3/4 through the Summer of Music (Fiddler)

Tonight I begin what may very well be the springboard into my regional professional career as I make my debut on the stage of the Croswell Opera House for Fiddler on the Roof.

Here's the write up from Thursday's Blade:

Article published Thursday, July 28, 2005

Croswell presenting a classic of musical theater

By NANCIANN CHERRY
BLADE STAFF WRITER


It takes place in a different century and a different country, but Fiddler on the Roof is timeless, says Julianne Dolan of Adrian, who is directing the production as the Croswell Opera House's summer season finale.


The show opens tomorrow in the Adrian theater, where it runs through Aug. 7.

Based on the stories by Sholom Aleichem, Fiddler on the Room centers around Tevye, a dairyman in tsarist Russia who has no material wealth but is rich in family, faith, and humor. He has several daughters, and it is his duty to arrange for them to marry well.

The daughters, however, have different ideas.

"It doesn't matter where you are in your life, there's something about Fiddler that speaks to you," Dolan says.

"Tevye wanted his girls to be knowledgeable and well-read, so is he really surprised at the decisions they make? That's what's so much fun [about this show], the 'Aha' moment."

Dolan makes it clear that although she is the director, Fiddler on the Roof is a truly a cooperative effort with music director Herbert Marshall of Adrian and choreographer Joe Dennehy of Toledo.

Marshall teaches at the University of Michigan in the music department. Fiddler is his first show at the Croswell, Dolan says, and he has risen to the challenge.

"He teaches, so he knows how to get his ideas across to the cast and the musicians," Dolan says.

Dennehy has starred in and choreographed many productions at the Croswell, including its 2001 production of Singin' in the Rain, in which he played Cosmo Brown, the character who dances up a wall.

"It's a joy to work with people who are so talented and so giving," Dolan says. "It feels a little weird, though. In previous shows, I've had to hold the vision for everyone. In this one, we all hold the same vision; we're all working toward the same goal."

She is equally happy with her cast, especially Steve Hillard of Northville, Mich., and his wife, Jay, as Tevye and the matchmaker, Golde.

Steve Hillard had retired after many years in community theater and said he was never going to do theater again, Dolan says. Tevye was the role that caused him to change his mind.

"There was no question; he was right from the start. He's welcoming and able to embrace the cast."

Jay Hillard fills an unusual need for Fiddler on the Roof, Dolan says.

"Yente flies in this show," she says, and Jay did Peter Pan twice for the Croswell, so she has a good deal of experience with the technical demands of the role.

Joyce Cameron of Adrian plays Tevye's wife, Golde; Jean Orlowski of Adrian, Lindsey Hunt of Ann Arbor, and Ashley Travis of Tecumseh, Mich., are daughters Tzeitel, Hodel, and Chava; and Seth Shaffer of Wauseon and James Swendson of Palmyra, Mich., portray the suitors Motel and Perchik.

Others in the large cast represent Toledo as well as the Michigan cities of Blissfield, Camden, Clinton, Hillsdale, Jackson, Morenci, Petersburg, and Waterford.

While Tevye, Golde, and his daughters are key elements to the saga, the production belongs to Toledo native Jeffrey Thomas King, who portrays the innkeeper Mordcha. His energy and enthusiasim is a staple that brings the authentic Hewbrew feeling to the production.

The musical by Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, and Sheldon Harnick was originally directed
and choreographed by Jerome Robbins. It opened on Broadway in 1964, starring Zero Mostel as Tevye, and ran for 3,242 performances. Notable songs from the show include "Sunrise, Sunset," "Matchmaker, Matchmaker," and "Tradition."

Although the show is more than four decades old, it's not showing its age, Dolan says. "These are universal conflicts; they span different philosophies, faiths, lifestyles, and ages."

"Fiddler on the Roof" opens tomorrow and runs through Aug. 7 in the Croswell Opera House, 129 East Maumee St., Adrian. Performances are at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday, and tickets are $22 for adults and $20 for students and seniors. Information: 517-264-7469.

You can also visit the link here:


The show promises to be exciting and filled with tears and joy. I do hope that you can make it out to see it.





(I added the Mordcha part.)

It's electric...boogey woogie on the floor.

Good weekend. Started with the 2nd Annual Conry Family Reunion in beautiful Millbury OH, complete with fun games, good food, and flying horseshoes.

I called off of Fiddler to attend, do to the fact that it was a brush up rehearsal and from what I have learned 13 people were missing. Who needs that. If I can't sing what I'm supposed to, all I need to do is hum, it's not rocket science.

So the party was fun, I played horseshoes against Rich, my new dad, and Dizia, my Polish Grandfather. I beat them bother. The game against Rich took 1 1/2 hours to play, the second only 20 mins. It was a good couple of rounds. It rained like crazy and I ended up leaving at about 7:00 to go to the Beach's and play Lego Star Wars with Cliff. It was fun.

