Let's talk Broadway back close to Broadway. Let's talk Northwestern Avenue.
Yes. That's a good place to be. The Racine Theatre Guild, Jocelyn Fischer's
here from the Racine Theatre Guild. And a new production is starting this Friday.
This Friday. It's girl on the train. Now this is actually from, it's not based on a movie,
but there was a movie called Girl on Train. It's a little based on the book itself and the movie.
So it's a stage adaptation. It's very, very theatrical in the scheme of things. We meet Rachel,
who is kind of disappointed with her life a bit of alcoholic and has kind of an unreliable memory,
but she connects with this couple that she sees through the window of the train every morning.
And they seem perfect and everything's right for them. And then the woman in this couple
goes missing. And somehow Rachel ends up both as witness and as a suspect, as she tries to kind
of connect the dots between her memory and what really happened and discover what she thinks she
knows of people and what she actually knows. So it's very, very psychological. Kind of looks at
the human psyche. A little bit of murder mystery in there too, but it's quite the thriller
in the scheme of things. To get Emily Blunt to start, to really be to got her story.
Dre, yes. How do you know? This is what I don't understand. How do you cast people for a show?
Because yeah, right. They have to interact with other people. Yes. And they've got to have
some kind of chemistry. You can't have one standout person that says, what is either one?
Who does the casting? So Doug, instead of the director of this one,
we have open casting for all of our shows, open auditions. And he usually has two nights of auditions,
has lots of different people come in. Sometimes he'll do callbacks where he will do kind of like
chemistry reads like you're talking about, just seeing how two people interact with each other,
how they play off of each other, and then cast the show and get into rehearsal and work out all
those ups and downs of what's your character motivation and where are you standing and what do you
want in this moment and all those questions that you ask actors? Here's the thing I don't get when
you do it, put together a production. If you do a comedy, if the jokes don't land,
you're in big trouble because they've got to land. The person's got to deliver it. The timing's
got to be there. The same thing with the show like this, if you can't create suspense for these
characters, characters, you got a problem. Yeah. And that is what this show is a lot of suspense.
The sound effects and the lighting and even the scenic design lend a lot to
the audience trying to fill in the gaps of information, which I think actually adds more to
the suspense because they're trying to weave this web along with Rachel and understand what
is truth and what is fiction. And so it's quite something. It'll be really interesting to see how
people react to it because it's a bit different than our usual, you know, a Christy type of
murder mystery. This is much more on the thriller side, on the psychological side. Yeah,
because that's that's more of a who'd done it. Right. Right. And just a matter of figuring out who
did it. This, you have to create the suspense. That's good. You do. You do. That's why you're
bringing somebody like Doug Inson. It's you who's directed 650 shows that they were seeing theater
like that. So we know that and I was going to do it. Yeah. And there is, I will say, just
forewarning that there is some adult content and adult language in the show as well. So I would
recommend probably about 13 and older for this production. There's one that there's a couple
of nasty words and rip words. It doesn't bother me, but I heard a couple of guests. Yeah.
There's a lot of people laughing, but some guests. No, this one's got just the adult content.
There's a lot of like perceived violence and things like that and as well. So we just want
people to feel comfortable coming to see it if they might not. I've never felt just comfortable
with any show either seeing theater go. I went to this was years ago and probably in the 90s.
I went to the Skyline Opera Theater and they were doing three penny opera. Okay.
And I'm watching this show and all of a sudden the actors take off their clothes and they said,
whoa, I've heard about this, but I've never seen it before. And I'm sitting this and I felt so
uncomfortable with the people I was with. And I, yeah, doesn't bother me. It's just I didn't expect
that coming. Yeah. And all of a sudden the women take off their blouses and I said, whoa, I didn't
see this coming in the Skyline Opera Theater. Whoa, three penny opera. I guess you're not doing
three penny opera. No, we are not. We're doing the girl on the train. I just felt very young.
