Sock hop tribute to Fab 50s

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

The Foothills Centennial Centre will step back into the 1950s this Saturday with a musical show that will include classic cars, poodle skirts, ice cream sodas and the soundtrack of the age.
The event is the Big Rock Singers’ annual spring choral extravaganza and this year the show is called The Fabulous Fifties.
When guests arrive on Saturday at the centre they will step back in time as they weave through cars from the 50s, including a convertible Fairlane, a Crown Victoria and a Mercury pick-up truck parked in front of a soda shop created just for the evening.
The Nifty Fifty’s Ford Club of Calgary will drive their cars right up to the entrance of the centre, in classic drive-in angled parking formation, and Marv Garriott, owner of Marv’s Classic Soda Shop in Black Diamond, is donating his memorabilia so guests can quench their thirst with treats enjoyed back in the day.
Choir director Carey Grueber recommended people arrive early to enjoy the atmosphere – doors open at 6 p.m. and the performance will begin at 7 p.m.
“It’ll be like a school dance, a sock hop,” said Grueber. “We’ll have that pink popcorn, Crackerjack, all that 50s (candy).”
Guests will be greeted by an Elvis impersonator, Paul Dugan from Carseland, as they revel in the scene created for the extravaganza.
The full show will take place inside the centre with performances by the Big Rock Singers and special guests the North of Broadway Show Choir, a group comprised of children and teens from across the foothills, and the Okotoks Community Men’s Chorus.
“It’s fun, it’s high energy, it’s familiar – even teenagers know that music,” said Grueber, listing songs like Great Balls of Fire, The Great Pretender and a medley of songs from the film Grease.
“It’s a really good concert to bring your kids to,” said Grueber.
The show is an annual effort by the Big Rock Singers, a choir of 40 vocalists and six musicians from across the foothills who range in age from 18 into the 60s. The choir is an artistic institution in Okotoks. It formed 18 years ago and 15 of their members have been on board for 10 years or more – including Ray Gosselin, events coordinator and funding developer.
He has hung in with the choir for a decade because of the friendships and the joy of singing.
“It’s fun, the fellowship – and socializing, of course. We just love singing,” said Gosselin. “We have laughs too, and generally just have a ball.”
Joining voices together in song is like creating art, he said, though the first moments of learning a song are a mess.
“It starts out by chaos,” said Gosselin. “It’s like a puzzle and then you find out where the pieces go and it’s amazing.
“At the beginning the voices are not coordinated, you have to fine tune it, then everybody learns their part and it comes out like great music, like a great painting.”
The choir has been working towards this performance since January, including memorizing the words so they can leave their music stands behind and dance their way through the songs.
“We’ll be dressed like the 50s this year and we’ll be jumping up and down,” said Gosselin.
What Gosselin calls jumping up and down, Grueber calls choreographed dancing.
“Seeing these guys in their 60s dancing – it’s just a scream,” said Grueber.
The choir is putting a lot of effort into the show, including hand-sewing costumes for the performance.
“Two women have made poodle skirts for the women,” said Grueber. “The men will be wearing leather jackets – although most don’t have any hair to slick back.”
If the weather turns foul the vintage cars won’t be able to attend. Tickets for the event are $10 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under, and are available at Music Centre Canada and Safeway in Okotoks, Sobeys in Okotoks and High River, and at the door.

