This week, Deb and Joe discussed holiday shows:
Christmas Then and Now at the Downriver Actors Guild.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at Farmington Players.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever at the Starlight Theater.
Sing in the Season at Birmingham Village Players.
Jef Fisk and Theresa Selvaggio from Grosse Pointe Theater talk about GPT leaving the Grosse Pointe War Memorial after 58 years and what the future holds for the theater.
Subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website. Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
This week, Deb and Joe discuss the impact the recent election could have on participation in community theater. They also talked about actors auditioning for roles in shows.
Shows playing:
Stagecrafters - The Best Man (Nov 17-19 – 8:00, Nov 19 also at 2:00 pm)
Grosse Pointe Theater - The Sunshine Boys (Nov 17-19 – 8:00)
St Dunstan’s – The Misfit Elves Epic Pirate Adventure – children’s show (Nov 19-20 at 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm
Upcoming opening:
Avon Players - Forever Christmas (Nov 25-Dec 10, Fri-Sat, 8 Sun, 2)
Paul’s Players - Steel Magnolias (One weekend only- November 18-20
Fri-Sat, 7:30, Sun, 2)
Auditions:
Avon Players - Escanaba in da Moonlight (Nov 28-29, starts at 6:30)
Downriver Actor’s Guild – School of Rock (Sun, Nov 27 – 5-9:00 Tues, Nov 29 – 6:30-10:00)
Subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website. Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
This week, Deb and Joe travel to Richmond Community Theater to talk to Craig McNabb, director of Dinner with Friends, opening on October 21.
Other openings:
Rosedale Players – Minus Some Buttons
October 28-November 12, Fri/Sat at 8 and Sun at 2
Starlight Theater– The Toxic Avenger
October 28-November 6, Fri/Sat at 7:30, Sun at 2
Also – auditioning Best Christmas Pageant Ever – already had first night but second night is this Sunday, Oct 23, 2:30-4:00 (adults and kids)
Birmingham Village Players – Mame
October 28-November 13, Fri/Sat at 8, Sun at 2
Auditions:
Clarkston Village Players – Consider the Oyster (farce comedy)
October 23-23, starts at 6:00 PM at Depot Theatre
Downriver Actor’s Guild – Chicago
October 24-25, starts at 6:30 PM
Subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website. Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
This week, Deb and Joe take the show to the St. Dustan's Theater in Bloomfield Hills. Deb is appearing in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" and we discussed the show with Director Marcus Laban and Board member Stephanie Peltier discussed their upcoming season.
Upcoming shows:
Downriver Actors Guild (Wyandotte) – Bonnie & Clyde
Oct 14-29, Fri/Sat 7:30 and Sundays at 3:00
Also upcoming….auditioning Chicago – Oct 24-25, 6:30-10:00
Spotlight Players (Canton) – Haunting of Billop House
Oct 20-23, Thurs/Fri/Sat, 7:30, Sat/Sun matinee at 2:00
St. Dunstan’s (at Cranbrook) – Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Oct 14-29, Fri/Sat, 8:00, Sun 2:00
Also upcoming…auditioning August, Osage County - Oct 17-18, starting at 6:30 (callbacks following second night of auditions on 10/18)
Stagecrafters 2nd Stage (Royal Oak) Trevor
Oct 14-23, Thurs/Fri/Sat, 8:00, Sun 2:00
Also upcoming…auditioning In the Heights on the Main Stage – Oct 15 registration starting at 9:00 AM and auditions starting at 10:00, Oct 16 – call backs only, starting at 5:00 PM
Auditions:
Grosse Pointe Theater (Purdon Studio) – Love, Loss and What I Wore
Oct 15, 2:00-5:00
Callbacks Oct 16, 6:00-8:00
Subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website. Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
This week, Deb and Joe head to the Baldwin Theatre in Royal Oak, home of Stagecrafters.
Deb shares audition details for Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells at Barefoot Productions in Plymouth and the opening of Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap at the Starlight Theater in Waterford.
David Musslewhite, director of Trevor on Stagecrafters' 2nd Stage, discusses the Michigan premiere of this show. Shar Douglas, director of The Best Man, discusses that show and the rest of the theater's season.
Subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website. Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
This week, Deb and Joe take the show to the venerable theater on 12 Mile Road known as "The Barn," home of Farmington Players.
Deb and Front Row Podcast get mentioned this week in a Detroit News article.
Show openings this week include "Sleepy Hollow - A Musical" at the Downriver Actors Guild and "The Vast Difference" at Farmington Players. Upcoming auditions include "Fiddler on the Roof" at Grosse Pointe Theatre and "Elf, The Musical" (youth production) at the Village Players of Birmingham.
Our special guests this week are Tony Targan and David Reinke. Tony (director of Spamalot) discusses the history of The Barn (it really was a barn) and about the theater in general. He shares the upcoming season of "The Vast Difference," "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," "Becky's New Car," and "Monty Python's Spamalot." David, the director of "The Vast Difference" talks about the show and his involvement in the premier production of the show in the nineties.
Learn more about Farmington Players by reading Tony's blog.
Subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website. Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
Deb and Joe take the show to the Players Guild of Dearborn this week.
The coming of International Podcast Day on September 30, 2016 excites Joe into a state of mania.
Show openings this week include Two by Two at the Players Guild, South Pacific at the Spotlight Players in Canton Township and Singin' in the Rain at Grosse Pointe Theatre.
Our special guests this week are Ron Williams and Brian Townsend. Ron shares a little history about the theater and shares the upcoming season of Two by Two, Legally Blonde, Arsenic and Old Lace, A Lion in Winter and Sugar. Ron, the director of Legally Blonde discusses the upcoming auditions for the show. Brian shares his experience with being a member of the cast of Two by Two and promotes the theater's upcoming fundraiser Murder at the Courthouse, coming up on October 29th.
Subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website. Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
In FRP 005, Deb and Joe visited Ridgedale Players in Troy (248-988-7049).
“The overture is about to start,
You cross your fingers and hold your heart,
It's curtain time and away we go,
Another op'nin', another show”
Joe and Deb space on the show of origin of that song while introducing the big opening week in Detroit community theatre. Joe was sure that the Cole Porter tune is in Anything Goes, so of course it can actually be found in Kiss Me Kate.
Show openings include Once Upon a Mattress at Richmond Community Theater, Assassins at Avon Players, Plaza Suite at Village Players of Birmingham, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Barefoot Productions, Lend Me a Tenor at Clarkston Village Players and the season kickoff fundraiser of I’ll Be Waiting at Rosedale Community Players, Disney’s The Little Mermaid at Stagecrafters and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown at our host theater, Ridgedale Players.
As the hosts offered each cast to “Break a Leg,” Deb explained the origin of that phrase. You can find many of these in an article by Eddie Deezen.
Our special guests this week are Eileen White and Aaron Filipski of Ridgedale to talk about their new season (You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, The Haunting of Hill House, Urinetown – The Musical and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. Eileen and Aaron discuss the two things Ridgedale Players are known for: great theater and serving sandwiches after each showv performance, a tradition dating back to the Great Depression.
Subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website. Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
This week, Deb and Joe traveled to 315 Fisher Road in Grosse Pointe Farms, home of the legendary Grosse Pointe Theatre!
Discussion kicked off with recognition of Sterling Civic Theatre winning the 4 The Best award for Best Theater Group for the fourth year in a row.
Grosse Pointe Theatre's vice president, Danielle Caralis, talked about the upcoming season: Singin' in the Rain, The Sunshine Boys, Fiddler on the Roof, The Glass Menagerie and Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Visit their website for ticket information or call (313) 881-4004.
Zak Shugart discussed his starring role as Don Lockwood in Singin' in the Rain.
You can subscribe to Front Row Podcast in iTunes, or visit our website.
Contact the show directly via email info@frontrowpodcast.com or leave your comments on our hotline at 248-631-4077.
In FRP 003, Deb and Joe run down auditions at: Stagecrafters for The Best Man, Spotlight Players for Moon over Buffalo and Warren Civic Theatre for Shrek The Musical, Jr.. Show openings include: The Starlight Theater for Disney's The Lion King, Jr. Richmond Community Theater's Once Upon a Mattress.
Legendary community theater choreographer Valerie Mould says goodbye to our community during our feature interview. She discusses memories from both on and off stage during her thirty years in this area, as well as what the future holds.
Contact Front Row Podcast at the website or email at info@frontrowpodcast.com
In FRP 002, Deb and Joe visit Village Players of Birmingham. Kathleen Duffy, the president of Village, discussed the upcoming season and her own acting pursuits - appearing soon in the Players Guild of Dearborn's upcoming production of Two By Two. Michael Gravame, director of Village's production of Mame, discussed the show and the upcoming auditions.
Contact Front Row Podcast at the website or email at info@frontrowpodcast.com
Front Row Podcast - All about Community Theatre in the Metropolitan Detroit area. Hosted by Deb Dworkin and Joe Munem, the show focuses on the talented artists working on all levels in local community theatre.
FRP 001, the premier episode of the podcast, was recorded at Avon Players in Rochester Hills. Deb and Joe discuss what the show is all about, a little about their own backgrounds in theatre and in life. They promoted upcoming auditions for shows in the Detroit area: Downriver Actors Guild - "Bonnie & Clyde," Grosse Pointe Theatre - "The Sunshine Boys," The Lakeland Players - "Heaven Can Wait," Pontiac Theatre IV - "Disney Beauty and the Beast," Rosedale Community Players - "Minus Some Buttons," Spotlight Players - "The Haunting of Billop House," St. Dustan's Theatre Guild - "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," Stagecrafters - "Trevor" & "The Best Man," The Starlight Theater - "The Mousetrap," Village Players of Birmingham - "Mame."
In this episode, two local theaters were thrown into the spotlight: Joe interviewed Larry O'Grady of Sterling Civic Theater. Both Deb and Joe spoke with JD Deierlein, president of Avon Players and the director of their season opening show Assassins.
Contact Front Row Podcast at the website or email at info@frontrowpodcast.com