Bobby Bodford hosted Michael Dougherty and I at his home/farm/Dr. Dolittle Home for Needy Animals for a planning session for The Producers. His animals include Hercules, a 4000 lb fence jumping steer, Ginny, a donkey/mule who sounds like she has asthma, a blind horse, various goats and sheep and a horse with hooves that curl up like elf shoes. Quite the menagerie.
We are all looking forward to starting The Producers - and I am now trying to figure out how to put Hercules in the show somehow.
Looking forward to seeing The Producers cast next Monday at 7:00.
Jennifer
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Intrigue In The Real Von Trapp Family
Thanks Mickey for this article from the New York Times
Johannes and Sam Von Trapp, right, cross-country skiing at their Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.
STOWE, Vt. — When Sam von Trapp, the grandson of Maria, the singing nun made famous by “The Sound of Music,” graduated from college, his father offered him a deal: Sam could do whatever he wanted for 10 years before he had to return home here to run the family’s ski lodge.
When Mr. von Trapp finally returned to take over from his father, Johannes, he had had quite a decade: teaching skiing in Aspen, modeling for Ralph Lauren, surfing in Chile and even making People magazine’s America’s Top 50 Bachelors list in 2001. Recently, he sat in a dark office at the Trapp Family Lodge, the inn his grandmother started, trying to decide what to do with some old curtains.
It is hard for anyone to untangle family history and allegiances during the holidays. When your last name is von Trapp, and Americans claim you as part of their own legacy, that task is just that much harder.
That legacy weighs on Mr. von Trapp even as he considers something as mundane as curtains.
In “The Sound of Music,” the beloved 1965 movie, Maria, the governess played by Julie Andrews, turned old curtains into play clothes for the seven von Trapp children, just as the real Maria had done. Mr. von Trapp figured that if he sold von Trapp draperies on eBay, he might turn a nice little profit.
“Nobody has the level of commitment I do,” said Mr. von Trapp, now 36, but with the energy and earnestness of a teenager. “Nobody has as much to gain.”
Despite the nostalgic mist around “The Sound of Music," Mr. von Trapp is taking over a business for a family that has had its share of ups and downs and disagreements.
When the von Trapps arrived in the United States in 1938, they settled in Pennsylvania and made money by singing baroque and folk music. By 1942, the family had bought a farm in Stowe. Maria rented out rooms in the house when the von Trapps were on tour singing.
Still, Johannes von Trapp, the 10th and youngest child, remembers growing up relatively anonymously in a quiet, strict home. That began to shift after the 1959 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” and when the movie opened, everything changed.
“You could no longer give your name anywhere without people saying ‘Oh, are you ... ?’ ” said the elder Mr. von Trapp, now 69. “The film, for better or for worse, made us a mass market commodity.”
The von Trapps have never directly profited from the film or Broadway musical: Maria, whose husband died in 1947, sold the rights to the family story to a German film company in the mid-1950s for just $9,000. Johannes and now his son run the cross-country skiing lodge that trades on the family’s fame with Austrian food, waitresses wearing dirndls and pictures of the family, but not a single poster from the movie.
“The Sound of Music was great, but it was an American version of my family’s life,” said Johannes, who no longer sings, although he still has a pleasant, reedy bass voice. “It wasn’t what we were. I just got tired of being cast as a ‘Sound of Music’ person.”
The family legacy has been particularly onerous for him.
People would ask about Liesl, and he would have to point out that his eldest sibling was not 16 going on 17, but 54 in 1965 — and male. They would ask whether he was Kurt or Friedrich, and he would have to explain that his father and mother had three children together that were not portrayed in the movie, and he was the youngest. His mother was presented as a near-saint in the movie; in real life, she was difficult and domineering, people who knew her said.
By 1969, he had graduated from Dartmouth, completed a master’s degree from the Yale school of forestry and was planning on an academic career in natural resources. He returned to Stowe to put the inn’s finances in order, and ended up running the place. He tried to leave, moving to a ranch in British Columbia in 1977 and staying a few years, then moving to a ranch in Montana. But the professional management in Stowe kept quitting. “Now I’m stuck here,” he said.
As long as Maria was alive, the von Trapp siblings grudgingly got along.