And back in the 60s and early 70s, back in the 70s, I guess off Broadway shows like
O'Calfe Cutter were doing that. So even hair, some degree, hair is one of my favorite musicals
of all time. But I was now ready for things like this. I'm just, you know, anyway, girl on the
train, it runs this fronty through March 15th. Plenty of time to get tickets. Yes, definitely.
And let's we're going to talk about this again, but how do you get tickets?
Uh, go to recene theater. Only two ways. Yes, recene theater dot org over the phone at 2626334218
or at the box office itself Monday through Friday 12 to 16. So actually three ways.
Well, yeah, you call the box office. That's the phone number. Yeah, call the box office or go to
recene theater dot org. Don't do it any other website. Yes, because there are some scammers out there.
Yes, there are. And they'll take advantage of you. You will get the tickets, but you can pay
five times a normal price. What are the ticket prices for this by the way? This one top ticket
price is $20. And then we have a senior discount and a student discount. Senior discount is 62
and older and student is 21 and younger. Do you know it's in the hundreds now to go to a
Broadway show? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We are actually in the scheme of this sector of southeastern
Wisconsin. We are one of the most affordable community theaters in the area. So it's a great
time. And you can see some wonderful entertainment. You get to support the community and all this
casting crew that have been put in all this hard work. And it's a beautiful and it's beautiful
theater. It's a first stage 400 seats. Wonderful theater. You think of community theater. You don't
think of the received theater guilt, but it was. It's a beautiful theater. They put on
quality shows. We've been these ticket holders for almost 20 years now. Great. Yeah.
I love it. Got our same three seats. Yeah. Never never a surprise. We like it. We get that
third seat. It was originally, say, tell people it's for my mother. My mother passed away.
And I just couldn't bring myself to get rid of that seat. Now I can invite people. That was
yes, but I also have to get the seat in front of that one. There are two people. But if not,
you know, we put our coach. But yeah, okay, girl on the train and it starts Friday.
Justin Fish is with me from the Racine Theater Guild. I told her I'm in trouble then because
I went to school with a Jocelyn Fuchs. And that's why I have to write it down because I want to say
Jocelyn Fuchs and you're not here. Just call me fish or something and we'll go from there.
Fish. Get over here. Fish. Is that what they get here in the high school?
Yeah. Fish. Get over here. And that was very complicated because I have too many relatives
with the same last name. So fish. I went to I went to the police boys club. I was growing up.
We had a Frankie fish. Oh, that's it. I have an ancestor named preserved fish. So that's I think
the right thing. I really do. In the way preserved fish way back like what spirit would do that
to somebody? It's like the 17 1800s. I mean, I'm named that for the duck Donald. So I'm
last to talk. Okay. So we talked about our latest show. By the way, Ripcord was just spectacular.
Yeah. We had a lot of fun with that. I love that show. Either my favorite show up until that
point was the one with Kathy Berg and it was glorious. Glorious. My mother loved that show.
And now this might be my new favorite one. Kathy Berg was the stage manager for it. So
the record. Yeah. It's the Kathy Berg influence. I can't put my finger on it, but this I'm going
to influence going on the girl on the train. It's a suspense. The a thriller and it starts this
Friday runs through March 15th. Yep. Then you've got the hobbit. You have all the casting done for
that. We do. We have 25 people in the hobbit. It's pretty crazy. They are already in the rehearsal
process. That one does also have outreach performances for local schools. So if there's any
teachers or field trip enthusiasts or homeschool groups or what have you listening that might
want to sign up for that. We have daytime outreach performances for local schools. They get to have
a talk back with the casting crew after the show so they can contact the theater to find out more
about that. But the main stage public performances of it run April 10th through the 19th actually.
So it is based off of the JRR Tolkien story of the hobbit. Bilbo Baggins is there. There's a ring.
Gollum's around smog's around. Yes. Yes. Yes. I actually got to attend both nights of auditions
for that. And that was so fun to watch because it's something so many people love. And so they
really came in with so much energy of how they wanted to do all these iconic characters.
