University troupes welcome summer with song
6/24/2010HURON, Ohio - As summer arrives, so do summer-stock productions from two regional universities.
The Huron Playhouse, the summer theater of Bowling Green State University's department of theater and film, will present The Melody Lingers On: The Songs of Irving Berlin beginning Tuesday, and the University of Findlay's SummerStock program runs through Sunday with Thoroughly Modern Millie.
As the first of five shows that change weekly through July, The Melody Lingers On is directed by Jann Graham-Glann, artistic and managing director of the playhouse for 19 years.
A musical revue that highlights the 62-year love affair between Berlin and his wife, novelist Ellin Mackay, The Melody Lingers On is a sampling of the more than 1,500 ballads, dance numbers, novelty tunes, and love songs that Berlin wrote over the course of his 101-year life. Among the featured numbers are "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "White Christmas," "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" and "The Girl that I Marry" from Annie Get Your Gun, "God Bless America," and "Heat Wave."
The cast, composed of BGSU students, professional actors, and performers from the community, includes Emily Cawrse Casale, Laura Horn, Britney Koser, and Geoff Stephenson of Huron; Nathan Huntley and Arlene Eishen Strohl of Sandusky; Patrick Simone of Stowe, Ohio; Daniel Floren of Eau Claire, Wis.; John Glann of New York City; Andy Herr of Williamsville, N.Y.; Jennifer Lefsyk of Niskayuna, N.Y., and Elisabeth Evans of Tokyo.
The Melody Lingers On opens Tuesday and runs through July 3. Also on the playhouse's schedule are The Importance of Being Earnest July 6-10; Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up? July 13-17; The Curious Savage July 20-24, and State Fair July 27-31.
"The Melody Lingers On" is scheduled in the Huron Playhouse in McCormick School, 325 Ohio St., Huron, Ohio. Performances are at 8 p.m., and tickets are $16 for adults, $14 for students and seniors, and $11 for children 11 and younger from the playhouse box office. Information: 419-433-4744.
FINDLAY - The Tony Award-winning Thoroughly Modern Millie opens UF's two-production summer season.
Written by Dick Scanlan and Richard Morris, based on Morris' screenplay for the 1967 film starring Julie Andrews and Carol Channing, the show is set in New York City in 1922, where Millie Dillmount arrives from a small town, intending to reinvent herself and snag a rich fellow.
The confection of a show includes such songs as "How the Other Half Lives," "Forget About the Boy," and, of course, the title tune.
The second show in the season will be Little Shop of Horrors, running July 14-18. Season tickets are $25.
"Thoroughly Modern Millie" is scheduled at 8 p.m. today and tomorrow, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Grimm Theatre of the Egner Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Findlay, 1000 North Main St., Findlay. Individual tickets are $15. Information: 419-434-5335.
Madge Levinson, a local actress who has appeared in films with Sigourney Weaver, Drew Barrymore, and Clint Eastwood, will be honored tonight in Venice, Fla., by the American Association of Community Theaters.
She will receive the Robert E. Gard Superior Volunteer Award for her long service to the Toledo Repertoire Theatre.
Levinson, 85, has been a volunteer at the Rep for more than 40 years and currently coordinates the Rep's Young Playgoers touring program.
Contact Nanciann Cherry at: ncherry@theblade.com
or 419-724-6130.