Dewdney Players’ try to solve sacred mystery

By Tamara Neely
Staff Reporter

A theatre production of the longest running mystery play in history will be presented in Okotoks starting this Friday.
The Mousetrap, a story of murder famous for its surprising ending – and the command on audiences to keep it secret – is a mystery that has lasted for 56 years and the Dewdney Players are performing the play April 25 to May 11 at the Rotary Performing Arts Centre in Okotoks.
The Agatha Christie play hasn’t missed a show night in London since it opened in 1952, said Reg Gothard, president of the Dewdney Players Group Theatre, yet after 56 years audiences are still implored to keep quiet about the identity of the killer.
“They’re maintaining the world’s biggest non-secret,” said Gothard, who is the show’s producer. “It’s a Mousetrap tradition that you mustn’t tell anyone.”
The murder takes place in a small hotel with a handful of guests who have been snowed in. They are shocked when a policeman skis into their situation to inform them that he believes a murderer is on his way to the hotel. When one of the guests is killed, fear boils over as they realize the murderer is already among them.
For those who haven’t seen the play, the effort after all these years to keep the plot twists secret have been effective, and guests of the Dewdney performance will be treated to a murder mystery that will keep them guessing.
For those who have seen the play, the presentation is an opportunity to observe the craft of double-deception as one of the eight performers – the murderer – acts like someone who is acting like they are not a killer.
The performance of The Mousetrap is an opportunity to experience the renowned rollercoaster ride of suspicion that has been protected to remain a live theatre phenomenon.
“Agatha Christie guarded the secrets pretty jealously – they’re not allowed to make a book or a movie out of (the story),” said Gothard.
The Dewdney Players put on two major productions per year, in the spring and in the fall. The Mousetrap is a departure from the comedies and musicals the troupe has been focusing on since as far back as 1994 when Gothard first joined group.
“The director, Garry Wiebe, wanted to do it,” said Gothard. “This (drama) makes a nice change.”
There are five men and three women in the cast, in addition to Dewdney members working behind the scenes.
The Dewdney Players’ history goes back to 1982 and today there are approximately 25 people from across the Foothills who make up the main members of the Dewdney Players; some of whom get a kick out of being on stage and others who are pumped to work the technical aspects of theatre, such as lighting and sound.
“(The motivation) is the same as any performer – sportsman, musician – you’ve got that sense of achievement, that adrenaline rush,” explained Gothard. “You can’t deny the enjoyment of the applause and the pats on the back. This, and the camaraderie and the whole social circle – it’s like going down to the pub and having a beer with friends – except there’s no alcohol involved.”
Evening shows of The Mousetrap will be performed April 25, 26, May 2, 3, 9, 10 starting at 7:30 p.m.; on April 27 there will be a matinee starting at 2 p.m. and the closing performance on May 11 will be a dessert matinee, also starting at 2 p.m.
Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and students and are available at Video Headquarters, located at 420 Big Rock Lane or can be reserved by calling Reg or Sue Gothard, 938-3072.
The Rotary Performing Arts Centre is located at 3 Elma Street, Okotoks.

Good News! HTA musical ready to roll

Tamara Neely
staff reporter

Tom Marlowe, played by James Cowley, checks out his biceps –– while a couple admirers check him out from a distance –– in a scene from Good News, a musical theatre production performed by Holy Trinity Academy students. photo by Don Patterson

The lines are beginning to blur between actors and their characters in this year’s musical production, called Good News, at Holy Trinity Academy in Okotoks.
The cast of 57 students, a pit orchestra of 18, and teachers Wendy Doerksen and Siobhan Leyne, who are co-directing the production, have been rehearsing two nights per week since October and in January they added every second Saturday. They are ready to perform the musical for audiences starting tomorrow (Thursday), and running to Saturday.
During the seven months of rehearsals Leyne has seen an evolution in the cast’s understanding of how people behaved in the 1920s and the students’ adoption of that behaviour gradually becoming more natural. Leyne can see it when the students are in the halls.
“They’ve taken on the personas; they’ve become somebody who lived in the 1920s,” said Leyne. “I think they’re embracing the opportunity to play somebody from the 1920s and they’re doing it well.
“The kids’ energy is fantastic.”
Good News was written by Americans Laurence Schwab, B.G. DeSylva and Frank Mandel, and tracks a college football star, Tom Marlowe, played by James Cowley, as he grapples with an ethical triangle of love, success and money.
At the heart of his trouble with love is the realization that he is more interested in the tenderness of his bookish tutor Connie Lane, played by Cassidy Fraser, than the ways of his current high society girlfriend, Patricia Bingham, played by Caij Meloche.
Tom’s quandary unfolds as the musical bounces along with comedic interaction between unique characters and lively song.
“It’s all about the details now,” said Leyne, “to make everything smooth from the audience’s perspective.”
Good News will run April 24, 25 and 26 at 7 p.m. with a matinee performance on April 26 at 2 p.m. To reserve tickets, which are $8 for students and $12 for adults, call the school at 938-2477, or visit their box office.