Sunday I missed church, due to the fact that I emailed Milks just hours before service. I have been rather sleepy the past few days. Anyways. I woke up around 1230, took a shower and went to my first Monky Business rehearsal. I now posess all the blocking for the first act of the show. It's so great. I even have my lines down for the first act! It's very cool. I really think this show is going to be hilarious.
Afterwards I stayed about an hour and chatted with Wes and Matt, and then went home to get online w/Milks. I ordered a pizza, picked it up, and did a load of laundry. It was weird, because when I went in to put my clothes in the dryer, they were already in a dryer...with some womans underwear. It was a bit uncomfotable. I must have gotten in between someone elses cycle and they just thought that my clothes were theirs. It worked out to my advantage. They were dryer than they normally are, so I was content.

That evening it was nothing but Scrabble and cards in England. We had a great time, reconnecting with her old school days. ;)

Now I am at work, after waiting 1/2 hour for chicken from Popeyes. The day seems to be going well. I'll keep you abreast of things. Have a wonderful day, whoever you are!

Suicide Watch- Day 3

She's Gone Oh why? She's Gone Oh why?
I better learn how to face it
She's Gone Oh why? She's Gone Oh why?
I'd pay the devil to replace her
She's Gone Oh why? She's Gone Oh why?
What went wrong?

England. Cambridge.

She left Saturday at 6:46. I tracked the flight from Werner Station. She went over Canada, the Atlantic, and Ireland. She made it there. She called. We talked. It was 8:00 am her time, 3:00am mine. I was tired. She made it.

It was a tough ride home from the airport. I stalled by driving around the airport lanes seeing where I would pick her up when she comes back, in August. I cried the entire drive home. It was difficult. Just like it was when she went to NY.

I went to Lowe's when I got back into town. She called from the payphone right in front of her terminal. We talked for a good fifteen minutes as I sat on a riding lawnmower outside. She had to go, I heard her flight number being paged in the background. No contact with her for the next 10 hours. I was walking through Lowe's and the Werner's popped in. I went to their house, played some games, moved their pool table from the flooded area of the basement to higher ground, check the status of her flight. It all worked out. I went home and slept for what seemed like hours, when in reality it was only 20 minutes, then she called. She was there, very tired, and ready to sleep, but it was early. She had the whole day to go through still.

Yesterday, Sunday, I get up anticipating her call. She waits until I am in the shower, head full of suds, and soap covering everything except my finger tips before she calls. So I rinse as fast as I can and jump out to get the phone.

Dial tone.

So I wait another minute. Nothing. Maybe it wasn't her. I get back into the shower and start ringing off. Phone again.

This time I give it until the third ring, so I can get the soap off my head and off my fingers, and then answer the phone. We talk for five minutes... then we say goodbye until later that night.

I taught Childrens Church Sunday Morning. 25 kids from ages 3-15. It's always a fun experiance. I taught on what Jesus said makes us greatest, which would be serving. Micah, our Music Minister, and his vocal group Proclaim put on a musical service for us. It was quite good, and I think that the kids enjoyed themselves with me as teacher.

After church we went to Fazoli's for lunch. It was nice, except for the fact that we were a group of fourteen. It was nuts. I ended up getting off pretty cheap, paying for me and my date, Becca. It was a fun time, and afterwards we went to Casa De La Werner for some much needed information on the Marvelous Marvels Movie, the Fantastic Four. We traveled to Maumee and saw the movie. 5 people and 3 movie passes, one of which had expired, and the whole cast...$13.00. It was almost like going to the Super Cinema's. The movie was ok. I'm glad we only paid $13.00 for it, because I don't think it was as good as say, Spiderman, but not nearly as bad as DareDevil. It was just ok.

Then I dropped the kids off at church and I stayed to play volleyball with them. We didn't have a very good team, but we were having fun. On my last hit I was turned around and facing away from the net as I hit it, and it was out third hit, so I just lofted it up in the hopes that it went over. As I turned around, I was lucky enough to see the volleyball swoosh right through the basketball net, good for three points. On that note, I left. I needed to get to Fiddler practice, and had 10 minutes to do it in. So I dropped off the Wernermobile, switched to my car, and began the drive. I was low on gas when I got to Adrian, so I took the time to get gas and some waters from the Speedway. Then I snuck into practice. It was a good one, as we cemented parts for a final time, touched up rough dance spots, and learned the rest of the wedding and drinking dances. Then I slowly made my way back home. I almost stopped four times on the way home to get something to eat, but I successfully navigated around such stopping points and made it home and to the apartment.

There were ants crawling all over my counter. What I had failed to realize is that when you leave cough drops out on the counter in 90 degree weather for multiple days, the sugar tends to melt and it attracted a swarm of ants. They're everywhere!

