Tag Archives: Loveland Stage Company

The Loveland Stage Company is rehearsing and producing the spring show, WILL ROGERS FOLLIES: A Life in Revue. WILL ROGERS FOLLIES is a Follies-style tribute to the man whose daily newspaper column sent America readers on their way each morning with a smile on their face. The original New York production was directed and choreographed by Tommy Tune.  The book was written by Peter Stone with music composed and arranged by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.  The musical opened on Broadway, May 1, 1991 and played for 981 performances at the Palace Theatre winning six Tony Awards for Musical, Score, Director, Choreographer, Costume Designer and Lighting Designer.

The Loveland Stage Company’s WILL ROGERS FOLLIES: A Life in Revue is being directed by ACT Orchid winner Pat Furterer and produced by K Buckler also an ACT Orchid winner.   Veteran cast and crew member, Kate Arnold is the Assistant to the Director.  Music and Vocal Director Jack Hasty and Choreographer Marjory Clegg, also Orchid winners, will be bringing another award winner to the audio and visual interpretation of the musical lyrics and score as they did in the production of 42^nd Street.

Producer K Buckler is working again with a production crew that have won individual and group community theater awards.  Their western and show girl costumes and rural and movie sets enhanced with lighting and sound effects will surely be appreciated by the audience.

In the opening scenes of WILL ROGERS FOLLIES, Will entertains the audience with his rope tricks and his old-fashioned humor between the musical numbers for The Follies. The show girls dance to “Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like” and “Give a Man Enough Rope” which are parables set to music.   The show unfolds Will’s extraordinary life.  When Will turned nineteen, he set off, despite his father’s protests, to be a cowboy down in Argentina. It was at the train depot that Will first laid eyes on Betty Blake, the woman who would become his wife.  Once married Will tours the country performing his routine until the day his big break arrives, and he is offered a part in Florenz Ziegfeld’s Follies. After six fabulous seasons, Will is called to Hollywood to perform on the silver screen.

After much success and a run for President in 1928, Will retires and spends more time at home.  Shortly after retiring, however, Wiley Post, a long time friend, and Will lose their lives during a flying adventure in Alaska.  The musical version of Will Rogers’s life is an upbeat celebration of a folk hero who made the world “a whole lot better place” than it was before he entered it.

Richard Lee Waldeck, who was seen last spring in his ACT Orchid Award winning role of Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof, plays Will Rogers.  Tonya Oslack, who was last seen as Nellie in the fall production of Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, plays Betty, Will’s wife.  Will’s father, Clem is played by ACT Orchid winner Dave Marcus; while Will’s longtime friend, Willie Post is played by stage veteran Norm Lewis.

Director Pat Furterer has cast other veterans in several more leading roles and experienced dancers and singers in the ensemble.  They include Marvel Gentry Davis (Ensemble), Jonathan Eckman (Roper), Michelle Faulkner (Ensemble/Cowgirl), Carolyn Finn (Ensemble), Evalyn Fram (Ensemble/Anna), Gary Giver (Ensemble/Cowboy), Jill Gornet (Ensemble/Cowgirl), Trayden Harrington (Freddie Rogers), Yenny Ho (Ensemble/Waite), Marcel Mangan (Will Rogers, Jr), Susan McElroy Marcus (Ensemble/Virginia), John Masterson (Ensemble/Cowboy), Sherry Michalak (Ensemble/Theda), John Sloan (Florenz Ziegfeld), Isaac Mills (James Rogers), Jon Mills (Ensemble), Lori Reichling (Ensemble/Zulecki), Denise Schnieders (Ziegfeld’s Favorite), Jeanne Stephens (Ensemble), Bobby Jo Swearingen (Ensemble), Donna Treinan (Ensemble/Cora) and Oliva Walters (Mary Rogers).

WILL ROGERS FOLLIES: A Life in Revue has the perfect mix of memorable songs, humor and love that audiences enjoy.  Don’t miss it.  Tickets are available at $18.00 each for evening performances at 7:30 pm on March 4, 5, 11, 12, 17, 18 and 19 and matinee performances at 3:00 pm on March 6 and 13, 2016.

