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Valley Players

The Story of Willy Wonka

Welcome
This page is for the cast and crew of the Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. production by the Valley Players of Ligonier.

Show's Over! Cast Party's Done!
Congratulations to you all!!

Monday, June 22

A few last words...

The applause has died down, the lights have dimmed, the props are taken home, the set boxes are put away, the TV screen is down, and the theater is ready for another show.

If anybody's still reading this, note that there a few new pictures on the Even More Pictures page - just a few from our last pre-performance visit to the rehearsal room. Also, if you want your very own copy of the poster you made for Jeena and Yvonne, that's been added too: click here for the file. And, for those of you that are collecting all the newsletters, even the Cast Party Edition has been added to the newsletters page. (Wasn't the pool party a blast???!!)

I am proud of each and every one of you. During "Charlie," I used to joke about who was my favorite this-or-that: oompa-loompa, wonkette, gobstopper-passer, etc. I can't do that with this show. It's impossible for me to pick out my favorite red, or blue, or green, or purple, or yellow. I can think of something about each of you. That's what makes memories. I hope you had a good time, and that you take home some good memories. I wish you success in all you do.

See you at the Christmas show!

~ Byron

Friday, June 19

Awesome opening night!!! I am so very proud of all of you. The play was really well received.

Let's nail it again tomorrow afternoon.

Cast Party - Sunday after the show, at the Ramada Inn pool. Cost $7.00 per person. This is a closed cast party - cast and crew and stage parents only. Party includes pizza, drinks, a room to change in, and the use of the pool. Pick up time is 6:00 pm. Bring your swimsuit and towel to Sunday's show.

~ Byron

Wednesday, June 17

Hey! We made the Tribune-Review! Click here to read the article. Yeah, it came a day earlier than I expected, but we're there!

Here we are, counting down to dress rehearsal, and there's very little we need to worry about - as in there's nothing that has me really flipping out with panic. I think that's a good thing.

The last newsletter has been posted to the Newsletters Page.

Oh, and did you notice that there's even more pictures?

See you Thursday!

~ Byron

Sunday, June 14

New newsletter is online. Check it out at the Newsletters Page. Get a sneak preview of Monday's issue.

So, I saw the Hannah Montana movie this afternoon, since it was playing at the theater. No, not by myself. My two girls enjoyed it (so did my wife). Now, I have "pop it lock it polka dot it countrify then hip hop it" going through my head. Can anybody help? Maybe a couple runs through "Circulation" will help.

See you Monday at 5:00.

~ Byron

Saturday, June 13

Reminder: No rehearsal today. I hope nobody shows up at the theater by accident. Enjoy your weekend off, and see you Monday at 5:00 pm.

Well, my pool is open - anybody want to come? Speaking of which, somebody should remind us to talk about the cast party at Monday's rehearsal.

Study those lines...

~ Byron

Thursday, June 11

First time under the lights "for real" last night! Another rehearsal where we hit every part of the show.

We are now officially in Crunch Time according to Jeena. As you, the cast, are studying your books for the words, there are others who are pulling together the set and props.

More later....

It's later now. What was I going to say?

I have the comp tickets in hand! Let's see how many of you read this. Come up at Monday's rehearsal and ask me about the complimentary tickets. Cathi gave me enough for two tickets per family. That means that each of you will get two tickets, except for a couple of you. Sorry, Tate and Savannah and Ellie and Ruthie. :-(

Hope you all have a great weekend. The shirts should come in on Friday, and we'll pass them out on Monday. Remember the shirt rules: nobody (from the general public) gets to see them before opening night.

Come prepared Monday night! Wear the shoes and pants you'll use. Know all the words - study the middle part of Circulation. Walk through the steps. This week you'll probably work the hardest you have so far. And we will also finalize Interjections. You'll see......

You are going to be great!

~ Byron

Sunday, June 7

Well, we managed to work around the Patsy set on Saturday without killing ourselves. You all did reasonably well at that, considering the narrow door we had to deal with.

Please take a look at your books and notes before Monday's rehearsal. We found places in songs where words are missing, where the chorus is singing instead of the soloist, and where notes were a little off. Look at the music - follow the notes. You can only pick up so much from a CD, and you'll wind up singing it like the people on the CD, not like the unique group that you are.

Remember - Monday's rehearsal is at 5:00. Let's make it a great one. (We'll even remember to stop for a break this time.)

~ Byron

Friday, June 5

Two weeks from tonight is our opening! Only six more rehearsals to go! That should either get you excited or really worried. I hope that you're excited. We have a lot of work to do between now and then to put the finishing touches on a great show.

Thank you for your hard work at Wednesday's rehearsal upstairs, and for putting up with me in the absence of Yvonne and Jeena. I hope you remember all that we went over. Keep looking at those books - get the words to the songs in your head, and the parts, and the timing. It's "everyone" not "everybody" the first time. Remember "know {beat} Like a (whoever)!"

Hard deadline for the Break-a-leg-Sally ads (aka Happy Ads) is Tuesday June 9th. That means you can get them to me on Monday evening, or call or stop by the theater office on Tuesday and catch Cathi. The theater phone number is 724-238-6514.

