February 21 Workshop Reading: Celebration

Save the date for the next Entr'acte PDX reading. On February 21, we'll be doing CELEBRATION by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the team behind THE FANTASTICKS, I DO, I DO, and 110 IN THE SHADE.

Cast sign up will be available soon.

Apple Tree Workshop Reading Cast Announced

Happy New Year. Thanks to all of you who have enthusiastically signed up for our workshop reading of THE APPLE TREE.

Here is the cast list for January 24th has it's been work out.

ACT ONE
Adam - Clay Neal
Eve - Melinda Carlson
Snake - Joey Klei

ACT TWO
Princess Barbara - Elizabeth Bacon
Captain Sanjar - Clay Neal
Balladeer - Ron Daum
King - Daniel Bunten
Guard - Joey Klei

ACT THREE
Ella/Passionella - Megan Heffernan
Flip, The Prince, Charming - Clay Neal
Narrator - Ron Daum
Mr. Fallible - Joey Klei
A few other one-line roles to be assigned to those who have signed up
for ensemble

The reading will take place at Sherman Clay Pianos NW 13th & Davis in Portland's Pearl District at 7pm on Sunday, January, 24.

Sign-up for Apple Tree NOW!!!

The Score and Libretto are now available for download. Please email entractepdx@gmail.com to request links to each.

Cast sign-up is online as well. Go here to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/theapple - I'm trying this service out, we'll see how it goes.

NOTE: I have decided to split the female lead into three parts (it's a demanding role to play all three, and we have lots more women than men wanting to sing). In addition, the role of Snake, Balladeer, Narrator can be played by a man or woman.

For those who want to come, but don't want to play a featured role, consider signing up for the ensemble (there are a few small one-line roles not listed which will be given out the night of the reading).

Harnick & Bock's THE APPLE TREE set for January 24

We'll be kicking off our 2010 readings with the 1966 musical comedy, "The Apple Tree." The team of Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, after their phenomenal success with "Fiddler on the Roof" in 1964, wrote "The Apple Tree," which, at that time, was considered a unique musical due to its structure of 3 separate one-act plays. As in "Fiddler," they were fond of stories about man and morality, how you learn life's lessons through experience. The original production of this show starred Barbara Harris, Larry Blyden, and (following in his father's footsteps as a Broadway leading man) Alan Alda.

Here's the breakdown of the show: Act I - The Diary of Adam and Eve. Based on a story by Mark Twain, this chronicle is infused with incomparable wit and a homespun sense of humor that identified Twain as the genius that he was. It starts at the very beginning and takes us from Adam and Eve's awakening through their 'married' lives with sons Cain and Abel through to the end with Eve's death. It is simplicity at the core which makes this yarn work with all of its inferences to what makes man and woman tick, their differences and idiosyncrasies - and the simplest message of all: true love.

Act II - The Lady or the Tiger? Based on material by Frank R. Stockton, this short and satirical look at early civilization akin to the Roman Empire, deliciously shows man's obsession with power, control and greed. No more the innocence of Adam and Eve. When a prisoner is punished, he must choose one of 2 doors, a temptress waiting behind one and a ferocious tiger behind the other. But like The Price Is Right- it, too, was like a game, a sport, after all - each door represents the unknown. Captain Sanjar and Princess Barbara are put to the test of love, when their clandestine affair is discovered and he is arrested. To save him, the Princess finds out behind which door the tiger lies, but when she learns that her lovely servant Najira is the lady behind the other door, her jealousy consumes her. She will lose her lover either way.

Act III - Passionella. Based on a story by Jules Feiffer, who adores the cartoon to show the foibles of humanity and does it to perfection, this is life contemporary, where greed is king and the winner takes it all. A parody of Cinderella, a hardworking chimney sweep Ella, wants more than life to be a glamorous movie star and gets her wish thanks to fairy godfather (or, perhaps in our case, godmother), the narrator, who appears to her through a TV set. Passionella is turned into a star, but just for a few hours, of course. Life is grande until Passionella realizes how lonely she is. She meets rock star Flip who prefers his women 'down-to-earth.' With a clever reversal to the fairy tale's ending, the 2 lovebirds become...well, I won't spoil the surprise! Let's just say, the message reverts to Adam and Eve: true love wins out when life is unadorned, in its purest form.

A "casting" sign-up sheet will be posted soon. So get a copy of the recording to listen to now! Copies of the script and score can be obtained soon by request from David Baer (entractepdx@gmail.com) for you to learn the roles once you've signed-up.

Help Plan Entr'acte PDX for 2010

We'll be holding a planning and brainstorming meeting on Tuesday, Dec 8 at 7pm to discuss the following:

1) Picking shows and dates for early 2010 2) Finding more accompanists able to help support our sing-thrus 3) Identifying sources for scripts and scores For location and to RSVP, email davidbaer@gmail.com or call 914-522-9363.

Terrific Kick-Off

Thanks to the small, but eager group at last night's Entr'acte PDX opening night! We had a ball singing through most of the "Starting Here, Starting Now" score - and major kudos go out to our truly fantastic accompanist, Susan Peck who stepped in at the last minute.

A few solos were performed, but much of the evening was spent site reading the score together as a group. We all agreed that it was a very safe environment to experiment, explore, and perform with the encouragement of our peers and without any judgement. As we "cast" for future readings, we think it only right to do so non-traditionally, so those who may not have a chance to perform certain roles in a full production can do so in our company.

In our first gathering, we accomplished several of the goals we had in mind for this project: 1) We got a group together to sing through a show that many did not know beforehand - and got to discuss the work a bit; 2) new professional connections were made; 3) ideas were shared about how to further and better explore musical theatre literature in order to enrich the Portland area theatre community.

We also discussed some possible options for future shows to explore. Some which were lobbied hard for include: "I Do! I Do!," "Fiorello," and "Lady in the Dark" (though the possibilities are endless).

Next up: brainstorming meeting in early December to discuss our next event (any and all are invited to participate - details to follow soon). We plan to get together in January for our next gathering.

Time Change for Nov 15...

Due to a change with our accompanist, we have to delay the start time on Sunday, 11/15 by a half-hour. We will now start at 5:30pm at Sherman Clay Pianos in the Pearl District.