And now for a word about the Racine Theater Guild’s summer musical: “The Andrews Brothers” – which, as the photo above suggests, is not exactly “Hamlet.” This show is basically an excuse to enjoy about twenty hits by the Andrews Sisters. . . which for those of you who are too young to recognize the name, were a hugely popular trio back in the 40’s and 50’s. (Ever heard of a little song called “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”?) In this story, the Andrews Sisters are slated to perform a U.S.O. engagement (singing for our troops) but they end up being quarantined because of Chicken Pox, and the Andrews Brothers- who are just three stage hands – are persuaded by a new friend to go on in place of the Andrews Sisters so the soldiers won’t be disappointed by the No-Show.
I am impressed with so many things in this show, including the ease and nonchalance with which Zach, Andrew and Patrick are wearing their dresses and high heels, but that wouldn’t matter a whit if they weren’t singing well and dancing up a storm. (If we could somehow harness the energy from their big tap dance number, we could power the whole state of Wisconsin for a week!) Rounding out the cast is Christine Burgess, who many years ago was “Star-to-Be” in our production of “Annie.” She has grown into a lovely and very talented young lady and is absolutely perfect in the role of Peggy Jones, a young up-and-coming USO performer who cheers on the Andrews Brothers while singing up a storm herself.
In addition to teaching the score to our four singers, I am also in charge of pulling together the accompaniment- which for this show consists of me (piano) Jane (keyboard) Mike G. (bass) Mike K. (trumpet) and Rich (drums.) This is a lively score with some tricky challenges, but fortunately this is a very gifted and patient group of musicians, and together we are figuring things out pretty darn well. The biggest challenge for me is to get all of the tempos firmly in my head, since many of the songs really need to be done at a very precise tempo. (Too slow and and the song drags- but too fast and the guys kill themselves trying to keep up with the dance!) I am actually thinking about cheating with a metronome perched on the piano – obviously rigged so it only lights up rather than clicks out loud. I think having that little helpmate with me will save me an ulcer or two!
The show may be a smaller scale production than “The Producers,” but once again it proves the point that a show only succeeds when there are good people offstage as well as onstage! This show has a very capable crew, and I’m especially impressed that several guys who performed in “The Producers” volunteered to be on the crew for this production. Doing back-to-back shows is always an impressive gesture, but especially when the first show was as challenging and exhausting as “The Producers.” (I’m convinced that there is an especially comfortable corner of heaven reserved for good souls who get such pleasure from volunteering their time on behalf of others.)
Thinking about the crew reminds me of a neat moment from the newest book by Rafe Esquith, “Lighting a Fire.” He’s an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles who is most famous for having turned on hundreds and hundreds of inner city 5th graders at Hobart Elementary School to the joys of Shakespeare. One of the stories he tells in his book is about how he got to bring some of his students to the one-man show by award-winning actor Ian McKellen. Afterwards when they got to meet him backstage, he asked them how many people were in the play. One of the students immediately replied “one.” “Oh no,” McKellen replied, and he proceeded to introduce them one by one to all of the people backstage who had played any sort of role – from pulling the curtain to selling tickets to mopping the floor. McKellen ended up introducing them to THIRTY different people- and then said, just to drive the point home, “There is no such thing as a one-man show.” That was a powerful lesson for those 5th graders- and most of us need a reminder of that as well.
The Andrews Brothers opens Friday night and runs for the next two weekends. You can call 633-4218 for ticket information. I promise you a really fun time with some of the liveliest songs of the 20th century.
pictured above: Patrick, Zach and Andrew in a number where an audience member gets brought up onstage. In this case the “lucky” person was Pete Selkowe, from the Racine Post, who was there to take photos but ended up as a somewhat willing audience participant. (That’s the risk you run when you attend rehearsals.)