PAGE 4 — THE COUGAR CRY, MAY 10, 1974
You ’re Doing Fine - OKLAHOMA
You’re Doing
Fine
When Rodgers and Hammer-
stein wrote the lyric, “You’re
doing fine, OKLAHOMA,” they
could not only have been talk
ing about the state but the en
tire show as well. Like most
musicals, OKLAHOMA is a
light and entertaining show. It
involves hard work, with pre
cisely choreographed m o v e-
ments, not to mention the musi
cal scores, technical work, cos
tume designs, and hours of re
hearsals. Rodgers and Ham-
merstein devoted their best tal
ents to help them produce the
musical, and we feel that WCXJ
is fortunate to share the bene
fits of these talents.
The Set
The set for the musical pro
duction will be the typical OK
LAHOMA setting with farm
house, barn, shed, an old
smokehouse, com fields, and, of
course, that “bright golden haze
on the meadow.”
The technical crew is under
the direction set designer of
Bud Mayes, along with Debbie
Frazier, Steve Woodie, and
Ralph Holbrook.
Other important members of
the production are Sue Dun
can, Assistant Director; Ralph
Holbrook, Stage Manager; and
Lighting and Properties, Susan
Zachary.
The Principals
The principals in OKLA
HOMA have put many hours of
long, hard work into develop
ing the characters they portray.
Some have been involved in
previous straight, comic, and
musical plays. For others, it
will be the first foot on a stage.
The principals in OKLAHOMA
include Eric Jennings as Curley
McLean. Eric is a student at
Appalachian where he is major
ing in Speech. Laurey Williams
is portrayed by June Waugh, a
chorus teacher at North High.
Aunt Eller Murphy, a buxom,
hearty woman is played by
Molly Beers, a co-owner of
Brenda’s Ladies Apparel. A
band director at West High ap
pears as the purky Ado Annie
Carnes. Will Parker, a rough-
tqugh cowpoke is played by
Charles Hale of WCC. John
Cashion portrays Ali Hakim,
Persian peddler. The villain of
the show is Jud Fry, played by
David Aaron of WWWC radio.
Other principal roles will be
played by Bill Frazier, a junior
at Alexander Central. Cord
Elam is played by Jim Robin
son, a WCC student in the
Hotel-Motel Management pro
gram. Denise “Rusty” Rush
will play the giggly Gertie
Cummings. Denise is also a
student at WCC. Jeff Reeves
will play a cowpoke friend to
Will Parker. Jeff, too, is a stu
dent at WCC. Ron White will
play Andrews Cames, the “rab
bit-shooting” Paw. Ron is also
a student at WCC.
J
Perfect Springtime Show MUSICAL DIRECTORS
Have you ever tried to piece
together anything that at first
seemed an impossibility? After
you did you probably sat back
and admired yourself as well
as marvelled at your creative
talents, previously dormant.
Well, such things are happen
ing with the cast of OKLA
HOMA.
Imagine one room with act
ors, another with dancers, and
yet another with musicians and
vocalists. Bring them together
and you have a hodge-podge of
total confusion. Look ahead at
your deadline, and then you
realize that something has to
give.
On May 10, the College
Theatre will present its first
full-scale musical under the di
rection of Bud Mayes. The re
hearsals have continued stead
ily for the past six weeks, and
the production is now ready to
be shared with the Wilkes com
munity. Cast members come not
only from the college itself,
but also from elementary and
high school students, teachers,
residents of Boone, and others
with varied occupations. Mr.
Mayes informs us that it is an
“excellent” cast that has been
a tremendous challenge for the
director. He promises a “fan
tastic” show.
As Mayes took a few minutes
from his busy schedule to talk
with us about the production,
we learned that OKLAHOMA
will be the “perfect springtime
show,” It is pure entertain
ment for the family and all
ages. Mayes commented on the
hard-working cast, chorus, and
orchestra as being “harmoni
ously suited for the WCC
stage.” Concerning the orch
estra, Mayes states that Dr.
Mayer has it uniquely placed in
the auditorium.
One of the difficult tasks of
any director is to instill a char
acterization within the actor
and his role. However, Mayes
commented that each member
of OKLAHOMA had a distinc
tive character in his or her
assigned role. He suggested
that this is “No copy of the
Broadway or movie versions,”
Mayes is enthusiastic about
the musical. In turn, each
member of the cast is excited.
