'Hello Muddah' to bow in Genoa

9/28/2006
BY NANCIANN CHERRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER
The cast of Bowling Green State University s The Land of
Little Horses includes, from left, Janna Huddleston, Nicole
Mancino, and Tommy Thurston.
The cast of Bowling Green State University s The Land of Little Horses includes, from left, Janna Huddleston, Nicole Mancino, and Tommy Thurston.

Jim Angelone is making his directing debut this weekend, but he doesn't seem to be stressing about it.

"It's very funny, and it's a musical," he said, explaining that those elements are always popular with audiences.

Angelone is at the helm of Genoa Civic Theatre's production of Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! The Allen Sherman Musical, which opens tomorrow. The show, he said, is the thinly veiled life story of Sherman, who was the 1960s version of Weird Al Yankovic, turning popular songs into parodies.

Perhaps Sherman's most famous tune is "Camp Grenada," and that's where the show's protagonists, Barry Bockman and Sarah Jackman (visiting from the neighboring Camp Pinecohen), meet as children and start their journey through life together.

During the course of the show, which runs from marriage to suburbia to retirement in Florida, the classic "Hava Nagilah" becomes the wedding lament "Harvey and Sheila" and Petula Clark's "Downtown" becomes a parental panic session when a daughter stays out late.

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! The Allen Sherman Musical earned an Outer Critics' Award nomination for outstanding off-Broadway musical and four Drama Desk Award nominations when it opened in New York in 1992.

For the Genoa production, Barry is played by Josef Gordon, and Sarah is played by Marcia Busdeker. Appearing in multiple roles are Nancy Bennett, C.A. Bush, Keri Giles, Charles Hayward, Pete Lowry, Joel Mann, and Mike Mann.

Genoa Civic Theatre presents "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! The Allen Sherman Musical" tomorrow through Oct. 8 in the Genoa Town Hall Opera House, 509 1/2 Main St., Genoa. Performances are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $8 for adults and $7 for seniors and students. Information: 419-855-3103.

Bowling Green State University opens its 2006-07 theater season with the comedy The Land of Little Horses.

The play centers around three sisters, their mother, and their aunt, who face a crisis when Jean Louise, the youngest sister, and Aunt Dot run away from home to follow the miniature horse-racing circuit. The rest of the family must gather their assorted emotional and physical resources to bring their prodigals home.

The Land of Little Horses is the first play written by Rebecca Gilman, who went on to win awards for her works Spinning into Butter, Boy Meets Girl, and The Glory of Living, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Directed by Heather Williams of Grand Forks, N.D., the BGSU cast includes Hope Davis of Lancaster, Calif.; Nicole Mancino of Philadelphia; and Ohioans Kate Gibson of Deshler, Stacey Heck of Canton, Janna Huddleston of Cincinnati, Tommy Thurston of Columbus, and Tyler Ward of Bowling Green.

Presented by the department of theater and film, "The Land of Little Horses" is scheduled at 8 p.m. today- Sunday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Eva Marie Saint Theatre in University Hall at BGSU in Bowling Green. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children 11 and younger. Information: 419-372-2719.

Contact Nanciann Cherry at: ncherry@theblade.com

or 419-724-6130.