Arts Council of South Wood County - Doo Wop Project - October ‘25

Hello world, welcome to WFHR's Rapids report, probably brought you by Crockett Sethik for

this Monday, October 20th, 2025.

Have your host, James here.

We're joined right now by our great friends from the Wisconsin Rapids Arts Council.

We have a save of the arts with us right now, Sally Kissner is the director over there

with us.

Sally, good to see you.

Thanks for having me.

Always appreciate the time and work that you do so much and always the guests that you

bring in Sally.

We're right now, we're going to talk with Dominic from the Dewap project and Dominic,

I did not even try to say your last name, but I do want to introduce you properly, sir.

How do I say that last name?

No fee.

No fee, no fee.

Yeah, no fee.

That's a great name, Dominic.

That's a great name, Dominic.

That's a really good name.

It's way better than James Maloff.

I got to tell you it's very nice.

That's a really good name.

Dominic, thanks so much for joining us, man.

Thanks for having me.

Appreciate it, guys.

Always like to get to know our guests a little bit.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Yeah, I grew up in San Francisco and went to school in Boston.

But I've been in New York now longer than I was even in San Francisco for, so I consider

myself a New Yorker, I live in Brooklyn, and yeah, I run a little group called the Dewap

project.

Dominic, I had to really be careful here because I wanted to spend the entire interview

just talking to you about acting.

I've seen your resume, sir, and I've been acting so as seven years old, I love talking

about acting, and you have been working on stage long before you were a part of this

band, correct?

Yeah, we all met actually while we were working on Jersey Boys, specifically on Broadway.

And then, yeah, and then a couple of us, and then a couple of us went on to do Motown

the Musical, and we met another member in that cast, and he joined the Dewap project.

And then I was able to do a Bronx Tale after that, so I've been very blessed and lucky with

the Broadway shows that I've been able to be a part of.

Yeah, a Bronx Tale, you just throw that one in there, it's a classic, and it was directed

by De Niro.

Yeah, De Niro, you know, he directed the film.

The film, yeah, I'm sorry, the film.

No, no, he did direct the musical, though, too, so he directed the film, he wanted to

be a part of the musical, too, which was really a surprise.

And so he, along with Jerry Zach, who's sort of a really well-known musical theater director

and a theater director in general, they co-directed that production, and a chasm, voluntary, you

know, he wrote the musical book, and Alan Macon did the music, so it's a pretty wonderful

team to be a part of.

It's a really cool story, and I can only imagine how amazing that must have been to be a

part of it.

But also, I love that getting to show that these actors, the other artistic things they

can do.

And they kind of were able to do that with the play, and I appreciate you talking with

me about it, because I just couldn't wait to talk to you about that.

I was curious about some.

Oh, go ahead.

Oh, no, please.

Yeah, no, I asked the way.

So I was curious a little bit, and you gave us a little of this already about how the

band formed.

Can you add a little bit more to that as far as how you guys all got together?

Yeah, so the core of us were, we were in the cast of Jersey Boys at the time, and we

were, you know, just having discussions backstage, like, oh, this is, this is what, you know,

an honor to be a part of this show, you know, it's wildly successful, which no one saw

coming at the time, to be honest.

And we started to get other little, like, side gigs, you know, like, oh, people are

wondering if you could come out to New Jersey for this event and sing some songs, you know,

some do-up songs, maybe, not, you know, you don't have to sing from the four seasons,

or you can, or maybe do one four seasons song, but do some other do-up songs, so we started

doing that.

And then we realized there was an audience for this, and it just slowly built, you know,

a couple gigs the first year, and then we doubled that the next year, and then every

year, just more and more opportunities came for us to perform as the do-up project.

That's really cool to hear, especially how organic it sounds like it was the other way

I went.

So you get started, and then when you're talking about doing something, what, how do you guys

come around to the idea of doing do-up?

We thought, let's sing some stuff, maybe, that inspired Frankie, you know, and Tommy and

Bob and Nick of the Four Seasons, you know, what were they listening to that inspired

them, you know?