It is the hope of the director,
as well as each cast member,
that the audience will be just
as excited. OKLAHOMA is do
ing fine, and in our opinion so
are Bud Mayes and his cast.
'^Sandy And Her Dancers
In any musical the person
who has a most difficult job is
the choreographer. The lady
who has this task in OKLA
HOMA is a most accomplished
ballet instructor known to her
friends as “Sandy.”
Sandy Smalling, a graduate
of Virginia Intermont College
in Bristol, was a fine arts
major. She has chosen to teach
dance as her career.
Sandy has given innumerable
hours to choreographing such
things as a ballet which will be
performed by seven girls to the
song “Many A New Day.” She
says that this has been one of
her “most pleasing” dances.
There is also a lively dance
performed by the guys to the
song “Kansas City.” This num
ber includes tap dancing and
other lively steps. Other dance
sequences include a fast-moving
square dance performed to
“The Farmer and the Cowman.”
Sandy has described this dance
as “pure fun.” The “Dream
Ballet” has been the greatest
challenge for the choreograph
er, but it will be stunning as it
is performed on stage.
The job of teaching dance to
us with the two left feet has
not been very easy. But Sandy
was there whenever she was
needed. Her patience has been
extraordinary; her kindness,
even more. The lovely and
graceful choreographer has
been there to help each dancer
individually and has always
given encouragement to those
who felt they could never do
it.
From each of the dancers
who has worked most closely
with Sandy, and from each
member of the OKLAHOMA
cast, “we think you’re pretty
GRAND!”
The people who were chosen
by Sandy Smalling and Bud
Mayes as dancers in the show
are Kara Carpenter, Donna
Duncan, Karen Kitchens, Pam
Long, Peggy Gambill, Penny
Mitchell, and Diane Prevette.
The guys are as follows:
Charles Hale, Red Jones, Jeff
Reeves, Jim Robinson, and Len-
nie McMillan.
COME Am
SEE
OKLAHOMA
COSTUMES
Costumes? for twenty-six
people! Ann Moffett and Helen
Cashion have had the difficult
task of creating costumes for
the OKLAHOMA production.
The costumes will consist of
country style dress for the ma
jority of the cast. The girls
will wear long full skirts with
petticoats and fancy drawers.
The guys will be attired in
jeans, flannel shirts, and cow
boy boots.
Both ladies have worked with
great enthusiasm hour upon
hour designing, fitting, and
sewing the costumes. Even
though they are not world re
nowned Edith Head, we think
they are really great!
Two men who are seen
around campus quite often are
Dr. Bob Mayer and newcomer.
Dr. Dick Neubert. These two
men are also contributing their
talents to OKLAHOMA. Dr.
Mayer is directing the orches
tra for the musical. Many of
the members have had to drive
from Boone for the rehearsals.
The orchestra makes the musi
cal more vivid for the audience
and brings just that special
touch of a Broadway flavor to
an amatetur stage.
Dr. Neubert has had the task
of transforming into songbirds
who need additional vocal train
ing for the musical.
Those unidentified sounds
from Room 312 can be identi
fied on May 10. Some of us
have discovered that there is a
B-Flat as well as a B-Sharp.
Also, that not only is there a
tenor, but that there are both
a first and a second.
Those members of the cast
who are in the chorus include
the following: Donna Edwards,
Fran Edwards, Sharon Hayes,
Jim Billings, Bill Moffett,
Kathy Walters, and Cindy
Adams. Orchestra members are
. , , Violins, Charles Earp, Ro
bert Mayer, Ken Rausk; Viola,
Louise Hahn; Cello, Dorothy
Earp; Flute, Donna Dabrowski;
Oboe, Pam Bailey; Clarinet,
William Wilson, Charles Hul-
cher; Bassoon, Tonja Dabrow
ski; Trumpet, Charles Myers,
Terry Barnhardt; Trombone,
James Orr; French Horn, James
Eller, Albert Williams; Bass,
Edward Baity; Piano, Richard
Neubert.
OPENING INFORMATION
OKLAHOMA opens at the
Theatre on Friday, May 10, at
8:00 p.m. Admission will be
$2 for adults and $1 for stu
dents. A morning performance
for local high school students
will be given on Monday, May
13, at 10:00 a.m. in the College
auditorium. The production
will be on tour the 14 and 15.
The concluding performances
will be Thursday, Friday, and
Saturday (May 16 -18) at WCC,
Make plans now to attend one
of the above performances,
OKLAHOMA! — O.K.?
ft