Shirts should be here in a week or so. And what Maria says to Miss Nicely will go for everybody: "You look great!"

Keep smiling.

~ Byron

Monday, June 1

Jeena doesn't know what she missed tonight. But she can always check out the more pictures page to get a hint.

We finally got through everything tonight! Those of you in Melting Pot - good job working with Yvonne to pull it all together. Those of you that are not in Melting Pot - thank you for being so patient while we worked everything out. That's all part of being in a show - waiting while something else is happening.

Thank you for remembering how to do Interjections. It was fun for me to play "Jeena" for a little bit.

Reminder - No newletter on Wednesday. Saturday's rehearsal will go from 10:30 to 1:00 pm - one half hour shorter than scheduled - since we're doing so well.

Enjoy the last couple days of school and be glad for summer vacation.

~ Byron

Sunday, May 31

I'm getting ready to go back to work for the week, and you all are probably getting ready to go back to school for just a few more days. Excited?

I can see that you're also excited about the production. Saturday's rehearsal showed me that. You remembered a lot about the music that we worked on earlier for Adjectives and Three, and now we have the blocking for those mostly done.

Monday, we'll pick up where we stopped. You'll get to work on Melting Pot (Lead Chorus) and we should go right through Interjections.

There's a few pictures from Saturday on the more pictures page.

~ Byron

Friday, May 29

OK, so we've established that I don't really know what khaki is. Anyway, your costume will include khaki or tan or sand colored (whatever it's called!) pants, shorts, capris, or skorts. This will be clarified in Saturday's newsletter.

Great rehearsal last night - you're doing well at picking up everything. We have now looked at all or part of all the songs which incclude the whole company. There are a few others which only include the 10 leads or a smaller group; we'll work on those in the upcoming rehearsals.

Look! More Pictures! There is now a second page of pictures.

Keep Smiling!

~ Byron

Wednesday, May 27

Halfway to Tech Week! We've had 7 rehearsals so far, and we have 7 to go before Tech Week. And it's all coming together!

Absolute deadline for ad forms is June 9. Any ads received after that cannot be guaranteed to be in the program.

Pictures from Tuesday May 26 have been added to the mix. Click on the "Pictures" link.

New newsletter is now available - get a sneak peak before Thursday's rehearsal. Click on the "Newsletters" link.

I had a great time Tuesday night. I love seeing how everybody is bring their own spark to the performance. I like watching the energy you all have and seeing it poured into your performances.

Sunday, May 24

So, did anybody see the big obvious glaring error in Saturday's newsletter? I do hope that no one shows up for rehearsal at 10:30 in the morning on Tuesday. For one thing, the theater won't be open, and for another thing, you're all probably supposed to be in school. Yet that's what the print copy of the newsletter said. It's been fixed in the online version, available here.

I heard that Kaylin Myers should have come home from the hospital today. Her appendix operation went smoothly. She might even be back at rehearsal on Tuesday, if only to sit and watch what happens. She'll soon be ready to go.

There's a few new pix at the pictures link. Look for shots of Tommy, Maria, Abbey, Mary, Sadye, Maddy, Marissa, and others. They're in random order, mixed in with the older shots. The "all cast" picture is there also.

Thursday, May 21

Last time in the upstairs rehearsal room. Things sure do seem confining in there, don't they? We worked through Elbow Room and got most of the dance steps down - remember to drag and Charleston at the right times. And it's easy now to refer to the color groups - Reds and Blues you start here... Greens, you go there; Yellows and Purples you come in from stage right. There's still more to do on Elbow Room, but it will all come together when we have Miss Nicely and Erin singing the whole thing for us, and Sophia change from Napoleon to Sacagawea in the blink of an eye.

Interplanet Janet is going to be a fun piece. Ruthie, Sophia, and Lindsey - you all did good at the "last minute, impromptu" audition for the song. Lindsey - you'll do great! Miss Jeena and I talked about some ideas for that one after rehearsal that we'll work on Saturday.

And it was a lot of fun seeing you all hop around doing the Circulation.

(I forgot my camera tonight so there's no new pictures. Darn!)

Remember your shirt order forms - $13.00, must be in by next Thursday.

See you Saturday!

Sunday, May 17

Great work yesterday! We worked really hard on Nouns and The Preamble, and even did a run-through of "Just A Bill." Remember all those steps and blocking and lines and lyrics and notes. Thursday, May 21, we will work on Elbow Room and Interplanet Janet. Don't forget to practice whenever you can.

Also note that on Thursday, we will be back to the Upstairs Room for one night, because of something else happening in the theater.

Don't forget the order forms for those program advertisements.

Thursday, May 14

Great rehearsal on Wednesday! Good work learning the concepts behind what we'll do with the opening and with Nouns. And you even learned a few steps for the Preamble. On Saturday, we will be working more on Nouns, doing some blocking, and we'll try out Interjections. And whatever else our directors decide to do.

Thank you for getting your information back (bio, contract, contact info, shirt size). We will have additional copies of the contract on Saturday for those who have not gotten a copy yet.

E-mail your stage manager: Click Here!
Last Updated on 6/11/2009 - Maintained by B. R. Frank