BEMIDJI — To wrap up its theater season, Bemidji Community Theater wanted something big. It doesn’t get much bigger than Broadway in the theater world, so BCT presents Hats Off to Broadway featuring some of the biggest songs to hit the stage.
Director and curator for the show, Carla Norris-Raynbird, said this will be an annual event to wrap up the performance season. The show will feature performance arts including music, dance, and theater skits.
"There's a lot of different talents and skills that go into a production... So, if you're interested at all in being involved in community theater, there are many, many aspects that you may not have even thought about."Carla Norris-Raynbird
An important thing the BCT wanted to do was collaborate with other groups in the community. That’s how Cathy Marcott’s First Dance Studio and Krista Winkka’s Fusion Dance Center got involved. Marcott oversees the tap dance portion of the show, and Winkka oversees the jazz dance choreography.
The BCT will have its own ensembles singing and acting in the show with 8 principal stars. Norris-Raynbird said, “I think we have over 30 people involved in the show performing.”
Mary Knox-Johnson will also be co-directing the production and responsible for the sets and costumes, but Norris-Raynbird said it’s a collaborative experience for everyone involved.
What makes a musical revue different from a regular theater musical is a musical revue is a conglomeration of multiple songs from multiple shows. The music is usually presented in medleys and segments tied together through a loose theme. It’s also influenced heavily by vaudeville and Follies.
Audiences can expect music all the way from the beginning days of Broadway, starting with 1904’s Little Johnny Jones, to modern musicals from Disney and Andrew Loyd Webber. Each decade of Broadway will get the spotlight.
Norris-Raynbird also finds it an interesting challenge for actors involved with the show. “It's a growth experience for many of our performers because they rely on the character. They rely on the lines, and they rely on the stage direction to develop themselves on stage. Here, they're kind of exposed. It's their interpretation of music that has been presented.”
Even though they can’t present the music in the context of the shows they are from, the goal is for it to still be fluid and a moving experience. Norris-Raynbird did a lot of research selecting songs that could hang together and create medleys around certain themes.
“So, the themes came organically from the medleys that were put together, and they just sort of popped out.”
It takes quite a crew to put on a show like this. Norris-Raynbird counted the people involved from actors, set builders, scenic painters, costumers, front office workers, producers, musicians, and choreographers and reached 54 people as being a part of the show.
Norris-Raynbird said, “There's a lot of different talents and skills that go into a production... So, if you're interested at all in being involved in community theater, there are many, many aspects that you may not have even thought about. So, give us a call and we can put you to work.”
Hats Off to Broadway will be two nights only at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23 and Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Bemidji Community Theater. Tickets are available at Ken K. Thompson Jewelry, myBemidji, and McKenzie Place. They are also available at the BCT website.
Tell us about upcoming arts events where you live in Northern Minnesota by emailing psa@kaxe.org.
Area Voices is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.