“She was a very strong minded, strong willed woman,” said Marshall Faye, a baker who has worked at the lodge for more than 30 years. “She ruled the family. Anything they did had to have her blessing.”
But after she died in 1987, the family members — 32 of whom owned stock in the lodge — started to fracture. Johannes engineered a buyout in 1994 and resolved a lawsuit with relatives in 1999. “I honestly resented the fact that none of my older siblings could’ve took over the business,” he said. “Then I could’ve run off and done whatever I wanted to do.”
If he had to run a lodge, he wanted a quiet, dignified one. He enjoys events like the Friday night wine tastings, where he can sip Grüner Veltliners and greet guests in the patrician fashion he learned as a boy.
But in the off season, the “Sound of Music” bus tours arrive, full of seniors who line their purses with cellophane so they can stuff them with Austrian pastries at the breakfast buffet. He recently discovered that his gift shop had been selling a stuffed goat that sings “The Lonely Goatherd.”
“Isn’t that awful?” he said, sighing. “My staff hid it from me for months. But it does sell.”
Since the buyout, the lodge has been profitable, if not enormously so, he said. It provides well for his family — his wife, Lynne, whom he met when she was a singing waitress at the lodge, and his children, Sam and Kristina, 38, who recently moved back to Stowe and built a house on the 2,400-acre property.
For Sam, a generation removed from “The Sound of Music,” the burden of being a von Trapp is lighter. He has seen the movie only twice, and is the child of a Vermonter, not the son of an Austrian baron. "For him, there were all those issues in the family, too, that came along with that little leap into fame," Sam said of his father.
Since his return, the younger Mr. von Trapp has made snow making his big project, spending nights on the snow-covered meadows in 10-degree weather, doing the heavy manual work it requires. He plans to bring back holiday singalongs and to advertise the lodge during ABC’s broadcast of “The Sound of Music” on Sunday, which his father once opposed.
The movie is “one of the reasons — the big one — that people come here,” said Ron Tanner, a marketing consultant who works at the lodge. “The TV ad will be to say, ‘Hey, the next generation has taken over the Trapp Family Lodge.’ ”
Early on a Friday night, Johannes slipped into the bar and ordered a glass of blaufränkisch, an Austrian red wine, and a hamburger without a bun.
The piano player, John Cassel, was playing a different song for each regular visitor. He plays Scott Joplin’s “Solace” for Sam, and pieces by the Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez for Sam’s fiancée, Elisa. Johannes’s song is “Desperado,” the Eagles’ ballad.
“It’s very rewarding when you see a lounge full of happy people and a pianist plays someone’s song, my song,” Johannes said.
With Sam taking over, “I’ll get back to Montana,” he said. “I’ve sort of done my thing here. Now it’s up to my son to take it from here.”
Johannes and Sam Von Trapp, right, cross-country skiing at their Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont.
STOWE, Vt. — When Sam von Trapp, the grandson of Maria, the singing nun made famous by “The Sound of Music,” graduated from college, his father offered him a deal: Sam could do whatever he wanted for 10 years before he had to return home here to run the family’s ski lodge.
When Mr. von Trapp finally returned to take over from his father, Johannes, he had had quite a decade: teaching skiing in Aspen, modeling for Ralph Lauren, surfing in Chile and even making People magazine’s America’s Top 50 Bachelors list in 2001. Recently, he sat in a dark office at the Trapp Family Lodge, the inn his grandmother started, trying to decide what to do with some old curtains.
It is hard for anyone to untangle family history and allegiances during the holidays. When your last name is von Trapp, and Americans claim you as part of their own legacy, that task is just that much harder.
That legacy weighs on Mr. von Trapp even as he considers something as mundane as curtains.
In “The Sound of Music,” the beloved 1965 movie, Maria, the governess played by Julie Andrews, turned old curtains into play clothes for the seven von Trapp children, just as the real Maria had done. Mr. von Trapp figured that if he sold von Trapp draperies on eBay, he might turn a nice little profit.
“Nobody has the level of commitment I do,” said Mr. von Trapp, now 36, but with the energy and earnestness of a teenager. “Nobody has as much to gain.”
Despite the nostalgic mist around “The Sound of Music," Mr. von Trapp is taking over a business for a family that has had its share of ups and downs and disagreements.
