Lack of musical director halts production
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Regrettably, the Presque Isle Community Players have had to scrap their planned spring musical.
According to Jim Derosier, Players president, the group had intended to present the Broadway musical, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” at the end of February.
“We had a director (Joe Zubrick), and we had actors, but we just couldn’t find someone to do the music for us,” he said, “and when you’re planning to present a musical, a musical director is pretty important.”
Recognizing that people are busy with “one thing or another,” Derosier hopes there’s “somebody out there who can play, but maybe doesn’t realize they have the ability to handle the music, as well.”
“Unfortunately it’s too late to do a spring musical this year as we need eight to 10 weeks to do a show,” he said. “Then it gets busy with graduations and other things, so what we’ll do now is start working on our fall show, which will be a dinner theater.”
Over the years, the Players have performed a wide variety of music from Gershwin, Broadway, Irish, the USO, American folk, music from around the world, as well as country favorites.
“We haven’t discussed the theme of the fall production yet,” said Derosier. “The board will get together before too long and decide what we’ll do for a show, and find somebody that might want to direct it.”
In addition to a musical director, the Players are always looking for musicians.
“Not just piano players,” said Derosier, “but people who can play the bass, drums or even violin. If someone has a talent, they can certainly contact me and we’ll talk.”
Derosier can be reached by email at jiminpi@yahoo.com or by calling 764-4757.
