‘Showtime’ cast in final rehearsals
THE theatre year kicks off later this month with the 28th annual Showtime Awards Revue, Let the Good Times Roll, which will be presented at the Little Theatre in Athol Fugard Terrace from Monday, January 22.
The long-running programme, which has a new naming rights sponsor in Woodlands Dairy, saw its young company of performers head back to the Charlo Primary School Hall on Wednesday this week at the start of the final sequence of rehearsals.
As in the past two years, the Port Elizabeth Musical and Dramatic Society (Pemads) is co-presenting the stage production in the theatre that was its home for its first 11 years.
Let the Good Times Roll is once more devised and written by executive producer Bob Eveleigh, in distinctive style especially related to the comedy.
Siobhan Day steps up from her maiden Showtime choreographic outing last year to make her adult theatre bow as a director, as well as staging the dance and movement routines. Simone Buchner, principal of the Ellen Bunting Dance Academy, will again stage the tap routines in the show.
Multi-award winning director Marlene Pieterse will mentor Day in her directorial debut and Wayne Hughes returns as musical and vocal director.
Rocky Mann and Lance Bright again are technical consultants, with Mari Sharp designing the lighting and Steven van der Merwe designing sound, provided by Clear As a Bell.
This young talent development musical comedy revue will salute the 1950s, a decade that has come to be known as the brightest in American showbiz history, including numbers made famous by such stars as Teresa Brewer, Patti Page, Doris Day, Julie London, Connie Francis and many others, while the males include Nat “King” Cole, Pat Boone, Elvis Presley, Sammy Davis Junior, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.
The Broadway and Hollywood hits to be saluted include Singin’ in the Rain, The Bandwagon, My Fair Lady, The Pajama Game, West Side Story and Bye Bye Birdie, a 1960s Great White Way success that will also be featured.
The period also saw the birth of rock ‘n roll with such stars as Bill Haley and the Comets, Buddy Holly, Presley and Boone and also featured the start of Sinatra’s amazing second rise to fame, while the comedy gems come from the one-liners of ’50s headliners Bob Hope, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Groucho Marx and Phyllis Diller.
The company of 22 includes a bright core cast of five girls and two boys with an average age of 17, plus five dancers and 10 pupils from Charlo Primary School and five guest stars in Tara-Jane Stern, Arthur Daniels, Serene Escola and speciality dancers Roche Merrick and Rebekah Calitz in jive and tango routines.
Let the Good Times Roll will run from Monday, January 22, to Saturday, January 27, with all performances at 7.30pm, except the opening night which is at 7pm, as will be the Junior Woodlands Dairy First Choice Awards Ceremonies on Tuesday, January 23. This ceremony recognises school productions, while the main awards will be on Friday, January 26, also at 7pm.
Booking opens on Thursday, January 11, with tickets R70 for adults and R50 for senior citizens, students and children. Tickets for the awards nights on Tuesday, January 23 (Juniors) and Friday, January 26 (Seniors), are R70 throughout the house and the performance on Monday, January 22, is a private house for senior citizens’ residences. The Thursday of the run is a sponsors and patrons night but some public seats are available at R50.
For the two public main nights, on Wednesday, January 24, and Saturday, January 27, tickets are R70 for adults and R50 for senior citizens, students and children. Vouchers are obtainable from company members at slightly reduced pricing of R60 and R40.
Woodlands Dairy Showtime is supporting the Animal Welfare Society in this 28th year and encourages patrons to bring tins or packets of dog or cat food to donate to the AWS.
ý Usually, with Woodlands Dairy Showtime booking, any form of voucher or invitation letter must be exchanged at the Computicket box office at the PE Opera House. However, it is closed until January 18, so this year booking can also only be done, regardless of type of reservation, by e-mailing Phrosné Phillips at phrosne01@gmail.com