When the von Trapps arrived in the United States in 1938, they settled in Pennsylvania and made money by singing baroque and folk music. By 1942, the family had bought a farm in Stowe. Maria rented out rooms in the house when the von Trapps were on tour singing.
Still, Johannes von Trapp, the 10th and youngest child, remembers growing up relatively anonymously in a quiet, strict home. That began to shift after the 1959 Broadway production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music,” and when the movie opened, everything changed.“You could no longer give your name anywhere without people saying ‘Oh, are you ... ?’ ” said the elder Mr. von Trapp, now 69. “The film, for better or for worse, made us a mass market commodity.”
The von Trapps have never directly profited from the film or Broadway musical: Maria, whose husband died in 1947, sold the rights to the family story to a German film company in the mid-1950s for just $9,000. Johannes and now his son run the cross-country skiing lodge that trades on the family’s fame with Austrian food, waitresses wearing dirndls and pictures of the family, but not a single poster from the movie.
“The Sound of Music was great, but it was an American version of my family’s life,” said Johannes, who no longer sings, although he still has a pleasant, reedy bass voice. “It wasn’t what we were. I just got tired of being cast as a ‘Sound of Music’ person.”
The family legacy has been particularly onerous for him.
People would ask about Liesl, and he would have to point out that his eldest sibling was not 16 going on 17, but 54 in 1965 — and male. They would ask whether he was Kurt or Friedrich, and he would have to explain that his father and mother had three children together that were not portrayed in the movie, and he was the youngest. His mother was presented as a near-saint in the movie; in real life, she was difficult and domineering, people who knew her said.
By 1969, he had graduated from Dartmouth, completed a master’s degree from the Yale school of forestry and was planning on an academic career in natural resources. He returned to Stowe to put the inn’s finances in order, and ended up running the place. He tried to leave, moving to a ranch in British Columbia in 1977 and staying a few years, then moving to a ranch in Montana. But the professional management in Stowe kept quitting. “Now I’m stuck here,” he said.
As long as Maria was alive, the von Trapp siblings grudgingly got along.
“She was a very strong minded, strong willed woman,” said Marshall Faye, a baker who has worked at the lodge for more than 30 years. “She ruled the family. Anything they did had to have her blessing.”
But after she died in 1987, the family members — 32 of whom owned stock in the lodge — started to fracture. Johannes engineered a buyout in 1994 and resolved a lawsuit with relatives in 1999. “I honestly resented the fact that none of my older siblings could’ve took over the business,” he said. “Then I could’ve run off and done whatever I wanted to do.”
If he had to run a lodge, he wanted a quiet, dignified one. He enjoys events like the Friday night wine tastings, where he can sip Grüner Veltliners and greet guests in the patrician fashion he learned as a boy.
But in the off season, the “Sound of Music” bus tours arrive, full of seniors who line their purses with cellophane so they can stuff them with Austrian pastries at the breakfast buffet. He recently discovered that his gift shop had been selling a stuffed goat that sings “The Lonely Goatherd.”
“Isn’t that awful?” he said, sighing. “My staff hid it from me for months. But it does sell.”
Since the buyout, the lodge has been profitable, if not enormously so, he said. It provides well for his family — his wife, Lynne, whom he met when she was a singing waitress at the lodge, and his children, Sam and Kristina, 38, who recently moved back to Stowe and built a house on the 2,400-acre property.
For Sam, a generation removed from “The Sound of Music,” the burden of being a von Trapp is lighter. He has seen the movie only twice, and is the child of a Vermonter, not the son of an Austrian baron. "For him, there were all those issues in the family, too, that came along with that little leap into fame," Sam said of his father.
Since his return, the younger Mr. von Trapp has made snow making his big project, spending nights on the snow-covered meadows in 10-degree weather, doing the heavy manual work it requires. He plans to bring back holiday singalongs and to advertise the lodge during ABC’s broadcast of “The Sound of Music” on Sunday, which his father once opposed.
The movie is “one of the reasons — the big one — that people come here,” said Ron Tanner, a marketing consultant who works at the lodge. “The TV ad will be to say, ‘Hey, the next generation has taken over the Trapp Family Lodge.’ ”
Early on a Friday night, Johannes slipped into the bar and ordered a glass of blaufränkisch, an Austrian red wine, and a hamburger without a bun.
