Kitsap Sun, by Michael C. Moore, BREMERTON — There was a time when “Honk!”, a musical-theater version of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling,” seemed poised to become the toast of Broadway.

But no one, at the time, was in the mood.

“I think it would’ve been a big success,” said Adam Othman, who’s directing the Mountaineers Players’ production of the show that opens May 25 at the Kitsap Forest Theater. “It was testing out in the U.S., and looked like it was going to be a big hit, but then the whole 9/11 thing happened.”

A success in its birthplace of London, where it won the Olivier Award (the Brits’ equivalent of the Tonys) for Best Musical in 2000, “Honk!” seemed like a sure bet for a similar reception across the pond. After the events of 9/11, however, no one was in much of a play-going mood, and the show moved onto a virtual back burner.

“It’s a shame,” said Othman, who’s a veteran of decades of shows around the Seattle area (including KFT, where he first appeared in 1987, and most recently in 2011’s “Into the Woods”). “This show is one of those undiscovered classics. It was bad timing that it didn’t get on Broadway, but a lot of people knew about it, and it developed a following.

“It has a lot of heart, and the music is very rich and deep,” he added of the show that will mark his KFT directing debut.

The musical — with music by George Stiles and book and lyrics by Anthony Drewe — might not be familiar to a lot of people as other entries in its genre, but the story certainly is: The “ugly duckling” endures the ridicule and ostracism of his peers, only to mature into a beautiful swan.

“It’s a good show for this place, and the audience they get here,” Othman said. “It’s a family show, and it’s got a good message about tolerance, and that beauty is only skin deep.”

As usual for the Mountaineers — who conducted auditions for its 2014 season in both Seattle and Kitsap — the show is a family affair on stage as well as in the galleries.

“We knew we would get the people out (to audition),” Othman said. “For this show, it was a matter of getting the right mix of people, both adults and kids. One of the great things about this theater is that you can have kids and their parents in the same show.”

There are several family connections in the cast of “Honk!”, including Beavan Walters and her daughter, Sophie, who play matriarch Ida and one of her ducklings. The two have been paired previously at KFT, most notably as Maria Rainer and the youngest Von Trapp child in “The Sound of Music.” (Her son, Scooter, is also in his very first KFT show!).

Several others who’ve done memorable turns in past KFT productions are in Othman’s cast, including Jenny Dreessen and Megan Castillo. But there are some newcomers who will make an impression as well, including Nick McCarthy, who plays Ugly, and Jason Gingold as a conniving cat who pretends to befriend Ugly when all he’s really interested in is eating him.

“There’s a lot of wonderful song-and-dance in the show,” Othman said. “A lot of it is slightly vaudeville-esque. But there’s also a lot of sincerity, in the ballads that Ugly and his mom sing, and as he goes through this whole process of finding out who he is.”

Musical direction is by Amy Beth Nolte, a veteran of several KFT shows both in that capacity and as a performer. Costumer Barbara Klingberg might well find herself up to her elbows in feathers for this show, and choreographer Heather Dawson’s dance steps will be performed at the waddle. Keyboard accompaniment will come from Greg Smith And Victoria Casteel.

“I’ve worked with Amy Beth here before,” Othman said. “As soon as I got this (assignment), I knew I wanted her for musical director. Heather’s new here, but she’s worked with me (with the student program at Seattle Prep, which he directs).

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2014/may/19/theater-ugly-duckling-tale-told-with-song-and/#ixzz32EdufUEh 
 

Hey guys, if you want to fill in that time between the Superbowl and the first Pre-season game, I have a suggestion. In fact, it’s a little bit like football:

1.  It's outdoors
2.  There's a paying crowd for every "game"
3.  There is a "pre-season"
4.  You can do it by yourself or with your family and friends
5.  You have to enjoy standing up in front of crowds while you participate
6.  It's a timed event
7.  There is a coach to help you memorize your "route"
8.  You can "try out" for the better positions if you have the talent
9.  You get to sing theme songs with a bunch of other "fans"
10. When the season is over, you look forward to the next season

That’s right guys, now there is a way for you to fill in that gap.

