Tale as Old as Time

Time to get ready for this year’s performance a Tale as Old as Time. As the title suggests it does have a bit of Beauty and the Beast in it. The whole show’s theme, is about prejudice in the fairy tale world. Another idea derived from good old Trump! It is the year for women, people of colour, race, creed, gender and animal or beast to stand up for their rights! We will not be discriminated against! Since the whole cast is disabled or special needs we are standing up for us too!

Let’s have a breakdown of the actual show.  The Narrator is a dragon. Not just any old dragon, but one that is actually a prince, who couldn’t see past his own bigotry. He tells many stories found in fairy tales and fables where prejudice is not the best path to living Happily Ever After.

The first story finds all of Snow White’s princess friends coming together for a Ladies Night Out in the 7 Dwarfs little home. Each princess comes out and tells about how rough it is to find the right prince for them if they live in a tower with no doors, like Rapunzel or lose a slipper at a ball, or have a Beast for a room mate. Former mermaid without a voice or sign language to communicate make getting the prince an issue and so does the webbed feet of a frog who wants a kiss.

The next story is the classic The Ugly Duckling done in song and puppets!

Then we switch things up a bit and go to a Talk Show with Dr. Dilemma, who tries to get the audience involved in the problems of 7 dire princes, who need help with their love lives. A prince who can’t get into a casket because 7 dwarfs are guarding it. Prince Charming who can’t find the owner of the glass slipper in his hands. A Beast  trying to win over his Beauty, a prince who can’t get in a Tower, a prince who can’t find his love who saved him from a shipwreck and a Frog Prince who can’t get the girl to kiss him. Then we can’t leave out Mulan, who is unjustly tormented because she is a girl who can do everything a man can, except get the man. Of course the audience, who hopefully knows all the stories, gives the group the answers with the help of Dr. Dilemma.

 

The next is the fable of The Lion and the Mouse. In this story, size does and doesn’t matter, which the Lion King of Beast finally learns when, Mighty Mike the mouse, helps him get out of a net tossed over him by man.

Speed Dating at the Dungeon Bar and Grill is a fun look at all the Male and Female Villains in love matches, where they are thrown together to see if they can be a match made in Heaven or H………..

First we have Gru (who was in our Mirror in a previous show) and The Wicked Queen from Snow White.

Then we have Cruella DeVille and the Big Bad Wolf. A match made in canine Heaven? Perhaps as they Tango throughout the rest of the play until the end where the same two actors are actually Beauty and the Beast.

 

Then we have an interesting pairing with King Shark and Ursula the sea witch. King Shark says: I say we take this party to another level. Sea level that is.So I guess they are copacetic.

Jafar and Maleficent are next. trying to one up one another with who has the largest head gear and staff. They eventually take off on his magic carpet.

Next comes in the Wicked Witch of the West who sees her sister’s feet with the ruby red slippers.  Wicked Witch of the West  is about to leave, when Darth Vader shows up with definite breathing problems when he sees the black/green love of his life. They take off in his Tie Fighter.

The Joker shows up and is met by Harley Quinn, who is finally fed up with his cruelty, and sets him straight. SHE leaves him to fend for himself with the crocodile (a clock in his mouth) from Captain Hook.

Of course the Last two are then Captain Hook himself and Poison Ivy. Poison Ivy is green like Peter Pan and somehow starts to grow on Hook,  until the crocodile and Poison Ivy start chasing him until the end on the show.

Then we leave the Dungeon and have the song about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Who could be more prejudiced against poor Rudy with his nose so bright!!

Finally comes the story about the narrator himself who is stuck out in the rain clinging to a castle turret. His story involved him being turned into a dragon, because he was not very nice to a princess in a kingdom far away. He just thought too much of himself, like his father. So the princess’s mother who was a sorceress (of course) turns him into a dragon. The turret belongs to the castle of his father (where else is he going to go?) Then one night a girl shows up in the rain at the castle doors. She claims to be a princess, and of course the Queen doesn’t believe it. Now we have the story of the Princess and the Pea. In the end the prince and princess come together with the help of a medallion, which lets him change into a dragon or man at will.

The story ends with a Ball at the Beasts castle. Get up and dance with me. Music is heard throughout the show,  which is both very contemporary and poignant.

Queen , King and Princess

Let’s go to the Dance….

Beauty and the Beast at their Ball do the Tango of course!

Prince and Sleeping Beauty

 

Here we are being given a grant from RTO-ERO Retired Teacher’s of Ontario, of $4000.00 in September 2017. With the money, we purchased a new travel lighting system, that we can use at various venues. A show like ours costs about $10,000.00 each year. We also received other sponsorships from local businesses. NWMO (Nuclear Waste Management Ontario) gave us another huge amount of $2000.00 for travel expenses, so we will be able to go to Sault Ste. Marie and perform.

