CELEBRATION Cast Signup

The Score and Libretto are now available for those who need copies of them. Please email entractepdx@gmail.com if you need them.

Cast sign-up is online as well. Click here to sign up.

There are four roles (3M, 1F) plus an ensemble, and someone is needed to read stage directions.
The reading is SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 21. Please check your calendar before committing to a role.

Apple Tree Pix

Thanks to the brilliant crew of performers and our savior of the evening, KJ, who willingly and ably took control at the keyboard. THE APPLE TREE was brought to life at an energetic and enjoyable workshop reading on January 24. Some participants knew the show well. Others had never encountered it before. We all left with a greater sense of what the piece was about, and a new admiration for each other's talents in bringing it off the page and into the open.

Apple Tree Workshop Reading Details

We are down to just over a week before our first reading of a book musical. I'm very excited to hear all of our participants lend their voices to the characters on the page.

Here are a few details about our reading for those planning to attend:

SCRIPTS AND SCORES - Please plan to bring your own copies. If you need to know where to get them, please email me
(davidbaer@gmail.com). I will have only a couple of extra copies just in case.

PRE-READING REHEARSAL - While we do not have a formal rehearsal, anyone who wishes to come in advance of the 7pm reading start time to review a song or two should feel free to do so. Our accompanist, Matt Insley, will be on hand starting at 5:30pm to help you through difficult sections or harmonies that you wish to review.

TIME, PLACE, and HOW TO GET IN - The reading will take place in the recital hall at Sherman Clay Pianos, located at NW 13th and Davis. The store closes at 5pm, so we MUST USE THE SIDE DOOR ON DAVIS. The door is locked from the outside, so you need to be let in. Someone will be monitoring the door between 5:30pm and 7pm. If you arrive after 7pm, YOU NEED TO CALL OR TEXT ME AT 914-522-9363 TO BE LET INSIDE.

WHY WE ARE DOING THIS - The goal of Entracte is to educate and enrich our collective knowledge of this art form, but also to network with fellow practitioners. We have a wide range of knowledge and experience among our participants. Please come with an open mind and willingness to both learn and share.

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.