All you have to do is go to a  special website, and let them know you want to join.

Because the people at Kitsap Forest Theater are looking for men who are looking for a new challenge: to be a part of outdoor community musical theater! Just go to http://www.foresttheater.com/auditions, check out the times and dates (we know you have it available, unless you are a hard core baseball fan…)

There are plenty of parts available if you want to be in the Ensemble, or if you have been on the stage before, or sung in a choir, try out for one of the male roles! Rehearsals are in Seattle, with some in Bremerton. During the run of the show, you get to experience the woods by camping in tents – how cool is that?

But you have to hurry! Auditions are in 2 weeks – but if you are not sure what you want to do, give us a call and we’ll be more than happy to find a part that fits you perfectly.

Feeling blue after the football season is now a thing of the past. Thanks to the Seattle Mountaineers Players and Kitsap Forest Theater you now have something to look forward to in the off season.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Jerry Dreessen
Mountaineers Players Member

The following review was written by Michael Moore of the Kitsap Sun.

BREMERTON — This feedback is going to be partly about the feedback.

I think the Mountaineers Players have a fair-to-middlin’ production of “The Secret Garden” going on up at the Kitsap Forest Theater. At the July 28 performance I attended, though, there were more than the usual distractions that kept the charming story of the power of love from being as effective as it might’ve been under Craig Schieber’s warm yet efficient direction.

The show has plenty going for it, starting with impressive vocal performances by several of its leads, sterling accompaniment by keyboardist Greg Smith (the lone musician in music director Julia Thornton’s charge) and visual contributions from Barbara Klingberg (who designed both the splendid costumes and the minimal yet evocative set) to overcome those “usual” distractions — an atmosphere that is part stage play and part family picnic, with the ambient noise from young children and restless adults, the wind in the branches and the roar of airplanes from the nearby Bremerton Airport.

Throw in a sound system that was scratchier’n a new wool sweater, though, and things get a little dicier, as they did for the opening weekend’s Sunday matinee. Speakers buzzed and burped, microphones cut in and out ... With as modest a crowd as braved Sunday afternoon’s cool (which really wasn’t bad at all), they might’ve been better off ditching the mics and asking everyone just to slide on down to the front.

Once there, they would’ve found much to entertain and move them. Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved story, effectively adapted by librettist Marsha Norman and composer Lucy Simon, is treacle — but it’s well-done treacle that provides a number of opportunities for really good singers to show off.

Two Kitsap residents are among those who take the most advantage. Sara Henley-Hicks, making her first appearance at KFT, gives full, but just short of operatic, voice to ghostly Lily, while Eric Emans is also tremendous as conflicted Neville.

But Emans has to take a back seat for man of the match to the lovely tenor of Stephen Leigh Jones, who plays Neville’s even-more-conflicted brother, Archibald, who’s still grieving the loss of his wife by cutting himself off from anyone who reminds him of her.

Into the brothers’ unhappy home lands Mary Lennox, whose parents have been claimed by a cholera outbreak in their Indian outpost. Archibald is Mary’s uncle, but sees too much of his beloved Lily in the little girl’s face upon her arrival and soon exiles himself to his flat in Paris.

As Mary, 9-year-old Jasmine Harrick is whip-smart and feisty from the get-go, but gradually warms to the task of bringing love back to gloom-ridden, haunted Misselthwaite Manor. The youngest cast member is a fine singer and holds her own in the acting department, too. She also has extensive movement on her plate, part of the atmospheric choreography by Guy Caridi.

Mary’s posse at Misselthwaite includes chambermaid Martha and her brother, Dickon (Britt Boyd and Tristan Carruthers), Ben the gardner (Carl Olson) and Colin (Cymbeline Brody), who’s bedridden under Neville’s overprotective care. Both Olson and Brody are Kitsap products, and both add strong acting performances.

It all turns out well in the end, as you knew it would. But the joy in “The Secret Garden” is in the telling.

If you can hear it, you’ll like it.