Feature article
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KTG unleashes season with ‘101 Dalmations’
By Jessica Fischer
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| Brianne Overbeek as Cruella De Vil |
Cast of children brings classic Disney tale to life
Kingsport Theatre Guild’s season-opening production is going to the dogs, but director Judy Womack wouldn’t have it any other way.
Womack is helming a cast of more than 50 youngsters in “Disney’s 101 Dalmations,” opening Saturday at the Kingsport Renaissance Center. It’s the latest in a string of children’s musicals she’s directed at KTG, including “The Secret Garden” and “The Wizard of Oz.”
“It’s a musical and I love musicals,” she said. “It’s influenced by the Disney animated cartoon, which is such a cute, cute show for kids and adults. And I love Cruella. She is so evil in a comic way, and hey, I would love to play Cruella myself in an adult version. But this is a kids version, and I do have a strong Cruella who is doing a great job of bossing her goons and everyone else around. I just enjoy working with the kids and have learned a few things over the years and feel the need to pass these things on.”
In a loving home on the edge of London’s Regents Park, Dalmation parents Pongo (Drake Calo) and Perdita (Holly Matthews) are happily raising a bustling brood of puppies. Nanny (Emma Murray) cares for the lot of them, including their human owners Roger (Zak Schaftlein), a composer, and Anita (Abi Bell), an artist.
All is well until the family’s fabulously rich neighbor, the abominable Cruella De Vil (Brianne Overbeek), stops by to visit and takes notice of the puppies as a potential source for her new black-spotted fur coat. When Roger and Anita refuse to sell the puppies to Cruella, she plots with her bumbling henchmen, Horace (Tucker Shull) and Jasper (Brendon Liddle), to steal them.
Pongo and Perdita waste no time telegraphing a distress call to the dogs of London, who, along with a resourceful cat named Sergeant Tibbs (Bonnie Matthews), set out to free the imprisoned pups and the rest of the Dalmations in Cruella’s evil clutch.
“We have 30 puppies in all,” Womack said. “We have 15 what I call the ’P and P puppies’ — Pongo and Perdita puppies — and they have main roles as well as a few lines and are on stage more, then we have the other little puppies. We’ve got a couple of 3-year-olds in there, which is such an interesting experience. It’s so funny, they are so into this that they are telling the costumers exactly how many spots they need to have on their costumes.
“The costumes are so cute. The boxers have sweat suits, and then over the sweat suits they have boxer shorts and boxing gloves that one of the moms made, plus their hoody, and of course the makeup on their faces. The chihuahuas have cute little ponchos and big sombreros with their chihuahua ears sticking out. The poodles have poodle skirts, then we’ve got the Scotties who have their cute little tams. The costumes are just precious.”
For Womack, seeing her pint-size cast members mature in their acting abilities is just one of the perks of being involved in a children’s production such as this.
“They learn so much,” she said. “You can see a difference in the kids from show to show, how they gain confidence. In ’The Secret Garden,’ I had this guy come in and he was so shy. He’s doing two or three parts in this one, and he’s projecting and speaking, and is just so confident, so it’s just great. It’s just a good learning experience for them.”
Womack said the show is perfect not only for young actors, but also for young audiences.
“I think 3-year-olds certainly would enjoy this,” she said. “It doesn’t last longer than 45 minutes, and I think it will hold their attention. We’ve got some great choreography, and they sound really good with their singing.”
KTG is also using the production as an opportunity to team up with local animal rescue group Journey’s End to help educate its audiences about responsible pet ownership.
“When you choose a show like ’101 Dalmations,’ some community theaters won’t do the show because it just gives off this message that more puppies is better, and of course that’s not always the case,” said Sharon Hurd, KTG’s executive director. “I think you feel when you select shows that you have a responsibility to the community to educate and not always just entertain. This is an important subject — very, very important — and we felt like we could use the opportunity to have a captive audience and a big cast to talk about being a responsible pet owner — what that looks like, what that means, how you would choose a pet, and maybe a little bit of social awareness around the topic.
“Journey’s End has graciously accepted our invitation to come talk to the audience for a three-minute, very, very quick plea for organizations like that by either donating or just being responsible for your own pets by neutering and spaying. They’ll have a table set up and there will be a representative from Journey’s End for every show.”
It’s the first of several partnerships KTG has planned for its 2009-2010 season, which will continue with “A Christmas Story,” Dec. 10-20; the Tennessee premiere of “‘Til Beth Do Us Part,” from the playwrights of “Dearly Departed,” Feb. 12-21; “Tom Sawyer,” a tie-in to the City of Kingsport’s “Big Read” project, April 23-25; and a MainStage ONE ACT Festival, featuring students from KTG’s classes and workshops this year, June 18-20.
What folks won’t find on KTG’s schedule this year is “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,” which the theatre group has performed for the past 11 years.
“It was a very difficult decision for our board of directors to make,” Hurd said. “We know the community loves it, and it really has been a gift to the community for so many years now, but we had a lot of requests to do something different for a Christmas show, and you just can’t do two productions in the same month, so we opted to do another family production for Christmastime, and it’s ‘A Christmas Story,’ with the leg lamp and ‘you’ll shoot your eye out.’
“It’s a very, very classic show, and we’re going to try to keep it as traditional in the making as possible. Jessica Davis will be directing that, and we hope to have our same regular turnout from ‘Best Christmas Pageant.’ Maybe they’ll give us a try either way.”
Season sponsors are the City of Kingsport, Tennessee Arts Commission, Eastman, Pals, Eastman Credit Union, Integrity Capital Management and Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Homes.
“Disney’s 101 Dalmations” is sponsored by the City of Kingsport and Tennessee Arts Commission.
For tickets or more information about any of KTG’s shows, call 423-392-8427 or log onto kingsporttheatre.org.
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Kingsport Theatre Guild’s “Disney’s 101 Dalmations”
WHEN: 3 p.m., Oct. 10, 11, 17, 18; 10 a.m., Oct. 15
WHERE: Kingsport Renaissance Center
COST: $14, adults; $12, children/students/seniors 50 and older
CONTACT: 423-392-8427, wkingsporttheatre.org
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