The following businesses & individuals have also helped us: Manitoba Road Animal Hospital, Milltown Motors, Ford, John and Cathy Petrosky, Ulo Malmiste, Algom Insurance Adjusters, ELNOS, Arnold Dentistry, and Melanie’s Liquidation. A great Thank you to all our Sponsors, we couldn’t do this without you.

Cast with new Dragon T-shirts!

Cast
Emma
CJ Holmes
Natasha Kanski
Ashtin Trudeau (Stage Manager)
Dakota Atherton
Roddy Game
Keanna Tremblay
Adam McFee
Lynn Ingram
Ian Mitchelle
Melissa Boggensberger
Henry Lew
Tyrina  Cyr
Collin LaRush
Leslee Mitchelle
Barry  MacKie
Rhianna Goymer
Travis Mitchell
Liz Kanski- Director
Bill Goymer – Helper
Anita Goymer- sound

Les Ingram- Driver

Cora Richer and Cathy Petrosky  – Costumes dresser

Dave LaSalle- Projector

Travis and Bill Goymer -Lighting

Donna Poutney- Helper      Ela LaSalle-swan and duck puppets

Tammy Atherton-Dragonn  Sets-Mike  Lackie    Sound- Joe Kanski

Sets, Dragon Puppet, Script, voices etc-    Liz Kanski

Intro Tammy-Dragon

2. Girls Night Out
Snow White-Tasha
Belle- Tyrina
Frog Princess Bubbles- Keanna
Aurora- Melissa
Captain Li Shang- Adam
Rapunzal- Denise/Dakota
Ariel- Rhianna
Cinderella- Leslee

3. Ugly Duckling Puppets:(3-4 people) Henry, Rhianna, Bill, Tasha

4.Talk Show
Dr. Dilemma- Liz
Snow White Prince Ferdinand-Ashtin
Beast/ Prince Adam- Barry
Joker outfit whole- Henry Frog-Henry
Sleeping Beauty Prince Philip-Ian
Mulan- Dakota
Flynn Rider-Roddy
Prince Eric-Collin
Prince Charming-CJ

5. Lion and the Mouse Lion -Anita Mouse-Rhianna Tasha Net

6. Dungeon Bar and Grill
Gru-Adam Snow White Queen- Melissa
King Shark-Ian Ursula-Lynn
Jafar-CJ Maleficent- Dakota
Cruela di Vil-Tyrina Big Bad Wolf- Barry
Darth Vader-Collin Wicked Witch of West-Leslee
Captain Hook-Roddy Poison Ivy/Pan-Denise
Joker- Henry Harley Quin-Tasha

7. Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer– Ashtin

8. Dragon and the Princess
Sorceress-Dakota
Dragon (3 people) _Tammy, Liz
Dragon Prince-Collin
King-Adam
Queen- Lynn
Princess Gloria- Tasha

9. Finale Dance
Prince Adam- Barry Belle-Tyrina ( Change) Tangoing in
Dragon Prince Noland -Collin Tasha- Princess Gloria
King- Adam Queen- Lynn
Jafar- CJ Maleficent- Dakota
Hook- Roddy Ivy- Denise /Anita/Emma Chasing each other around
Prince Philip- Ian (Change) Aurora- Melissa (Change)
Prince Ferdinand- Ashtin Cinderella- Leslee
Ariel- Rhianna with tail? Dr. D. Liz
Bubbles- Keanna and Band with Henry as Joker and Frog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Advertisements

Traveling Christmas Troupe

It was a busy Christmas season for our speacila needs community theatre group. Besides our full cast rehearsals for this coming Spring show, we had a smaller troupe perform a small Christmas mini-musical. The troupe toured the local schools and senior citizen locations. Included in the troupe was our respite dog, Odin, who brought his patient theatrical skills & gentle spirit to the festive joyful show.

 

 

Elizabeth and Cora, welcomed more support help & now await/recover, and ready themselves for full cast rehearsals resuming in the New Year. The Liz, her full cast and support staff will be honoured at the Elliot Lake Mayor’s New Year Levee . Well done & Good work !

 

 

 

Puppets Galore!

 

Hello again from Elliot Lake! It’s Director Liz Kanski giving you the latest on our shows being presented by Elliot Lake’s Roundabout Exceptional Puppeteers. It’s just about show time, as we practice to get everything just right to perform on the big stage. This year, we will be performing each 50 minute show with an intermission in between, at the Civic Center. We would like to invite all out-of-towners, as well as Elliot Lake and area to come and join us.

