Welcome, everybody, to Midday Magazine for this Monday, December, December 2nd, 2024.
I got ahead of myself there.
We are looking forward to at 4 o'clock today, or 430 today, walking in our good friend,
Rock Larson, Wood County Veteran Service Officer, looking forward to talk with Rock.
I got really excited because I get to kick off the week of this show talking with some
of my favorite people, Wisconsin Rabbids Community Theater members.
I should journalistically mention WRCT is my second home.
I pretty much live there.
It's a place that I've been for a long time, so there's no journalistic integrity with
this interview.
I just can't wait to talk with you guys about acting and talk about Irving Berlin's
white Christmas.
The holiday production that is premiering this week from our own Wisconsin Rabbids Community
Theater.
I'm going to go around here and let you all introduce yourselves and we'll get into
the show.
Hi, I'm Beth Roan-Happiger.
Beth Roan-Beth Roan-Beth Roan-Beth Roan-Beth, thanks for being here.
And I am playing Betty Haines.
Thank you, Beth.
I am Daniel Bladso.
I am portraying Phil Davis in the show.
Thanks for being here, Danny.
My name is Alia Arroyo and I am playing Judy Haines.
Thank you, Alia.
And I am Schubacher, director of White Christmas.
So good to see you.
Thanks so much for being here.
How are you being here?
Put you to work right away.
OK, go ahead.
We're joking a little bit in our pre-game.
Irving Berlin's White Christmas, don't think that we really have to over-explain this
one too much.
Most people know it by now.
It is a classic.
The top Christmas classics, really.
But for those that may not know, can we just live a little bit of a synopsis if you don't mind?
Sure.
It's about two talented song-and-dance team men that after the war, they're searching
for that perfect little sister act to go along with it.
They've come about.
They meet two ladies going heading to Vermont, another song-and-dance troupe.
And it's a story of love and misunderstanding and slapstick and it's heartwarming and
it ends up happy, up in Vermont.
I mean, it's a classic.
I think everybody would love to be in Vermont at Christmas and the snow.
And it's magical.
Like I said, love, slapstick, comedy, dancing, singing, everything you want, you'll sing
it all the way home.
Well done, by the way, Sue, like that was perfect, you guys.
That was great.
One other thing I do want to note with it that I think is kind of cool to people that may
be, you know, find entertainment or just, you know, these kind of things, interesting.
This place still is a great history lesson as well, of that turn from Vodville to, you
know, radio from Vodville to TV, some of those things.
It really gives you a little bit of a history lesson with it as well, along with being one
of the more, you know, steadfast Christmas plays of all time.
And I can't imagine how much fun it was to do this.
Right away, I want to give what's Councilor Abbott's Community Theatre credit.
We've already won.
Like, we pulled this off.
This is already happening.
Like, you guys, what you guys have done is something that we haven't been able to do
over there for quite some time.
That's pretty cool.
So that's pretty cool.
It is.
And, you know, I think Gretchen Powers has told me that, I think it was ten years, ten
years since they've done a musical.
So for me, to be asked to direct this was an honor.
Because I, my genre is the children, children's theater.
So learning how to direct with adults, it's a different process.
And, but it's been a fun journey, I've been a lot of new friends.
And yeah, I just feel very honored to be a part of this.
Yeah.
And I want to get into that with the rest of you as well.
We've heard how Sue feels about this.
What do they feel for you about to be able to be a part of this one in particular?
I know you've done a number of shows over there now, but this one in particular.
I, white Christmas has always had a special place in my heart.
It's a Christmas tradition between my husband and I since we were engaged is we'll finish
our Christmas Eve services, we'll come home, get changed in pajamas and just sit on the
couch and watch white Christmas together.
And sometimes I actually make it all the way through the movie.
So to be able to actually be a part of this has been wonderful and to get to play Betty
because of Rosemary Clooney's portrayal in the movie was just phenomenal.
And her solo act, that song, love you didn't do right by me has always been one of my favorites.
So I'm loving the opportunity to be able to sing that particular song in the musical.
And it does it well.
I can only imagine.
Yeah.
As being on stage with her a number of times, I'm positive Beth is going to nail this and
do a great job.
Daniel, I'm curious for you for the audience.
It cannot see this young handsome man.
He is much younger than me and much more handsome than I am.
With that, Daniel, I don't know how many shows you've done at WRCT or anything, but I'm
curious of what this one meant for you.