The piano player, John Cassel, was playing a different song for each regular visitor. He plays Scott Joplin’s “Solace” for Sam, and pieces by the Cuban singer Silvio Rodriguez for Sam’s fiancée, Elisa. Johannes’s song is “Desperado,” the Eagles’ ballad.
“It’s very rewarding when you see a lounge full of happy people and a pianist plays someone’s song, my song,” Johannes said.
With Sam taking over, “I’ll get back to Montana,” he said. “I’ve sort of done my thing here. Now it’s up to my son to take it from here.”
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008
THE PRODUCERS Cast List
Thanks to all who auditioned for THE PRODUCERS. It was wonderful to have so many choices for our principal roles and we have one of the strongest ensembles ever. I look forward to working with each of you.
Please know if you were not cast, that I am so appreciative of the time and talent you brought to the auditions. And that your name will be placed on our list for future auditions.
THE PRODUCERS Cast:
Max Bialystock – Mike Gilbert
Leo Bloom – David Wils
Franz Liebkind – Tim Brown
Roger DeBris – Lee Willard
Carmen Ghia – Kevin Rapier
Ulla – Jennifer Arnold
ENSEMBLE (Roles currently cast are in ( ) following the ensemble member’s name. There are lots more roles/solos to be cast from the ensemble and ensemble members with roles currently designated with also appear in other scenes.)
Latimer Alexander IV (Mr. Marks)
Latimer Alexander V (Scott)
Ally Austin
Skyler Brown (Officer O’Houllihan)
Mary Margaret Coble (Usherette)
Daria Corey
Jim Corey (Donald)
Reid Dalton (Jack)
Eric Dowdy (Bryan)
Patrick Ferrara
Bryn Hagman (Usherette)
Daniel Harr
Sally Hord (Hold Me – Touch Me)
Mickey Hyland (Jason, Sargeant O’Brien)
Katie Jo Icenhower (Shirley, Dancing Pretzel)
Kaya Jackson
Tom Kak (Judge)
Lauren Karaman
Ken Kennedy (Officer O’Riley)
Cara Kiser
Morgan Kivett
Michael Martinez (Bum, Kevin)
David McDonald
Christi Morgan
Avis Murphey (Nun)
Donna Nottoli
Lisa Pfuhl (Nun)
Matthew Sara
Gareth Stearns (Blind Violinist, Storm Trooper)
Marjorie Surrett (Lick Me – Bite Me)
Scott Terrill
Krista Webb
Meaghan Wiater
If you were cast, please email jblevins@hpcommunitytheatre.org by Wednesday, December 24th, signifying that you have seen the cast list and are accepting your role. The first rehearsal/company meeting will be on Monday, January 5th at 7:00 pm.
Happy Holidays to you all,
Jennifer
Please know if you were not cast, that I am so appreciative of the time and talent you brought to the auditions. And that your name will be placed on our list for future auditions.
THE PRODUCERS Cast:
Max Bialystock – Mike Gilbert
Leo Bloom – David Wils
Franz Liebkind – Tim Brown
Roger DeBris – Lee Willard
Carmen Ghia – Kevin Rapier
Ulla – Jennifer Arnold
ENSEMBLE (Roles currently cast are in ( ) following the ensemble member’s name. There are lots more roles/solos to be cast from the ensemble and ensemble members with roles currently designated with also appear in other scenes.)
Latimer Alexander IV (Mr. Marks)
Latimer Alexander V (Scott)
Ally Austin
Skyler Brown (Officer O’Houllihan)
Mary Margaret Coble (Usherette)
Daria Corey
Jim Corey (Donald)
Reid Dalton (Jack)
Eric Dowdy (Bryan)
Patrick Ferrara
Bryn Hagman (Usherette)
Daniel Harr
Sally Hord (Hold Me – Touch Me)
Mickey Hyland (Jason, Sargeant O’Brien)
Katie Jo Icenhower (Shirley, Dancing Pretzel)
Kaya Jackson
Tom Kak (Judge)
Lauren Karaman
Ken Kennedy (Officer O’Riley)
Cara Kiser
Morgan Kivett
Michael Martinez (Bum, Kevin)
David McDonald
Christi Morgan
Avis Murphey (Nun)
Donna Nottoli
Lisa Pfuhl (Nun)
Matthew Sara
Gareth Stearns (Blind Violinist, Storm Trooper)
Marjorie Surrett (Lick Me – Bite Me)
Scott Terrill
Krista Webb
Meaghan Wiater
If you were cast, please email jblevins@hpcommunitytheatre.org by Wednesday, December 24th, signifying that you have seen the cast list and are accepting your role. The first rehearsal/company meeting will be on Monday, January 5th at 7:00 pm.
