HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes-Advocate, 1986-08-13, Page 7Set to perform in Annie
SIn.ple eaihushisni marks buliding
stars
ly nice and not conceited at all.
As the clouds gathered overhead
and threatened rain it didn't matter
to Jennifer Weigand, the eleven -year-
old Dashwood girl who sings in the
junoir choir and has been in plays at
Stephen Central School. Her favorite
part of the whole production is the
song "The Sun Will Come Out". "An-
nie sings it so nicely", claims Jen-
. nifer, "I like the words". All her con-
centration was on the best parts of the
play, certainly not the weather.
"I wouldn't mind being the director
-- it would probably be fun" decided
ten year old Sara Bradford from
Woodham when she was asked if she
would like to be in any other part of
theatre, such as paint scenery, or be
the director or even write a play?
Without hesitation she explained
"sometimes I think about what I
would do if I was doing the
directing---". Move over Lawrie
Seligman (director of Annie)! This
Usborne Central School student who
said she loved writing and dreamed
of being an actress, has already rais-
ed her sights in only two weeks of
rehersals.
Not one to waste words in an inter-
view, Grand Bend Public School
grade three aspiring writer and artist
--(according to her equally brief
biography) Sarah Bannister
answered "a dog" when asked who
Wiggins was. Wiggins, the Milson
family pet that also participates in the
The call of Broadway and interna-
tional stardom hasn't quite reached
as far as Grand Bend and the
youngsters who have won a singing
and dancing part in the forthcoming
Huron Country Playhouse production
of "Annie" to open August 12 on the
main stage.
Interviewing the nine local girls
who auditioned their way to the
chorus of "Annie" revealed such a
simple enthusiasm and honest enjoy-
ment of the task at hand that the show
is bound to be a winner.
Chantelle Crabe, age 12, has an im-
pressive musical background and a
thorough performance -going
knowledge of concerts, musicals,
operas, plays, and ballets, yet she has
never heard of Andrea McCardle the
diminutive singing wonder who
stormed the Broadway stage as the
first "Annie". None of the others'
knew this name either, which just
goes to show that it isn't starry-eyed
hero worship that draws these young
performers to the theatre. This is
(•alism and hard work, not a fantasy.
Twelve year old Patti Desjardine,
also from Grand Bend (as is
Chantelle) , has, had two years of sing-
ing lessons and if she could, she would
love to play the part of Annie,
"because she has lots of parts" to
play and sing. She is already looking
forward to next year when she hopes
to be in another musical at the
Playhouse.
Certainly there is no conceit in Vic-
toria Bisback, the eleven -year-old,
grade six student from Hensall Public
School in fact conceited isn't a word
in her vocabulary. "I don't knows what
it means" exactly, she admitted when
she was asked if being The Sar made
you conceited. With refreshing hones-
ty, everyone chimed in that they think
this `Annie," Theresa Stewart, is real -
BREAK TIME — Not having a lot of time between intensive hours of rehearsals doesn't bother this group
of enthusiastic young singers and dancers. Relaxing under a shady apple tree for a few minutes, they
all expressed excitement about the opening of "Annie" at Huron Country Playhouse in which they all
have parts. The orphans, are: front row Sarah Bannister of Grand Bend, Aimee Gelinas of Zurich, Melanie
Phillips of Exeter, Victoria Bisback of Hensall, Kelly Hoffman of Dashwood, (back row) Sara Bradford
of Woodham, Jennifer Weigand of Dashwood, Patti Desjardine and Chantelle Crabe, both from Grand
Bend. Imagine being paid for having fun!
xlk
Need only sun and beach
I have been able to renew my in-
terest in one of my favourite activities
this summer. I'm not sure whether to
call it a sport or a hobby -- actually,
I must confess that it's neither. In
fact, I've never listed it as a hobby or
interest on my resume. But it's my
favourite summer time activity -- ly-
ing on the beach in the sun.
BUSINESS GRAD — Chan and
Donna Livingstone are proud to
announce the graduation of their
daughter Kelly from Westervelt
Business College. Kelly has ac-
cepted a full time position with
Air Ontario, London.
I can't call it suntanning, because
I'm one of those very white people
who turn pink in the sun, then fades
back to white over night. No one ever
believes I have a tan, unless I show
them my tan line. No, I don't whip up
ly co-operative this summer. I'm still
able to find some of my favourite
beach at Ipperwash, although much
of it is under Lake Huron's waters.
The other necessary ingredient in
the pursuit of this hobby, as with any
my skirts, or pull my blouse off my activity, is time. In my younger years
shoulder; I just take off my ring. Then there seemed to be plenty of time for
Mary's Musings
it is obvious that although I am a long
way from golden brown, I am not as
pale as I used to be.
Of course, the medical world is
warning us about the hazards of too
much sun. I have been taking heed,
never fear. I now use sun screen lo-
tions, and limit my hours on the beach
-- unfortunately, that's something I
didn't do as a teenager. As usual,
something we enjoy can be dangerous
and hazardous to our health.
Lying on the beach is a hobby that
is fairly easy to pursue. You don't
need expensive clubs, as you do in
golf. It's not as exhausting as
aerobics, nor as frustrating as sew-
ing. And it certainly is relaxing.
All that is required for this hobby
is sun and beach. Reading material
is optional, as are lawn chairs and
blankets. So far, the sun has been fair -
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beaching. Then it became less en-
joyable because I felt guilty about not
doing other things while I was lying
in the sun. But this year I've taken it
up again with no guilty conscience at
all.