Tickets are available for purchase on this website. Call 513-443-4LSC (4572) to reserve tickets for groups or wheelchairs.  All performances are held at the Loveland Stage Company Theatre, 111 Second Street, Loveland, Ohio 45140.

Michael Finn, Loveland Stage Company, mefinncanusa@aol.com

Bree Hunter Sprankle-Cox as Lucy Harris, John Matthew Riestenberg as Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde & Katie McCarthy as Emma Carew.

This November, an epic struggle between good and evil comes to life on the stage of the Loveland Stage Company Theater in the sensational, JEKYLL AND HYDE The Musical. This musical is based on the Robert Louis Stevenson novella “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and the 1941 Metro Goldwyn Mayer motion picture Jekyll and Hyde.

The story was conceived for the stage as a musical by Steve Cuden and Frank Wildhorn, with book and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse, and music by Frank Wildhorn. Their thrilling musical spectacle was first presented in Houston, Texas in 1990, shattering box office records for the Alley Theatre and extending its run twice. The musical made its Broadway debut on April 28, 1997, at the Plymouth Theatre. It ran for 1,543 performances, nearly four years, which made it the longest-running show in the history of the Plymouth Theatre. The thrilling score of pop rock hits helped mesmerize the audiences. The song “This is the Moment” has been performed over 1,000 times by numerous popular artists. “This is the Moment” has also been featured at mainstream events like the 1994 and 1996 Olympics, the Super Bowl, the World Series, several Miss America pageants, and the inauguration of President George W. Bush.

John Matthew Riestenberg, who performed in Shadowbox Live while living in Columbus the last several years, plays the split personalities of Dr. Jekyll. The women in love with Dr. Jekyll are played by Katie McCarthy as Emma Carew and Bree Hunter Sprankle-Cox as Lucy Harris. Katie McCarty was last seen in Loveland Stage Company’s Young Frankenstein and she won an ACT Orchid Award for her acting in 42nd Street. Bree Hunter Sprankle-Cox is a classically-trained soprano and music educator and also new to the Loveland Stage Company stage. In JEKYLL AND HYDE The Musical, both women are unaware of their love’s dark secret. A devoted man of science, Henry Jekyll is driven to find a chemical breakthrough that can solve some of mankind’s most challenging medical dilemmas. Rebuffed by the powers that be, he decides to make himself the subject of his own experimental treatments, accidentally unleashing his inner demons, along with the man the world would come to fear as Mr. Hyde.

The supporting cast and ensemble consist of veteran actors of the Loveland Stage Company and some seasoned actors from neighboring community theatre groups. Visit the Loveland Stage Company’s web site to read the complete listing of supporting cast and ensemble.

The Loveland Stage Company’s JEKYLL AND HYDE The Musical is being directed by Richard Lee Waldeck, who was seen recently in his ACT Orchid Award winning role of Lazar Wolf in Fiddler on the Roof. Richard has directed for the Dayton Jewish Community Center, Dayton Playhouse, Kettering Theatre Under the Stars, and First Frontier Inc. JEKYLL AND HYDE The Musical is being co-produced by Becky Cole and Tom Cavano. Becky has been involved on and off stage in the Cincinnati region and in her hometown of Chicago since the age of four. This past spring, she won an OCTA award for her portrayal of Miriam Goldman in Milford Theatre Guilde’s Beau Jest. Tom has performed in several shows, directed three award winning productions and served on the board of the Loveland Stage Company. ACT Orchid Award winners Music and Vocal Director Jack Hasty and Choreographer Marjory Clegg are guiding the audio and visual interpretation of the musical lyrics and score for JEKYLL AND HYDE The Musical.

Show Dates for JEKYLL AND HYDE The Musical are November 6, 7, 13, 14, 20, and 21, 2015 at 7:30 pm and November 8, 15, and 22, 2015 at 3:00 PM. Tickets at $18.00 each may be purchased on the Loveland Stage Company web site at www.lovelandstagecompany.org. For groups or special needs call 513-443-4LSC (4572). All performances are held at the Loveland Stage Company Theater at 111 2nd Street, Loveland, OH 45140.