History comes to life in the 2011 Clarkston Village Players Youth Theater’s summer production of “Night at the Wax Museum.”
“The hysterical meets the historical in this comic romp through the wackiest wax museum in history,” said Director Donna Ellis.
The production by Tim Kelly, music and lyrics by Bill Francoeur, features six unlucky students stuck in summer school when they’re assigned a class project to help at a wax museum. Class gets more interesting when a mysterious incantation from the back of Cleopatra’s bracelet brings the wax figures to life.
King Henry VIII finds himself smitten with Cleopatra, making his queen, Anne Boleyn, furious. If she can just not lose her head, John Adams is there to serve as her divorce attorney.
When Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Blackbeard and a bevy of lady pirates show up, everybody’s out for one thing ? treasure.
“Supposedly, there’s a mighty valuable one hidden in the museum,” Ellis said. “It’s a wild goose chase to find it, with a greedy museum landlord and her bumbling son joining in the mad search.”
Ellis, along with Assistant Director Nancy Penvose and Carmen Holcombe, choreographer, lead a theater company of 38 students
That’s the most ever, but many are new.
“With the success of ‘Glee,’ there are more drama camps,” Ellis said. “We lost some core kids who have been here for 4-5 years. There are a lot of new kids, 10-12 years old. They’re doing great, but they’re new, a little rough, but we’re getting there.”
Students include Lillianna Barringer, Josh Bertram, Sarah Bertram, Brianna Bobbitt, Anna Bunting, Bella Catenacci, Cody Chambers, Jackson Chambers, Lyn Chambers, Dan Deschaine, Sofia Fanelli, Ken Fitzgerald, Emily Gustafson, Alana Guth, Hannah Guth, Emily Howard, Bridget Kojima, Kendall Kotcher, Alex Lemanski, Emma Lohmeier, Olivia Lohmeier, Abby Lundquist, Kamrey Mantz, Kendra Mantz, Mason McIntyre, Larissa McLetchie, Brandon Moore, Erin Mueller, Sean Mueller, Maria Oakley, Gabe Oetjens, Theodora Pardales, Katie Penvose, Ricky Ragatz, Emma Silak, Tyler Walsh, and Victoria Walsh.
Performances are 7:30 p.m., July 22-24, and 28-30. Tickets are $6. All profits go to the Pete Rose Scholarship Fund.
This year’s recipients were Clarkston High School students Danielle Diagle, Katie Penvose, and Erin Mueller; Waterford Kettering High School student Zack Morgan; and Oxford High School student Steve Nara.
For more information, call 248-575-4104.