I've done only so much with Community Theatre.
I came in in maybe 2019.
It's my first go around with it.
But white Christmas, I was raised on that kind of stuff.
My parents are very old-fashioned.
We watched Twilight Zone and Pink Panther movies.
That's the same here.
Same here.
Same here.
And Phil Davis in the movie and in the show, as a character, is just so iconic, Danny
K's portrayal of him.
So colorful.
So just being cast as that character, being able to bring that to life in my own way, it
feels really good for me too.
Feels really good to hear a young person shout out Danny K.
That was awesome.
That was awesome.
Yeah.
Leah, we haven't really gotten to talk to you or meet you before here on the air.
Thank you very much for being with us.
Again, if you could tell us your character and what it meant for you to be a part of this.
Yeah.
So, I am playing Judy Haynes.
I play Betty Slashbeth's sister, and this is my second show with WRCT.
I was in the last one that we did, and that was a return to theatre after about 20 years
of not doing anything.
I had only really ever done musicals before this.
So the last play was the first time I'd done a straight play.
So yeah, it's just really fun to be back into it.
I have dragged my husband along for the ride.
He is playing our lead Bob Wallace.
And so it's just been a really fun opportunity to get to, like Sue said, make some new friends,
get to act with old friends.
So it's just, yeah, it's just been a really heartwarming experience.
And getting to sing sisters with Beth is just icing on the cake.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Leah, not to put you on the spot, but to put you on the spot.
This is real quick, because one of the things that we really try to do with these segments,
and really, honestly, whenever we're on the air, is encouraging more and more people to
do what you and your husband have done, taking this brave jump and getting back into theatre
or getting into theatre for the first time or anything like that.
It's not easy to pull off, though.
We've got busy lives.
We have other schedules and all these things.
Did it go okay for you guys?
I'm sure there were bumps here and there and everything, and again, not to get too prying,
but did you guys manage it pretty well?
Yeah.
Well, we think so.
Between the two of us, we've got seven children, so I don't know if our children think the same.
My youngest is 10 years old, and I asked her recently, like, hey, are you cool with the
fact that, you know, your mom and your stepdad haven't been home?
Well, I miss you, and we've been eating a lot of chicken nuggets lately, but no, it's definitely
worth it.
You know, it's a bonding opportunity for me and my husband to do something different.
We met, doing karaoke, and we love singing, and so that has been really fun for us, and
it's just something to do, to get away from, you know, the humdrum of work and housework,
and just something for us to do.
So it's been really great for us.
I drag the kids along to make them watch our performances, begrudgingly, but they're
going to come with it like it or not.
Right.
Thank you so much for that.
I really do appreciate you sharing all that.
It's the definition of what we really champion around here with our community theaters and
being a part of them and how it is doable, you know, and it's worth it.
You hit it on the head there, it being worth it.
I thank you so much for sharing that.
I appreciate it.
I want to talk a little bit about the rehearsal process and getting into these characters
a little bit and playing iconic characters.
First up, about the rehearsal process, and kind of piggybacking off of what we were just
talking about, Alia, you and I, and being able to swing something like this in our busy
lives, two people out there.
How often did you guys get together?
How often did you guys were rehearsing and for how long?
When did you guys start rehearsals like a couple days after auditions, right?
Right.
It was back at the end of October.
And I was finishing up Wizard of Oz and children.
So it was quite the feat for me to go back and forth.
But we practiced Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday in the evenings from six on until
we were done.
It should be between 8.30, 8.39 now, you know.
And then we've added in a Sunday here there, but now this cast even has realized, oh, we
need more.
We've been there the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Saturday, the Sunday.
So they're very committed, and our practice schedule is how we feel we need it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's kind of an organic thing that grows with each show is going to be different.
And I always admire when a cast is willing to put in more time, and especially something
like this where you can't have enough rehearsals, you can't have enough prep or anything for
something like it.
I bring it up in one, in part, because of what Ali and I were just touching on and the
encouraging others to do this and everything.
It's not a gigantic time commitment.
It is swingable.
If really you set the bar like Ali, like you got 10 kids in the house, man, you could swing
this.
Like I got no excuses.
I live alone.
Like what?
You know, when it comes to that part of it, but also when we're taking in these shows,
I hope the audience has some appreciation of what these individuals are community members
put into these shows and take time out of their personal lives to do these rehearsals.