And so let's take some of those songs and incorporate them into a 90-minute show, and of course,

we'll do, you know, some Four Seasons classics as well, but to round out the show, like,

you know, let's do some Dion, let's do some Cadillacs, this great do-up band at Harlem,

let's do some cool kind of street Italian do-up songs from Queens, like Morseco to Love

and Oro's Marie, and just sort of these kind of gems that some people know, but are

just infectious songs, you know?

Yeah, when it comes to this style, it's not, we don't see a lot of this on the top 40

right now, this style, but yet it has stayed relevant since its beginning, have you found

that too?

Definitely, yeah, because this is the foundation that Rock and Roll was built on, right?

Yeah.

And a lot of people understand that and love that, and a lot of people have a lot of memories

and the style and length to this music, and also it's just a part of the American fabric

and kids growing up now, like, I have a 15-year-old daughter, and yeah, I did drag her to a lot

of do-up concerts, but also kids just know this music, you know, like, it's just like, you

know Elvis, you know Sinatra, and you know some of these classic do-up songs too, you just

hear them growing up in the United States, you know?

So it's a part of our shared history.

It's a really wonderful way to put it, and it's something that I think that we touch on

from time to time on different shows where, you know, we don't hand down movies or TV shows

that much.

Maybe a little bit here and there if we watched it with our folks or something, but music,

I mean, from the first notes that were played, we've been handing now music to our younger

generations.

It does, it's not surprising when you think about it that so many forms of music are still

popular today that may not, again, show up on a top 40, but they're selling well, there

are people are attending concerts of them and everything, do-up, we've seen this with

a couple of other styles of forms of music as well, no different than seeing vinyl make

a comeback.

Absolutely.

Yeah, people love the sound of vinyl, people love the sound of classic do-up, and you

keep mentioning top 40, and so we had a Duane Cooper with the base of our group, right?

He was like, guys, is this fun singing classic do-up and all, but I think it might be more

fun if we take maybe a contemporary song that everybody knows, like a song like Amiors

is more a song, like a Taylor Swift song, right?

And why don't we convert that song into a do-up song and arrange it into a do-up song?

So we do that as well, and Duane called that do-up-ify.

Why don't we do-up-ify that song and present that in our show as well?

So this is a multi-generational show, grandma can come to the show, and then mom and dad

can bring an eight-year-old or a 15-year-old to the show and everyone's going to have

a great time.

You can bring three generations to a show.

So good Dominic is, I was trying to set him up for that, he caught it, he caught it, I

got it.

So I wanted to get into the do-up-ify of things, and that's a great term, by the way,

great term.

When it came to doing that, I think for us, and especially for somebody like me that

doesn't have many musical notes if any in my body, I look at that on paper and I'm like,

okay, it doesn't seem that difficult.

I imagine that it's not as simple as just kind of, okay, I want to do do-up-ify sharing

from the four seasons or something along those lines, what kind of work goes into doing

that?

So like the first one we ever did was Michael Jackson's, the way you make me feel.

Oh, so you started with an easy one, Michael Jackson is so wow, wow.

So first of all, we were like, well, okay, this song's an up-tempo song, so let's slow

it down, let's slow the song down a little bit and let's break it apart, you know what

I mean?

And let's add some ooze, let's add some laws underneath, you know, whoever's going

to take the solo, we broke up the solo, we do that a lot because there's no real lead

singer in this group, everyone sings fantastic, so we like break up songs and kind of give

pieces to different singers.

And so we slow that down, we add some ooze, and then there's a moment in the tune where

it becomes, we reach that full tempo that everybody knows and loves, that's kind of like

the candy that everyone's waiting for, you know?

And then we come back and kind of like bookend it with more sort of do-up flavors.

We'll be doing that in Wisconsin and we're super stoked to show everybody, you know, what

a do-opified song is, we do it with I'm Yours, which is a Jason Maraz song, we do it with

Valerie, which is an Amy White House song.

It helps if the songs lend themselves, you know, are a little retro maybe sounding,

you know, but the way you make me feel wasn't at all, so yeah, that's a really fun thing

that we thought we would do to kind of set ourselves apart from, you know, other groups.

It sounds like it's something that had to been a lot of fun, just even putting together

let alone what you get to perform it.