Well, if you're a triple threat, singing, dancing and acting. Yes. Pippin. Yes. So first and foremost,
Pippin auditions are actually this weekend. So we have Pippin auditions on Saturday morning.
What do you have the auditions at the theater guild actually on stage? On stage. Yes.
With all the other stuff on stage. Yeah. And so Pippin auditions are this Saturday, the 28th,
and then Sunday March 1st as well. So those are open to anyone between 16 and older for the
ensemble and main roles. And then actually there is one child role as well that is open to 10 to
15 year old. So now who is who directs that? You know, Doug will be the director Greg Berg will be
our music guy and then new choreographer coming down from dance works in Milwaukee crystal.
Oh goodness. Can't think of her last name right now. But crystal is our new choreographer as well.
So people can come in. They prepare a song. They sing. And then there's actually going to be a lot
of dance in this audition process because it is a very, it's Bob Fossy. You got to dance.
It is very Fossy. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, auditions, you can again, contact the theater,
go to our website, find out more about that. Otherwise, you can also already get your tickets for that.
So that will run May 15th. I want to go on to be first. Well, great. Now you can invite,
we should just buy out the theater a day for us. Don't invite all your friends everywhere.
You're under a misconception. How much money radio people make.
But that's a great musical. It's one of Stephen Schwartz's first musical and Stephen Schwartz
has really come into popularity because of wicked, but this is a story of Prince and Charlemagne
and how he wants to live his life based instead of how his father wants to live his life.
And it's just got some iconic songs corner of the sky and magic to do.
Magic to do. I love that song. Yeah. So I think it will surprise a lot of people because I don't
think the general public knows it as much as the theater world does, but it's a wonderful show.
And I told you the story before, I was dating this woman and Picking was on Broadway and it was
sold out and I went to Ticketron and I said, I knew the girl from Ticketron and went to high school
with her. I said, it's sold out because well, occasionally, people were returning tickets because
they couldn't do anything. And we take their name and number and then you can contact them and
buy the tickets from them for face value because you can't sell them for more than face value,
otherwise it's against the law. So I said, okay, good. And that morning of the show, she called
me from Ticketron because here's the phone number. The lady's got, she can't go tonight. So I go
buy them from her. I pay her the cash. I go over and I sit with my girlfriend. I got tickets
for Pippin and I feel like going now. And now I can't give them to anybody because it shows
starts in about three hours. So I kept the tickets and every time I thought about her, I thought
of these tickets and all those pleasant thoughts went away. And I still had the, when my mother moved
in the year 2000 from her, those tickets were still in the drawer. She threw them out with my
beetle ticket steps. But it always for some reminder, yeah, I was so angry with it. And that was
the beginning of the end because at that point, yeah, I didn't want that with my, that was my
story. We'll bring out the violet over here. All right. So Pippin, that's that May. That's
the day for now with the season. Yes. And so actually, if people are curious what's happening
for our 2026, 2027 season, that announcement will be coming out March 23rd. So keep your
eyes. Yeah, I'll probably come on the next day. We'll chat. March 24th, you and I will chat.
Yes. I'll put you down March 24th. We want to be the first to announce it. Yeah. I want to know
what I'm getting into. Okay, let's talk about you just got done with the sponge ball musical,
which was the theater. Yeah, the children's theater. Yes. Horlick high school came over and performed
that they got so much love from the community and kids. And it was just lovely to watch. It's
actually a very, very fun musical for even as a person who didn't necessarily grow up on SpongeBob,
I had so much fun watching it. But then we have love Ruby Valentine coming up on March 20th to
22nd. So again, great shows to introduce kids to theater. It's an hour long tickets are $7
a piece for all ages, the young and the young heart as we like to say. And it's a lovely story
about Ruby who loves Valentine's Day and she sleeps through Valentine's Day because she worked so
hard on her cards that tired and she so upset. And then she comes to learn that you can tell people
you love them any day. You don't have to wait for a special. It's a very sweet story. Yeah,
it's very sweet. There's a adult of these children acting or just a adult. This one will be
adults coming down and doing it, but they'll interact with the kids a lot, which is really fun.
