Following the recent auditions for the 29th annual Woodlands Dairy Showtime revue, executive producer Bob Eveleigh has announced the cast for the 2019 production, which will be sub-titled Those were the Days and will run in the Little Theatre from January 27 to February 2.
As the 2018 edition, Let the Good Times Roll, saluted the 1950s in US show business, so the 2019 production will recognise the 1960s but essentially Broadway and Hollywood stage and screen musicals from that decade, which has long been recognised by musical theatre authorities as the most vibrant in the history of the Great White Way.
Songs from stage shows and films included in this period include Bye Bye Birdie, Hello Dolly!, Mame, Purlie, Carnival, Finian's Rainbow, Guys and Dolls, Gypsy, Bells are Ringing, The Music Man, L'il Abner and Guys and Dolls. The likes of Neil Simon-scripted musicals, one-hit Broadway wonders and salutes to Julie Andrews and George M Cohan will all be featured.
The comedy comes from returns of 2018’s Bob Hope, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and US one-liner king Henny Youngman. Audiences will also learn about comedy's “Rule of Three”.
The female core cast is made up of Kayla Mathiesen (returning from 2017 and 2018), Danielle Viljoen and Kristin Labuschagne (both returning from 2018) and newcomers Kalene Botha and Keryn Gillham; with James van der Merwe (returning from 2016, 2017 and 2018), Jonathan Hughes (returning from 2018), along with first-timers Matthew Perry and Michael Landman as the males. Botha and Perry led the cast of Pearson High School’s production of Footloose earlier this year and step up a grade to appear in their first Showtime revue.
The junior core cast, a new innovation for 2019, is made up of promising children under the usual umbrella age of 15 years but older than the by now usual supporting 10-strong Charlo Primary School Singing Kids.
This junior core cast is made up of Serena Escola (guest star 2018 and leading this cast), Angelica Staples (returning and moving up from Charlo Kids in 2018), Kalyn du Plessis, Kelly Mathiesen (returning from 2018 dancers) and young actor Ryan Hol. Special guest stars will be award-winning soprano Liske Hemingway, who led the female cast in the 2009 Showtime musical, Passport to Teleland, and internationally and nationally recognised Irish dancer Courteney Pearce.
The composition of the Charlo Primary Kids group is being arranged by Showtime's regular musical and vocal director Wayne Hughes, and will be announced before the end of September.
As was the case with Let the Good Times Roll earlier in 2018, Those Were the Days will be directed and choreographed by Siobhan Day and the show is devised and scripted by Eveleigh. Coreen Viljoen will function as production secretary, with Marlene Pieterse as creative consultant. The technical consultants will again by Lance Bright and Rocky Mann.
Rehearsals start on October 1. The season will open on January 27 and will run until February 2, with the two 2019 Showtime Awards nights on Tuesday January 30 (juniors) and Friday February 1 (seniors) respectively.