Happy Holidays to you all,
Jennifer
The Producer Cast List
Sorry for the cast list delay. It is caused by....
A. High level meetings among the Obama transition team.
B. Santa hasn't gotten back with us about who's naughty and who's nice.
or C. Jennifer overslept.
Sorry guys - one last phone conversation with Bobby and it will be up. Hopefully by 1.
A. High level meetings among the Obama transition team.
B. Santa hasn't gotten back with us about who's naughty and who's nice.
or C. Jennifer overslept.
Sorry guys - one last phone conversation with Bobby and it will be up. Hopefully by 1.
Friday, December 19, 2008
It's Official - Doctor Michael Dougherty
Hannah & Leo with "Doctor Daddy" at Michael's Thursday GraduationCongratulations Michael! Nice Hat!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Hospice Secret Santas
Thanks to all who donated to our Secret Santa gifts for Hospice's KidsPath children. We were able to provide Christmas presents for 6 different families. In addition to our contributors, I would like to give a special thanks to Leslie Ann Blake and her friends at High Point Central High School, Lesley Grayson and her supper club friends, Cynthia Barrett and fellow Christmas Carol cast members, Sheri Masters, Julie Light, Amanda Murray and Stephanie & Travis Vernon. All of these folks shopped, wrapped and/or delivered gifts for our Hospice Kids.
The real Santa was watching so you all will get a special gift in your stocking this year.
Monday, December 15, 2008
The Producer Callbacks
Thanks to all who auditioned for THE PRODUCERS. The artistic staff did not feel that they needed a callback in order to cast the show so watch this space for casting information. The cast list will be posted BY next Sunday at noon (hopefully sooner).We do need appx 4 more guys (late teens and older) who can dance. There are wonderful dance numbers in the show and we had a good number of ladies to choose from for our dance corps but they all need partners. If you are interested in joining our male singing/dancing corps please get in contact with me at jblevins@hpcommunitytheatre.org In addition to the company numbers, there are roles and solos to be cast from the ensemble.
Please pass this information along to any males that you know that might be interested.
Jennifer
Our Girls in NYC
Our Macy's Parade girls take a break to see Broadway's LITTLE MERMAID.Back row: Halle Sinnott, Leslie Ann Blake
Front row: Elissa Bober, Victoria Hutchins, Mary Margaret Coble
You ladies were beautiful in your hot pink and orange.
I hope that you had a blast.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Happy Holidays from The Sound of Music Staff
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
OK - I couldn't pick so you get both...
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
And back by popular demand...
Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!
Friday, December 12, 2008
This Incredible Tapestry That Is America!
In his first interview on Meet the Press since winning the election, President-elect Obama discussed his plans to make an impact through arts and culture at the White House, saying that they are "thinking about the diversity of our culture and inviting jazz musicians and classical musicians and poetry readings in the White House so that, once again, we appreciate this incredible tapestry that's America."
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Caroling for Hospice
Thanks to all who joined us for Christmas Caroling for Hospice. Over 30 HPCT company members visited Hospice patients at Westchester Manor, River Landing, Sunbridge, and Evergreen Nursing Homes.
Leo Dougherty was a big hit with his reindeer antlers and his rendition of "Jingle Bells."
What a great way to start the holidays.
We started with dinner provided by Hospice Staff and Volunteers.
Jane Ashley Raborn, Leslie Ann Blake and Hannah Dougherty with Hospice Executive Director Leslie Kalinowski
Leo Dougherty was a big hit with his reindeer antlers and his rendition of "Jingle Bells."
The Whole Gang!
What a great way to start the holidays.
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