This is a, this is the most commendable thing about all this to me.
You guys could go up there and be reading these lines off your script and I'd be proud
of you.
And I'd be thankful to you.
Let alone all the work and how great this show is going to be.
When it comes to getting into these characters, I'm
curious about that one, especially when you're playing iconic characters.
I was in, I've only been in one Christmas play, but I did George Bailey and it's a wonderful
life.
And I actually, I think looking back more and more and I was fortunate because I came
in about a week and a half before the show went on.
And I'm a bit of an overthinker, you guys.
I get really into these characters.
And if I had had the chance to have as much time as you guys did to prep, I think that
one of the things that would have popped up in my head eventually is I have the first
name.
That's as close as I am the Jimmy Stewart.
Like we share our first name.
That's about it.
I could never match what that man did in that role.
I walk into it and I realize, real early on, I got to be me.
I got to do this my way.
I've got to do it my own style and my own way.
And an odd way of doing that, I found that I was actually honoring and giving a bit of
attribute to his performance.
I did things that I didn't even intend to do that he had done and certainly some things
differently.
For you guys playing these kind of characters, how did you approach them and how did it go?
How are you feeling about it Beth?
I'll start with you.
I am not Rosemary Clooney.
And so you just hope to be able to do a nod, like you said, that there might be something
that's a little bit to look at the character as the character and not the actor that
played the character.
And that was the difference for me is what is the actual emotion going on here?
Who is this woman and why is she behaving that way and coming at it from that perspective?
And yeah, there are sometimes with our choreography for us sisters, there are some nods to the choreography
in the movie and the cost to me and there are nods to the movie.
But this is very much its own entity, its own production.
Yeah.
So, getting into character as Phil Davis, as I said, I've been really raised on these
older style movies, classic style stuff.
So seeing Danny K, he's as two likes to print out during rehearsals, he's very energetic,
very full of life, he's very fast-paced as an actor.
So trying to get into that, it's been a real step for me to kind of wrap myself around
who Danny K was and how my certain emotions, physical attributes, things like that, how
that really brings a character together.
So yeah, there's a lot of connections with the movie and how we kind of execute some
of that, but it's really more about bringing that same energy into a more different
or character than he was at first.
Yeah, I like that.
Yeah, that's well done, yeah, Alia.
Unlike my counterpart in the film Vera Ellen, if I'm getting that correct, I am not
the dancer that Vera Ellen was, so I was very excited to see that the song choreography
as much as I love it is not in our show because there's no way I could do the toe-tappy
thing that she does.
I am much more a singer than I am a dancer, so that was a relief to me on some level,
but yeah, it's just, it's fun to get to play someone that isn't like yourself.
I'm supposed to be playing this kind of young, vivacious, very pushing my big sister into
finding love, and I've never had a sister, so it's been really fun to have that interaction
with Beth.
I just have a little brother who I've never pushed into love, so it's just been really
fun to play someone that isn't myself, and you know, you kind of look at the script and
decide if I were this person, how would I dive into this scenario, so it's just been
kind of fun to create my own little character out of Judy.
We've got so many fun songs that we get to sing, and yeah, I just get to be someone that
I'm not, and that's just fun sometimes.
It's one of the most, I would think that if we're trying to get people to give theater
a chance and give acting a child or anything, I think one of the most intriguing things
is you get to be completely different.
You can find somebody and be somebody completely different than yourself.
And by doing that, you are like 90% of the actors in Hollywood, because that is why a lot
of them do it, is certainly to be able to break away from reality and being something
else.
And also, I think having some understanding and empathy of others that this creates in
acting and just through the process.
For you, Sue, when it came to doing this, you mentioned that you did this right coming
out of the children's production of Woods of Oz, a nice job by that, by the way, really
nicely done by you and the kids and everybody involved in that one.
I imagine that that's difficult transition to do, and it's a lot of work on you, so again,
thank you for putting them that time.
Was there any part of you?
I know for me, it's completely different than directing, but I always actually appreciated
going from show to show to show.
It actually got, I was already in routine, I was already in a mindset of it and everything,
so I felt like it was a little easier for me than kind of jumping back in or something.
Was it more smooth for you that way, or would you like to break?
Do you want to take a break now?
Do you want to?
After Christmas, yes, but I'm not, so, but no, I'm retired and this is my life, I mean,
I love it and I love my children and my children, my mom, I thought you were supposed to be
retired and baking cookies and being a grandma, yes, I can do that too.
