Behind the Stage Door of the Hampton Playhouse - 45th Season 1993


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-- 45TH SEASON 1993 --
1993 45th SEASON
[To view photos of shows, click
on (photo) next to show's title.]
SHOWS
DON'T DRESS FOR DINNER, (photo)
NUNSENSE II
GUYS AND DOLLS, (photo)
BiG RIVER
ONLY KIDDING

CAST
Anderson Mathews
Karri Nussle
Steve Witting
Kristi Tucker
Donna Anderson
Dick Sabol
Helen Blount
Deb Girdler
Tom Sounroda
Luke Lynch
Richard Binder
Frank Voha
Stephen Beldo
James Kisoane
Russ Jolly
Stacey Robinson
Benardine Miunell

DIRECTORS
ticK Gonn
George Rondo
Sue Lawless
Michael Mararan

DESIGNERS
Sets - tim Goodmanson
Lghts - Michael Giannitti
Costumes - Watt LeFebere
Stephanie Patrick - assistant
Colleen Westcott - assistant

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Karl Carrigan

STAGE MANAGER
Bruce Resnik

MUSICAL DIRECTOR
Laurence Sobel

NUNSENSE II proved to be almost as big a hit as the original production. The very talented cast included Helen Blount, Karri Nussle, Kristi Tucker, Carina Anderson, and of course, Deb Girdler. Each actress had her awn 'special' moment at some point during the production.

GUYS AND DOLLS was a wonderfully colorful production of this Damon Runyon classic featuring Steve Belida, Karri Nussle, James Kissane, and Kristi Tucker in the leads with very able support from regulars Deb Girdler and Frank Vohs to mention just a few. Kristi's 'Adelaide' was second only to Vivian Blaine in the first NY production. The colorful costumes more than sold the show.

BIG RIVER was an outstanding production featuring newcomer Russ Jolly as Huck and the wonderful Stacey Robinson as Jim. Stacey's powerful voice never failed to stir the audiences and his singing literally stopped the show nightly. Bernardine Mitchell (another powerful voice and presence) did much to further sell the show.

ONLY KIDDING, a last minute replacement for the end of the season, proved to be quite controversial and caused quite a stir with some audience members. The title was misleading, as this was not a comedy. It was a story about comedians, and contained some very strong language. Although Mr. Christie gave a pre-show curtain speech every performance to explain, it was not very popular. The talented group of EMCs included Gabrielle Cannon, Kristen Tanzer, John Nicodemo, Alison Boule, Jason Bomba, Stephanie Patrick, Mike Letch, Don LaBranche, Greg Funaro, Chris Roberts, and Jen Cordon. Due to the large cast musicals the EMCs really had a chance to shine. Musicians were Paul Merrill on piano, John Buccini on bass, and Johnny Beach (McNally) on drums.

Stephanie Patrick remembers... "My favorite war story was 2nd dress tech of BIG RIVER. It was such a big tech show. We never got through teching the second act of the show before opening. With no official running time and only a piece of paper that told everyone where the scene shifts were supposed to take place, Bruce Resnik, our stalwart stage manager, took us into opening night. We took the curtain very happy audience, but as the curtain closed there was a deafening quiet as the cast looked around itself to see that all were still present and accounted for. Thanks to Bruce and some very scared EMC's, no one had fallen off the raft and drowned in the Mississippi that night! You could hear a pin drop and then a collective sigh of relief. And then a rebel yell that I'm sure was heard on Hampton Beach. The audience still leaving the house turned and applauded again.

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