Kiss Me Kate Photos

In a recent post I told you I was directing the pit orchestra for the musical "Kiss Me Kate". This musical was a production of the Opera House in Spring Grove and took place in "Ye Olde Gray Barn". For those that aren't familiar with the summer musical in Spring Grove here is an overview.

Dinner is served "on the green" starting at 6:30. The meals and deserts are catered and awesome. They are also "show specific" meaning that they are meant to go with the time period/genre/ambiance/etc...of whatever show is being performed. After dinner in the billowy white and decorated tents, you find your chair on the hillside and watch a the show starting at 8:30 so that the sun is setting. The show is performed in a barn. The side walls open up to the stage, the orchestra sits in the hayloft on the upper right side (as you look at that stage), the dressing rooms are the horse stalls on the lower level. This is a horse barn in current use...with the horses moved out for the duration of the rehearsals and shows.

They have been doing this for YEARS in Spring Grove and the shows are well attended (hundreds of people attend over the 4 day run). It is a truly incredible sight to see if you've never done it before. Next year's show will (hopefully) be Fiddler on the Roof, so keep that in mind. Now for you viewing entertainment: pictures from the life of the "lofted pit orchestra people". Pictures are all compliments of trumpet extraordinaire Mike Ehr.

The Hillside
The dinner and snack tent

From Backstage
The catwalk in the loft. David (the director man in the pic.) spent most of the show up there running backdrops and curtains.

A Proud Norwegian Heritage in the community

The Barn
The Show
And Finally: My lofted PIT people






The view from the 3rd riser in the PIT orchestra's Loft

2 weeks from today...

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Kiss Me Kate

KISS ME KATE JULY 15-18, 2010

TICKETS ON SALE NOW
FOR
KISS ME KATE

http://www.yeoldeoperahouse.org/

Directed by Rachel Grippen and David Storlie
Choreography by Anna Smerud
Orchestra Directed by Andrea Brownlee
Produced by Mary Deters, Patricia McManimon-Moe and Jacob Grippen.

KISS ME KATE CAST
(in order of appearance)

"Pops" ~ Kristi Anderson
Hattie ~ Mary Deters
Wardrobe Mistress ~ Sara Kroshus
Ralph ~ Peter Zaffke
Nathanial ~ Kathrine Myrah
Philip ~ Annie Galloway
Dance Leader ~ Kaley Cross
Hortensio ~ Marley Benedum
Gremio ~ Tate Burcalow
Harry Trevor ~ Abe Mendez
Lois Lane ~ Rachel Gulbranson
Bill Calhoun ~ Alexander Lefebvre
Fred Graham ~ Mark Schroeder
Lilli Vanessi ~ Lindsay Mackie
1st Gunman ~ William Fried
2nd Gunman ~ Lee Epps
General ~ Tyler Engen

SYNOPSIS

Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate is a musical loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Director Fred Graham plays the lead role as Petruccio, and his ex-wife, the diva movie-star Lilli Vanessi, stars opposite him as Katharina (the "Kate" of the title) in an off-Broadway musical called "The Shrew." It's "Another Opening, Another Show" for them, and the pair bicker backstage as only people who have been in love can argue.

Meanwhile, Fred's new mistress, Lois Lane, who plays Bianca, explains to her broke boyfriend, Bill Calhoun, an actor playing Lucencio, that she's "Always True to You, Baby, In My Fashion." Bill loves her as much as he loves gambling. To settle both accounts, he signs Fred's name to an IOU for $10,000, causing the mob to take an interest in the financial success of "The Shrew." Meanwhile, the bouquet of flowers Fred sent to Lois for opening night is mistakenly delivered to Lilli, who is convinced that Fred still loves her, and she realizes she still loves him too.

In the middle of performing "The Shrew," Lilli storms off-stage when she discovers that the love poem in her bouquet was really written to Lois Lane. To this fol-de-rol, we add a pair of gangsters who join the cast to prevent Lilli from leaving the show. Lilli calls in the military: her fiancé General Harrison Howell, who is being courted as the next vice-president by President Truman and Candidate Dewey. The pace quickens after much sparring, on-stage and off. After the gangsters remind them to "Brush Up Your Shakespeare," the large cast comes together to finish the show, and Fred finally gets what he deserves after singing "Kiss Me Kate

DINING ON THE GREEN

Ye Olde Gray Barn, located just 1/4 mile east of Spring Grove, is a picturesque setting for outdoor theater. Since 1978, we've held a production in this historic horse barn.
Starting at 6:30pm, we invite you to come to the green and eat with us. Meals have been themed to go with our shows for many years, so this year, the menu has been dreamed up to fit with our Shakespearean theme, as well as our 1950's Baltimore crowd, where the play is set. We'll post the menu items and prices here as soon as we have them. Plan to come and enjoy the atmosphere, food, and crowd. We Spring Grover's are known to be a friendly bunch, and you might be able to sit down with us at our picnic tables and comment on the wonderful food.
You're likely to hear someone say "This is different." Though you won't know whether they are complementing the food or not, until you see them going back for another plate. We pride ourselves on having a 'different' menu each year, and we leave much of the creativity up to our local caterer, Angie Burns, who never lets us down with mouth watering food at low event prices. Let's make sure we use up all of her food. And remember to clean your plate.

PARKING

Parking is easy at the barn. The Strinmoen's have co-ordinated parking for as long as I can remember (at least since 1988). They will show you to the closest spot, and then, if you need assistance, will take you to the ticket booth and to your seat in an electric golf cart. The field where you will park is entered at the grain elevator 1/4 mile east of Spring Grove on Highway 44. Signs will show you the way.

The End

So...that pretty much the end of our vacation. We got up Saturday and were sent off with a french toast breakfast, said our goodbye's and road off into the...er...daylight. We hauled all the way to Wall, SD that night. It was a good ride and yes, we did stop by Wall Drug so that we could say we were there. There was a MASSIVE storm that night but we were already off the road. Several other bikers (from WI no less) were staying at the same hotel so that was fun. On Sunday, we visited friends of Duane (the Gundion families) in Plankton, SD. This was a great stop for the afternoon and much fun. We hadn't seen them since the wedding, and I'd never met Skip. After we left them, we went to Sioux Falls where we stayed with Aunt Joyce for the evening. We also had the chance to visit Mark and Nicole as well as Aunt Diane and Uncle Jim. Hopefully next time we'll get to stay a little bit longer.


So. That's it for now. I'll try not to wait too long before writing again. I just have to find the next semi-interesting story to tell.

Friday, June 18

Today, I have a massive headache so I don't intend on writing much...just posting the goods...








Friday we took a road trip to pick up Jon from a scholarship informational camp he'd been to. On the way we visited Rifle Creek Park. More BEAUTIFUL waterfalls (but this time ones you can climb around!)and some caves you can climb in. There is a campground located here and I would love to visit again and spend some more time. The pictures posted today are all from Rifle Creek. That night, after we got home from Grand Junction with Jon, Duane and I took the entire family out for pizza. It's the least we could do for their hospitality, and we'd be taking off in the morning. Check out these pics! (and please refer to earlier posts for the link to our account on snapfish if you'd like to see more).