket for Miracle at Bedford Falls.
2019, though, was a busy year at the Music Guild for me.
I worked as a spotlight operator for the spring production of Jesus Christ Superstar. I had sung Herod's song at the Annual Brunch in 2018. And Dave Beesson did an amazing job with that part in the show. Chase Austin as Jesus. Adam Sanders as Judas. Emily Majetic as Mary Magdalene. Marissa Elliott as Annas. Adam Beck as Caiaphas. "I Don't Know How to Love Him." "Gethsemane." "Heaven on Their Minds." "Gethsemane." "Damned For All Time." "Everything's Alright." "Jesus Christ Superstar." Everything worked in this show.
That brings us to Sister Act. An endearing note about Sister Act. I got into this habit where I would picture my cat, Pam, in various plays that I either was in or saw. Sara will tell you. I imagine that cat in everything from A Christmas Survival Guide to A Chorus Line. Pam was dying of congestive heart failure in the weeks leading up to the audition. The night before she died, my goodbye to her was "So we're going to audition for Sister Act together, okay, we're going to go audition for Sister Act. You're going to be the parish cat. And you're going to learn to sing" while caressing her on the bathroom floor.
Well, Pam pulled some strings as she looked down on my audition from the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.
Sister Act was one of those rare auditions where I walked out of the audition with the part. Director Dave Blakey needed a Spanish speaker to play the mob toadie Pablo. There were three lackeys to Curtis Jackson (not the rapper 50 Cent). I got through my audition piece, "Normandy" from Once Upon a Mattress. (We were putting it up at Lewistown).
"Are you auditioning for any other shows this summer?"
"No," I responded.
"Good," Dave said.
That being said, I still played up the casting call. I was at a rehearsal for Once Upon a Mattress in Lewistown Community High School when Kathy Schutter called me to offer the part. Big hugs all around with the cast of the show I was working on.
Sister Act gave me the opportunity to work with Chelsea, Marissa, Michelle, Dolores, Abbey, Tim, Robbie, Matt, Wendy, Peggy, Anna, Alex, Sara N., and everyone else who was so engaging and wonderful to work with. Yes, I had to grow a hideous mustache. Yes, I went from the NCAA Tournament in April through to Back to School without getting a haircut. The Alan Menken musical was set between 1977 and 1978. So I let my hair grow wild. I remember looking at it in the mirror at Los Agaves and realizing it was longer than I could ever remember it being. Now, as a villain, I was tasked with singing about killing people and seducing nuns.
But oh, watching the nuns. The nuns had fun. They really had a lot of fun.
Curtis Fischer-Oelschlaeger was the music director, and he took mercy on me, letting me sing my solo in Lady in a Long Black Dress in my chest voice.
While working on Sister Act, I began taking voice lessons. I had Megan Warren as a teacher. I worked my way back to a tenor range over a two year range.
And it allowed me to keep singing through 2020.
I was devoid of Music Guild in 2020. I was devoid of theatre in 2020. The Coronavirus was lurking in other countries by late December of 2019. By February, it had found its way to pg. A-12 of the Chicago Tribune.
By March 12th, when I went to cover the Secret Garden rehearsal, it was evident that an unprecedented quarantine was about to take place, and the show was in jeopardy. Getting through 2020 with none of the usual trappings of the summer, I can best characterize it with the Elton John song "Cold as Christmas," off of his 1983 album "Too Low For Zero."
"And I call my kids on the telephone say there's something wrong I fear. It's July, but it's cold as Christmas in the middle of the year." I'd get myself choked up listening to it in the car. I'd sing along with Elton John to the lyrics. And I'd hit the high notes in an attempt to imitate Sir Elton John's head and chest voice mix.
Then I would go to voice lessons, and Megan would have me try to hit high notes, in songs like "My Petersburg" from Anastasia and "Wonderful" from Wicked.
I had Zoom lessons through the tail end of March into the last week of June. In July, I returned to in person lessons, socially distanced. It was the same weekend I went to see my nephew Mason play for the Quad Cities Rage in a baseball tournament. It was the first weekend where things seemed to start to return to normal.
In 2021, I got to play Jacey Squires in a Countryside Community Theatre production of The Music Man. It was a throughline from Sister Act to The Music Man, where I learned to sing lighter, sing head and chest blended, hit and hold high notes. It was wonderful. It was wonderful to get back onto a stage.
And I dearly hope that after the long and dreadful 2020, I will have the opportunity to get back on the Music Guild stage again. I got close! I got to operate a spotlight for the filming of "Spamalot" the Musical. And I got to busgreet for Mamma Mia. I had a ticket to see it Sunday, but I decided to sneak up to the balcony on Saturday night after bus greeting. On a whim, I sat down and watched the two and a half hour show. I left very satisfied. And I loved it from the floor the very next day.
Quad City Music Guild has given me so much, as a patron, as an actor, as a singer, as a dancer. As a spotlight worker. I audition for shows. I join families. I make friends. Shake hands with a stranger at the potluck who then a mere eight weeks down the line feels like a friend I have known for decades, and we embrace when we get our scene down. I know that the cast of one given show is never back together again. But you always have the fragments of the family. You have them at other shows. You get clusters of people together again, and all of the sudden, you realize you have a history. You have these great shared experiences.
Twenty years at Music Guild. I'm just getting warmed up.