Wednesday, December 19, 2012


Looking Back on the 2012 Holiday Show

The three performances were Fri/ Nov. 30th and a matinee and evening show on Sat. Dec. 1st at First Baptist Church on King Street.  We use their large social hall with adjoining kitchen for the dinner theater events. Roger Day and crew converted the place to look and feel like you stepped into the elf workshop at the North Pole – from outside the door to every table and the stage and all around. 

All of us brought wrapped boxes to use to add color all around and the chapter’s supply of major holiday decorations filled the hall.

The food was good and well received – lasagna, salad, green beans, rolls. Water, tea, coffee too.  And then platters of bright and tasty holiday cookies (which the guys brought in for this activity) for each table. The singing waiters made a big presentation with our special “It’s Time To Eat” song. The tables were set with green and red and lots of colorful serving pieces and a centerpiece.  The premium tables, tho, were white table cloth service with china and glass and stainless utensils. Can’t say enough about all the guys who worked in the kitchen and made sure the dinner operation was a success, including some members who came back just to help there! We are fortunate to be able to hire the church kitchen staff to prepare the meal for us.  We purchased the supplies and hauled them in to the staff there.

There was a technical nite on Wednesday before, and then a run thru on Thursday nite with the chorus and the cast of characters. Those nites meant things went well on stage all three shows. Jack-in-the-Box (Terry Reynolds) was back again as was Jacque Phrost (Scip Garling), Carolyn Caroling (Amy Roots).  Camerman (Jeremy Richardson) was all over the place and got his own laughs.  And the comedy gags never slowed down during the first two acts of the show. Everyone got a lot of laughs with the inflated whale and the sword fight.  The monks were brought out again this year to do card routines while the chorus sang the “Hallelujah” chorus.

Will Cox did his version of “The Night Before Christmas” and brought the house down.  Santa Claus (Bruce Minnick) was there for all those who wanted a personal photo. Our ensemble TBD sang on the show as did ACME CHORD COMPANY (with Mike Kelly filling in as bass for the weekend). Shawn Tallant was emcee for the formal third act of the show. Good job by all the soloists too – Edris Qarghad, Chuck Hunter, Tony Colosimo, Drew Fuller, Frank Fadarko and Rich Hewitt.

The chorus was dressed as elves or toys and earned these comments from show producers:

 

The Winner of the Holiday Show Costume Awards are....

 

Best Socks: Ricky Savage

Best Shoes: Bob Blair

Best Full-Body Costume: Eric Wallen

Best Pair: Austin Cotton and Bob Griesemere as the Mario Brothers

Best Group: the Crayolas

Most Santa-like: Clyde Crusenberry

Best Elaboration: Craig Kujawa as the Twister Board

Best Sport: Ross Felker as the Operation Board

Most Victorian: Steve White

Most Edible: Will Cox

Best Life-Size: Peter "The Paddle" Hubbard

Best Use of Tights: Noah Van Gilder

Best Use of a Flying Robot Zombie Shark: Tony Colosimo

 

The music team, and particularly director Joe (as Junior in the show) and his assistants Tony, Will, Terry and Mike, did a lot to help the chorus prepare for this show including get out learning tapes for the many new guys, get us to add a new holiday song to our mix, and also participated in the show with vigor as character parts and leading the craziness for audience participation in “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Many of our guys wrote some pretty funny lines for their group of tables to sing!  

Much work behind the scenes goes into this event including taking a truck load out of storage and bringing it to the venue.  Plus purchasing all the food and hauling it to the cook staff.   There was a set up crew who worked all day on Friday to decorate and set the tables and count out the table service.

Producer Josh Roots gave a complete report to the chapter about the show weekend on Dec. 11th.  Josh’s report was loaded with info and numbers and charts – it was the envy of all of the detail geeks in the chapter!!  In short, we sold all the seats – 1180 patrons.  Numbers show not as many little kids as first guessed.  And we have a good handle on the numbers of senior tickets sold vs. regular adult tickets at each of the three performances. We had 80 guys on the risers and 30 non-singers working in the hall which included many members of our FRIENDS group, and all the new members who didn’t know all the songs yet .