Last summer we didn't spend much
time at the beach. I had a six month
old daugther. Do you know what six
month olds do at the beach? They
burn, whine, sweat and cry. It spoils
the fun.
The year before that I didn't go to
the beach much because we were
working on renovations to our house.
Besides, I was pregnant. And the year
before that and the year before that,
I was travelling on business.
But this year, we're going to the
beach, every sunny afternoon. My
daughter, once my adversary when it
came to beaching, is now a very will-
ing accomplice. Unlike six month
olds, 18 month olds love the beach. Of
course, I don't bother taking reading
material to the beach any more --
every minute of my time is spent wat-
ching Chelsey.
First we play in the sand, then we
dig holes and fill them with buckets
of water. Then, it it's hot, we sit in the
shallow water. Finally Chelsey puts
on her water wings and we head for
the deep water. Then we get back to
the sand.
Occasionally, Chelsey's Daddy
joins us at the beach. But he certain-
ly, doesn't share our interest in
beaching. I guess it's difficult for a
hyperactive workaholic to lie in the
sun.
Blyth tickets
going quickly
"Sorry, we have no tickets left for
that performance." That's becoming
a familiar refrain at the Blyth
Festival Box Office these days as
tickets are selling quickly. "This is
normal for the height of the holiday
season" said General Manager, Bren-
da Doner. "But people shouldn't get
discouraged - we do still have tickets
for many performances."
Gone to Glory has proved the most
popular play to date, with numerous
performances sold out even before the
play opened! Another Season's Pro-
mise has also picked up dramatical-
ly (excuse the pun). There are still a
few tickets left for Glory on August 18
and 19, and for Promise on August 16
(matinee) ; there are also rush tickets
available prior to every performance.
Tickets for Drift are available for.the
performances on August 14 and 21,
and Lilly, Alta., (described by the
critics as `spectacular', 'im-
aginative', `fun'), has tickets for most
performances. The final perforinance
dates are August 21 for Lilly, August
22 for Drift, and August 23 for Glory
and Promise.
Cake -Walk, the return of the
hilarious 1984 comedy, opens on
August 26. It is sold out for the
matinee performance on August 28,
but excellent tickets remain for all
other performances. Don't miss out
op a great evening at the theatre! Call
the Box Office today and book your
seats - 523-9300 or 523-9225.
B.A. GRADUATE -- Mr. and Mrs.
Henry Eisenschink of Exeter are
very pleased and proud to an-
nounce the graduation of their
daughter Sheila from Ryerson
Polytechnical Institute with a Ba-
chelor of Applied Arts Degree in
Social Work. Sheila is a former
graduate of S.H.D.H.S., Exeter
and plans to attend the Universi-
ty of Toronto this fall to complete
her Master's Degree in Social
Work. 33*
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i
rehabilitation unit, pet therapy pro-
gram at Sarnia Hospital of course
plays Sandy, Annie's friendly stray.
Do you like Wiggins? "Yah". Is she
well behaved? "Yah". Have you got
a dog? "Yah". Would you like it tobe
your dog in the play instead of Wig-
gins? "No". Why? "Because she's not
that smart". Wiggins seems to be an
O.K. actor but can she sing?
The next question was really meant
to see if anyone had done some
research and homework on the real
Annie -- did you know that Little Or-
phan Annie was a comic strip a long
time ago? Surprisingly, Aimee
Gelinas from Zurich had seen the
comics "at a friend of mine's house,
they had old papers stacked away and
we were looking through them, and
we saw it then -- that was about two
years ago". Twelve year-old Aimee,
a student at St. Boniface who loves
her piano more than writing, singing
or sports has had a rare opportunity
to see the original Darling of the
Depression but would she understand
the sentiments of yesteryear? Would
you or I? Today's Annie is probably
more fun.
Veteran of the Playhouse stage,
after appearing in Anne of Green
Gables last year, Melanie Phillips-
from
hillipsfrom Exeter thought it would be great
to be adopted by a rich Daddy War -
bucks like Annie was. Why? "He's
really nice and he's rich and they get
along well together" and that's im-
portant in a family, she agreed. Preci-
sion and figure skating, swim, ballet
tap, jazz lessons, choir, live theatre,
and sports fill up this nine-year-old's
life on top of being a top talent, but it
sounds as though she has a secret
millionaire somewhere already to pay
for all the lessons.
"It kind of gets boring because
you're doing the same thing over and
over again" -- "until you get it right"
sighed Kelly Hoffman when asked.
what she thought was the worst part
about being in the play "But it's fun,"
she added brightly, so that it didn't
sound like a complaint at all. The best
part is "Meeting all the people and
having a good time". When Kelly
returns to grade four in September at
Stephen Central School and has her
ninth birthday in October she will be
a seasoned theatrical performer with
many memories and songs in her
heart to take back with her.
Right now, their enthusiasm car-
ries over into desires of wishing to go
on to become an actress for each and
every one of these local area young
girls. For a little while at least their
dreams are a reality as they beam
their delight from behind the
footlights for the next three weeks in
"Annie" at Huron Country
Playhouse.
Peaches & Cream
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5 1 Per
dozen
11/4 miles west
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Jeff O'Brien 234-6281
August 13, 1986
Page 7
GRADUATES — Chan and Don-
na Livingstone are proud to an-
nounce the graduation of their
daughter Kim from Marvel Beau-
ty School. She has accepted a full
time position with Sharon's Hair
Styles, Exeter.
✓
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