We had our last preview for Johnny On A Spot yesterday, which has given us time for some good growth. Thank the gods for previews because hopefully that lets the audience know it's still a work in progress. With remnants of the hurricane blowing into Manhattan, our Saturday night show was surrounded by buckets of rain, but we still had an audience. God bless 'em! And I'm always reminded of that Bill Murray line from the film Tootsie where he says he wants an audience "who just came out of the worst rainstorm in this city's history. These are people who are alive on the planet until they dry off. " And that was our lovely group. :)It is so cool when you can feel a show coming together! Everything from the set to the costumes to the pacing and acting... it is definitely a group effort! And this cast and crew have certainly been working hard to make it happen!
It's a large cast - there are 16 of us! - and everyone is a pro!
There's Margery Beddow, who plays the town's madame, Pearl, and she is a hoot! She also has a ton of incredible stories to boot! She came to the city as a ballerina and ended up working with Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon whom she understudied in RedHead and who taught her all of Lola's pieces from Damn Yankees.
There's Margery Beddow, who plays the town's madame, Pearl, and she is a hoot! She also has a ton of incredible stories to boot! She came to the city as a ballerina and ended up working with Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon whom she understudied in RedHead and who taught her all of Lola's pieces from Damn Yankees.Margery also worked with Mark Manley, who plays my Uncle Willie, and she also worked with our lovely costume designer, Gail Copper-Hecht, who was a performer prior to turning her creativity to costuming. Gail played Gloria Upson on tour in the non-muiscal version of Auntie Mame and then Sally Kato in the musical, MAME. She can still do Gloria's "I can't tell you how pleased I am to make your acquaintance" speech which is hilarious!
Ellen Zolezzi plays the "gal Friday" role and definitely brings a lot of spirit to the show! She's pictured above with Robert O'Gorman, Dale Carman, Mark Manley, Jerry Coyle, Carter Roy, driector Dan Wackerman, Marc Ginsberg and Kevin Kolack. Kevin was a fireman for 10 years in his home state of Indiana and he hoists me over his shoulder in Act 3 with ease and grace. He is a super trooper. :)
Backstage with the boys: Marc Ginsberg, Michael Lopez, Dale Carman, Kevin Kolack, and Louis Sacco (who also plays the voice of Johnny).
Michael Lopez (pictured above with Mark Manley) plays our cautious Chief of Police and a very funny salesman from VT. He and I were both doing the Fringe Fest while in the midst of rehearsals for Johnny. 
Our cast is rounded out beautifully by Bergin Michaels, Christian Rummel (above center), Wayne Henry (above left), hilarious as an Italian bodyguard who is more buffoon than bodyguard, and the marvelous Raymond Thorne.Kudos to our incredible sceneic designer, Joseph Spirito, who worked night and day on the set with his lovely wife. Also hats off to lighting designer, Jeffrey E. Salzberg, and our awesome stage managers, Scott Earley (also in charge of sound design) and Liza Baron (pictured below).
We have a special performance tonight for subscribers then we run Sept. 11-Oct. 4th. Thurs. - Saturday nights at 8 PM, Sundays at 3 PM. Tickets are $20, which is pretty affordable considering how movie tickets are over $10: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/2772Come get a taste of old-fashioned 1940's style and comedy! :)
1 comment:
I so envy your audience tonight! Knock 'em dead, sister :-)
I <3 Laura Daniel!!!
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