Jean's Jazz, you just had a Valentine's Day concert and now we got one coming up March 28th.
Yes, March 28th. I believe it's case casts is coming down. They've got kind of a really
interesting combination of electronic and live music. Got a DJ involved in doing some mixing while
a live group is playing and then also the Hannah Johnson trio. And she is on drums and then she's
got a couple other people with her. So that should be a great night of theater too on the 28th of March.
I love Broadway show music. I just love it because maybe because I grew up on it, but
you've got something coming up on the spotlight series. I remembered, well, the music of Learner
and Low and it's coming up Saturday and Sunday June 6th and 7th. And one of my favorite shows,
Brigaduin. Yeah. I love the music from Brigaduin. Yeah, so Kathy and Greg Berg will actually be
in charge of that concert. So we'll eventually announce some auditions for that. But actually,
before that, we have Royal melodies enchanted again. We did one of these concerts last year.
And we're going to do it again this year on Sunday, April 26th at 12 and 4 pm. They're going to be
45-minute concerts of like Princess and Villain and Queen and all kinds of fairy tale
character songs. And so it was really fun last year. All these kids came dressed up in their,
you know, favorite Princess outfits and super cute. So I'm looking back at this. I remember
with Royal Brigaduin, my fairy lady, Gigi and Camelot. Yes. I know it's going to be killer music.
I mean, it is amazing what some of these composers of that golden age era of musicals did.
I mean, it's you obviously think of Oscar, Hammerstein and Richard Rogers. But like,
learn and low is a huge team. And you know, even Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sonheim,
on what's that story? You know, all these like dynamic duos that gave us such iconic music.
You know, with Brigaduin, the interview Van Johnson and Jean Kelly and Sitchery Stern in the movie.
And the interview Van Johnson about it. And this is when Cinemascope movies just started coming
here. A lot of theaters weren't they couldn't show it because the screens weren't what made that way.
Yeah. So they shot the movie twice once in regular scope and once in Cinemascope. And so they
had to do everything twice. And Van Johnson said, I filmed two movies got paid for one and it bothered
him. Yeah. I said do movies for you guys. And so they actually have two versions of the movie,
this regular scope and the Cinemascope version to that film. And my fair lady, a classic. Yeah.
A lot of course. Could have danced all night. You know, my grandfather had the album to the original
Broadway cast. And every time I went over his house, he put it on the record player for me.
And I loved it. When they passed away, I have the album. I still have it. It was $3 at
time. And yeah. And actually, Brigaduin is the first show I ever remember seen, which is crazy
because I would have been like in second or third grade. And we took a trip over to the
fireside and saw a production of Brigaduin. So kind of an odd show about two people who go to
Scotland, two hunters. And they come across a mythical village. They get lost in the fun.
And they come across a mythical mythical village. It comes every 100 years. Then they wind up back
in Manhattan, the New York City. They wind up at a bar in New York. And one of them goes back.
I mean, Kelly fell in love. So yeah, it goes from Brigaduin and Scotland to New York City back,
the very good. Okay. So the girl on the train. And this starts Friday, Wednesday, March 15th.
You want to get tickets? Here's how you do it. You go to recenetheatre.org or you call the box
office or you go to the box office in person. That's it. There's no other way to get tickets for it.
And they top price 20 bucks. 20 dollars. Yes. You will not pay more. If you go through a third
party, you're going to pay a lot more. Yeah. For sure. All right. You're going to be here in a month
to talk about the talk about next season. You know what it is? Of course I don't.
I hold all the secrets. 20 bucks. No. No. No.
All right. I'll go as high as 22 dollars. And change. Yeah. Right. There we go.
To get it out of here. All right. Jocelyn. Thank you very much. Jocelyn fish from the
recene theater guild. Can't wait for the girl on the train. I always go the last week.
Oh, third week. So I will see you then.
