Some of PebbleCreek’s most talented artists helped paint the set for The Drowsy Chaperone. From left: Nancy Clyne, Terry Gillespie, Sherri VanSchaick, Judy Bihary, Judy Hale and Loretta Pruitt.
Laurie Farquhar
Remember those old movies where someone shouted, “Let’s put on a show,” and within the next hour they had produced a musical filled with singing, dancing, colorful costumes and terrific songs? It looked so effortless to put it all together. In reality it can take several years to bring a show to the stage and ShowTime’s spring production The Drowsy Chaperone is a good example.
Director Karyn Horst fell in love with The Drowsy Chaperone when she first saw it three years ago and over the next couple of years, she thought of ways that she might “make it doable for a ShowTime Production.” Every theater group has its limitations that must be considered when producing a show, but a year ago she finally submitted a proposal to the ShowTime Board to direct The Drowsy Chaperone.
In early spring of 2014, the Board approved her plan and that’s when work began to pick up speed. During the summer, music director Shirley Nebergall spent three months preparing and arranging for the recording of the music while Bill Silverman’s construction crew and Judy Hale’s art design team built and painted key pieces for the show’s set. During the fall, producer Patti Wegehaupt prepared scripts and audition packets and singers and actors were invited to try out for roles. In December the cast started learning choreography and songs and now, in January, rehearsals have begun in earnest on the stage. Within the next two months tech team members will join the cast in the theater to provide sound and lights while backstage crew and costume managers will work with props and create colorful wardrobes for the actors, singers and dancers. More than 50 cast and crew will have worked on the show by the time the curtains open in April.
The Drowsy Chaperone will run six nights from Monday, April 13 to Saturday, April 18 and when the audience finally sees this hilarious musical-within-a-comedy on the Renaissance Theater stage, it will be one of those wonderful productions filled with singing, dancing, colorful costumes and terrific songs. And while it may appear to the audience that it was put together effortlessly, in reality it will be the culmination of almost three years of planning and preparation.