But what was fun for me was the fact that I got a challenge to go direct adults, and
I've, you know, last ten years, it's been children, so I wouldn't have known if I wouldn't
have done it, so I feel honored to have that chance.
And, you know, as a director, you go into this and, you know, as a adult, working with
an adult, they have their personalities developed, children don't, and some of it, but not
as an adult.
And so, when you give direction, you kind of throw it out there and they have to develop
it more than if you're feeding it to the children.
That's been a process and it's been a great process.
You know, my vision is coming to life, I'm so proud of that with everyone.
Last time I had tears in my eyes, I was in the final production, the final act opened
up.
So, I did get my vision and they've been working very hard.
And, you know, I don't sleep at night, my husband goes, Susie, and I'm droppin' my head
at 12, 30 on the couch and still thinking about constantly this, and you do, you live
it, you breathe it, it's in your blood, and I totally love it.
And, you know, the character, the actress, have given me a lot of dedication.
I can see that.
And, you know, you go into this and start, and oh my gosh, okay, yeah, I can act, okay,
fine, okay.
I don't know, now I have to open my mouth and sing and act, and now I have to move my
feet.
Yeah.
And, that is the concept that, at first it was like, whoa, you know, and now it's all being
put together and I think we can give a community a great show.
Yeah, yeah, nicely said.
And, I'm glad you touched on two things there in particular.
One, well, I've gotten to do a lot of interviews with a lot of cast, it's been a long time since
I got to interview a cast that had to do all the things Su just said.
As far as, you know, one thing, learning your lines and learning a blocking.
Also, I'm going to throw some dance moves in there, oh yeah, and they're singing.
Like that's a lot, you guys, and I'm beyond impressed with all of you and your fellow
cast members as well.
And, I do want to send a shout out to all the other cast members that were not able
to be on the air with us.
We only have so much room in here and it's a big show, but, but also other people, you
know, are busy, things going on.
So I do appreciate you guys making the time.
I want to send a shout out to everybody working behind the scenes as well.
Our stage builders, certainly Gretchen and the Ganga and the board over at WRCT pulling
this off and the play selection committee.
I don't think we mentioned them very often on the air here, but I do want to shout them
out as well for not only a great season of show selections, but for taking the chance
on this show and taking the chance on our community that we can pull this off and show
that we can do this and hopefully going forward, we can do more of these from time to time.
We also want to give a shout out to Ben Shiddick.
Yeah, shout out to Ben Shiddick, who is our musical director and has worked with us to
learn these songs and get them to where we need them to be.
Well, we, I'd be the god of them.
Yeah, I mean, I miss Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben Ben on the air with us a long time.
Want to mention the dates, of course, for this show, be sure to get your tickets for it.
You can be performing December 5th, 6th and December 5th in 6th at 7 o'clock.
December 7th is a 2 o'clock matinee.
So this Thursday, Friday, Saturday is the got the matinee to it.
And then come right back the very next week, December 12th and 13th, 7 o'clock shows,
December 14th, that Saturday, next Saturday will be a 2 o'clock matinee.
And I'll wrap everything up, everybody.
It's taking me a little getting used to the new schedule and everything.
I got used to it.
I was just, I had that right at the top of my head.
No, I don't.
It's a new schedule.
And just real quickly, I do want to mention some other fun things going on with Wisconsin
Ravis Community Theater.
They have auditions for arsenic and old lace coming up December 16th and 17th.
I will meet you there, 630 to 830 at the WRCT Auditorium.
And they got some fun stuff coming up this Christmas Ag, LT Party from 1 to 4 on December
8th.
Be sure to check that out.
And their first ever Children's Theater Christmas program is coming up December 20th.
All these will be taking place over at the Centrelius Center at the Wisconsin Ravis Community
Theater.
Be sure to meet us there for not only white Christmas, but all these great shows.
Thank you all so much for being here today for taking the time out of your lives to rehearse
to practice, to work at this.
We cannot wait to see you there.
We're going to give you a good crowd and give you a good show.
Thank you.
Thank you guys.
Break a leg.
Have a great run, you guys.
Thank you.
Get your tickets and find out more again at WRCT Theater.org, WRCT Theater.org.
We'll take a time out.
We'll come back and have some more Midday Magazine for you right here at 97.5 FM 13.20 AM.
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