Josh was pleased to report that we more than met budget on income for the show!!!.  And one lesson for next year is to continue the work at starting ticket sales early.  The ticket sales were supplemented by the $6000 net from the auction headed by Brad Jones and the $2300 donations from patrons

Here is the whole list of thank you names from the show management team as announced at the chapter meeting on Dec. 11th. 

 

2012 Harmonizer Holiday Dinner Theater Show List of Thank You’s:

Master of Masters – Nick Leiserson

“Jack-in-the-Box” / Master of Monks – Terry Reynolds

“Junior” and Master of Directors – Joe Cerutti

“Capable Cameraman” – Jeremy Richardson

“Good Sport” – Kellen Hertz 

Co-Producer / Co-Writer / “Jacques Phrost” – Scipio Garling

“Miss Carolyn Caroling” – Amy Roots

“Anthony Strongnose” – Tony Colosimo

Waiter Warrior – Bob Mattes

Waiter Captain – Craig Kujawa

House Manager – Carl Kauffmann

Master of Decorations – Roger Day

Decorators - Mary Blair, Carlos Correa, Adrianne Hills, & Sandy Stamps

FIH Femme Fatale – Sandy Stamps

Video Vixen – Joia Hertz

Sound Squires - Mike Kelly, Joe and Janet Cerutti, Dennis Ritchey

Lady of the Lights – Dixie Kennett

Silent Auction Action Hero(approx $6000) – Brad Jones

Silent Auction Helper(s) – Linda Holly and Kim Fess

Titan of Tickets (approx $31,000) – Ian Poulin

Church POC – Archie Doering

Church Kitchen Queen – Kathryn Walsh

Kitchen King – Keith Jones

Kitchen Knights – Gary Plaag, Bob Eckman, Chuck Harner, and Ken Fess

Seal Team Santa – Bruce Minnick

Song Boards Skipper – John “JP” Pence

Cookie Commander – Jack Pitzer

Lasagna Leprechaun – Mick Stamps

Ticket Taker, Cookie Conquistador, and Manic Monk – Carlos Correa

Ticket Taker and All Around Go-To-Girl – Robyn McQueen

Monk (AND STEAMED ALL THE ROBES FRIDAY NIGHT!!) and Back Stage Left Queen Of All Things – Chris Ammerman

Back Stage Right Queen and Ticket Taker – Carol Fuller, Debbie Corder

Donations Table Dynamo ($2333) – Mike Bagwell

FIH Table Workers: Carol Dangel, Maggie Eckman, Gail Felker, Kim Fess, Lydia Golden, Alyson Hubbard, Katrina Lake, Ninamarie Maragioglio, Sandy Mattes,  Linda Odell,  Sandy Stamps, Peggy Wager, and Gail Felker

Monks of Eternal Taciturnity – Chris Ammerman, Debbie Corder, Carlos Correa, Nick Leiserson, Bob Blair, Don Harrington, Chris Buechler, Carol Fuller, Chris Huber, Keith Jones, Dean Rust, Peter Hubbard (Fill-In Sat night: Chris Susalka)

ACME Chord Co – Chris Susalka, Dan O’Brien, Paul Grimes, and special thanks to Mike Kelly for being a substitute bass

Harmonizer Truck Driving – Bob Blair

Night Before Christmas Show Stealer – Will Cox

Mister MC – Shawn Tallant

There were lots of great comments from customers and friends of the chapter who were in the audience, including groups of folks from other local chapters of  the BHS and SAI.

Until next time – editorjack!

 (This message is prepared for your review if you were there, for your information if you had to miss, and as a historical record of the great things going on each week at an Alexandria Harmonizer Chapter meeting. —YeEd.)

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