We will be performing The Circle of Life and The Good, The Bad and the Time Lord. Our first performance is a matinee, designed for out of town people on, Sunday, April 30th, at 2 pm. Therefore, you can have a beautiful drive to Elliot Lake and get home before dark. During Education Week, we will performing our shows for all the schools, Tuesday, May 2nd at 9:30 am. Usually we go to all the schools and senior centers in and around the community, but this year both our shows are too big to travel with. We will finish with another public performance at 7 pm. that same night. It will be exhausting, but better than the 19 shows we performed last year!

Just to recap what our plays and our group is all about. Our performers are all, mentally or physically handicapped and sing, dance and act with puppets to written material that we come up with our selves. We record the music and stories for the group to perform to.

The Circle of Life, is all about The Lion King, done with Life size animal puppets that will be entering the stage from the aisles through the audience and then going up on stage. A crocodile, wilde beast, antelopes, a huge pink flamingo and others birds, a gigantic giraffe, leopard and prancing zebra will enter the scene for the christening of the baby lion, Simba, on Pride Rock. Each puppet is individually made to be worn by each member of the cast and their costumes depict original African Batik designs. They all perform the opening number The Circle of Life similar to the Broadway Lion King musical.

 

The next number has a life size puppet of Pocahontas singing, The Colours of the Wind to a back lit presentation of wild life images.

Cast members then come out, led by CJ on guitar and Alice as lead vocal and sing songs from Australia, describing their unique animals and their aboriginal instrument the didgeridoo (which some in my cast try to play). Audience participation is always required.

The next song has Pumbaa and Timon hamming up the song Stand By Me.

Followed by a Circus Act, all about Dr. Dolittle and his Push-Me-Pull-You, in You’ve Never seen anything Like It! If you thought the life-size animals in the first part were hard to make… the Push-Me Pull-You, two headed Lama, was a nightmare!

The final story is about Dr. Dolittle and the Moving Island.

The Doctor and his niece Jane, get shipwrecked on a moving Island and you guessed it, they meet Tarzan,

talk to the animals, cure their colds and save the gorillas, not to mention reuniting Pumbaa, Timon and all the stranded animals on the Island with Simba, the now adult Lion King.

The Island is reunited off the coast of Africa to the mainland by a helpful whale, so that is how we come full Circle, ending with everyone singing the song Hakuna Mattata.

The Good , The Bad and the Time Lord, is all about the Iconic Tenth Doctor Who (David Tennant), traveling through time in his Tardis, beginning in the Old West.

There, he helps John Wayne and Clint Eastwood destroy a strange robot named, Yul Brenner (Westworld) and his War Wagon full of gold.

Next the Doctor lands on the Star Ship Enterprise and helps Captain Kirk and crew defeat the Daleks.

After that, Dr. Who appears in the Museum of Natural History, where he meets Maleficent and her daughter Mal (from Disney’s Descendants) and helps King Arthur and Lancelot defeat Maleficent, as a dragon, who is guarding a frozen Merlin (a former Time Lord).

The Doctor then convinces Mal to become his new companion and they go to Egypt and meet Indiana Jones to solve the mystery of Cleopatra’s necklace.

Finally, they travel to the time of Robin Hood and help and him and his merry men, defeat the Cybermen, who are controlling King John.

At last the Doctor asks Mal where she would like to go next. Mal (still dressed as Maid Marion ) has a crush on Robin Hood, who all of a sudden knocks on the outside of the Tardis doors. Then all craziness ensues as the Tardis is boarded by people from all the time periods they had just travelled to, as well as, Doctor Who 4 (long Scarf) and Dr. Who 12 who also end up on the Tardis. When all are on board they end up with Maleficent in the Museum of Natural History, and that is where the story ends. All are frozen as wax sculptures and a cleaning lady comes out at to dust all the statues.

I have to say of the 2 shows the Dalek was one of the hardest things to make. Our one white screen on stage, allows us to do backgrounds easily with a projector (up graded from our old overhead machine) and still allows us the opportunity to do shadow plays for the special effects, lighting and mime. With our shows, the director is never done. Because at least 5 of our members are hearing impaired or deaf, I have to be out front giving visual cues, so that the cast can keep on track with acting and singing gestures. We are a unique group for sure!

We hope that you can come and see our shows for yourself. We will be performing at the Civic Center, right on highway 108, when you come into Elliot Lake. $15.00 a person and family of 3or more, $12.00 each. Come and be a part of the thrills, excitement and fun! I guarantee, You’ve Never Seen Anything Like this!