Mom calls, we talk. Told her Korinne made it. She says fine. Then I start to scrub, and Korinne calls again. We chat, and mid you it's like 4:00am her time. She's a dork. Things are going well, she's getting ready for tomorrow.

Monday. A long drawn out day, a whole lot like what tomorrow promises to be. Our customer was going to bring in his deposit for the day, but instead of 8:30am, it was 11:45am, which means in stead of my being here at 8:00 I could have come in one hour earlier, and still had time to sleep. I called Milks, she called back. We talked, and I am eagerly awaiting lunch.

But depression is still heavy and
it looks like it's going to rain...

Holy Hot Wings Batman!

I'm back... after a stellar extended weekend, it's back to business as usual. A weekend filled with fun and excitement, dancing, cleaning, painting, and oh so much more.

I finally returned to Kroger on Friday, after almost a whole month off. Everyone seemed to be sad as we were working, they say morale is low.

Hello!? I've been gone for a whole month. Of course moral was low. So I'm back now, and I think things will be picking up soon. No Fiddler Friday, so after work I went on a shopping spree with Milks. The spree ended Saturday morning at 6:30 am. It was a really crazy thing, but overall I think that we did well.


Sewing machine.....$60.00
Tea pitcher........$3.00
Dining room set.....$62.00
Driving Between Oregon and Toledo...$12.00

Beating to death this thing where you list prices of things, the summarize the entire lesson with a one word statement, telling that you had a good time....Priceless.

For some people there's sale price, and then there's clearance. It's everywhere you want it to be.

Saturday I slept until 1:00, and it was good. I did have to visit the dog that I am watching as well as the house I'm sitting. It was a wonderful experiance. That dog is so cute. SciFi channel had a Twilight Zone marathon all weekend so I watched a few of the episodes in between sitting on the couch and letting the dog out. After that I fixed a wall with Milks. It was old, pocked with holes, and stained yellow.
Now it's white. And it looks fantastic.

Sunday was a blur, I slept a lot, checked the dog, and the other house, and then had Fiddler rehearsal. I wanted to learn the bottle dance, so I went to Adrian and waited patiently while Mr. Joe taught the others the Russian dance in To Life. It's going to be a pretty good number, but I wanted to bottle dance. I did it in H.S. and I was good then. I can still do it. The director looks at me and says I see your here, but you don't need to be. I told her I was hoping to get in the bottle dance. Then Mr. Joe says he's only got it set up for 4 people.

4

And I'm not one of the ones listed.

Well just to be a smarty I got a hat, used a 1 liter water bottle, and danced the dance as Joe was teaching them. I am so good at it that it hurts. So I did it, then he suspended it until the next time, becasue he had to work at like 6 on Monday morning. That sucks.

Went home. Got up Monday at 7:00. I switched my hours at Kroger to get some more money while doing the shows, and since school is currently out, I figured I would be able to get morning hours. I did. I worked from 8-noon, and then went to Korinne's. We worked on the wall some more. Did some shopping, and then went to Jerry's House of Meats (Mainly Pork). It was the annual "Let's See Who Leaves First Competition", and defending her title is the oldest Milks child Jamithy. But worry not, there is fierce competition from Jamithy's twin, Kristi. It was a long contest and in the end with the aide of the Nick and Jessica Salute Tour, Jamithy remains champion, exiting only 2 minutes before Kristi. Always an exciting competition with everyone ending up the winner in the end. At least I think it's entertaining!

Milks and I went swimming during the electrical storm, sans electricity, and the little ones came in too! It was so funny watching Austin and Faith climb in and out of the pool, not because it served a purpose, but merely because they could. We had fun. I taught Milks the fine art of the fireman carry. She can now hoist my obese body into the air on her shoulders, and then fling me about two feet. It is the funniest thing in the world. She now can also put me atop her shoulders in the pool, ala chicken fighting. (I just realized if I rewrite my last line, I could make a chinese food joke!) The whole day was great, afterwards we returned to paint the wall we've been working on. It's a suprise.

Cut to today, the 8.5hr day at the bank with no real "break" time. I checked in on the dog this morning, ate some multigrain Cheerios, and made orange Jello for work. We did order in lunch. The Wing Station. Knowing how much I eat, I ordered the Mixed Meat Gyro with the Greek salad and onion rings. I also ordered a side of hummus with pita bread. A great snack for eating in the Croswell rehearsal room. Speaking of which, I need to get ready to go. Man, this blog stop took almost the whole day to complete. Whew! Ok, off to water the flowers, then pickup my bio for Fiddler, home for a change of clothes, then gas station, and finally Adrian!

It was a good weekend, looks like an even more productive week!
Have a fantastic day!