And as Dominic mentioned there, he's going to be coming to town with the boys, they're

going to be here, the do-op project, we'll be here November 6th, over at the performing

art center here in Wisconsin Rapids, Dominic, what can people expect from the show?

The show again is multi-generational, right, so you can bring everyone to this show, bring

the grandkids, bring the kids.

We bring a performance energy from our Broadway pedigree that we feel is unmatched, so we

have so much energy when we hit the stage, and the show flow is really well in a polished

way.

We pride ourselves on that, but we have a four-piece band that's going to back us, and

so you get five singers up front and a four-piece rock and roll band behind, and it's really

a wonderful 90-minute show.

It sounds like it's going to be a blast, Dominic.

The previews and things I've seen online encourage people to check them out.

You are definitely going to get your tickets while you're watching these videos and taking

in the music.

Dominic, have you ever been to Wisconsin?

Yeah, we've been to Wisconsin before, I've been to Wisconsin, love going to Wisconsin.

Yeah, so we're thrilled to be back, and you know, you get do-op, you get Motown, again,

you get to do-op-ified songs, so it's really kind of an eclectic night.

I know it kind of seems like, oh, this is just, you know, an old-y show, but it's really

more than that.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

And especially the videos I saw, the attendance, a lot of the people, you've got a complete

mix of audience members of ages and all kinds of different things.

It's going to be a really fun show, everybody, and if you would like a preview of their brand-new

90-minute show, Echoes of the Street, the Do-Wop Project's newest production, I encourage

you to check out their new album.

You guys got a new album, right?

Yeah, just drop last week.

It's on Spotify, it's on Apple Music everywhere you can stream music.

You can order a copy of it from our website, do-opproject.com.

But yeah, we covered a lot of tunes.

We always wanted to cover on this album, like some Seerly, Blue Moon, My Girl, and then

we have a couple new do-op-ified songs to get lucky.

We do a new, we always like to do-op-ified Broadway tune, because that's kind of like,

you know, our pedigree in our music.

Yeah.

It's a bit of your wheel.

Yeah, we're really proud of it, really proud of the new album, for sure.

I'm giving a little bit of a listen, I want to give the whole thing a real listen, I encourage

everybody else to do it as well, get your album right now, and find out more you can go

to the Do-WopProject.com, The Do-WopProject.com, be sure to follow them on social media as well.

Dominic, this was a lot of fun, man.

Thanks so much for joining us today.

Thanks, I hope I covered all the bases here, guys.

Thank you so much for having me, and we're looking forward to our trip coming up to

Wisconsin.

It's going to be awesome.

Safe travels, Dominic, and we'll talk to you soon.

Thanks for having me, everybody.

Thank you.

Big thank you to Dominic there joining us.

That was a lot of fun, Sally.

Yeah.

He's awesome.

You get us the best guests.

We appreciate you so much.

Great guy right there, too.

And just as talented as he is kind, you know, they're going to give a great show.

Let's talk about The Do-WopProject, Sally.

How can people find out more, get tickets for it?

You can go on our website, saverthearts.com.

You'll get all the information there, but I'll give you a little right now.

November 6th, that 730 at the Performing Arts Center.

Tickets are $59 for adults, and as usual, 15 for students.

You can also get them by calling 715-424-2787 or stopping by 1048 Street South, Suite 101

in Wisconsin, Rapids.

Our office hours are Monday through Thursday, 10 to 230.

And Sally, you and your team do an amazing job bringing these acts to town.

We appreciate it so much, the culture, the art that you bring to this area.

But we can't do it alone.

Know that there's some great sponsors that help with this.

Absolutely.

The sponsors for The Do-WopProject include Aaron and G. Herman's plumbing and heating,

point and plover publication, Wisconsin Rapids City Times, and our season sponsor, WSAW

Channel 7.

Big thank you to all of those great people and organizations helping this out.

Sally, we've been doing this together long enough.

I can almost imagine you as you were just finding this band and reaching out to them

and everything.

You had to be pretty excited to land this one.

I definitely was.

And Dominic mentioned that he's been in Wisconsin before.

The Do-WopProject came very highly recommended by my friends from Wisconsin presenters networks.

So he has been around Wisconsin and they've left an excellent impression.

I cannot wait for them to get to town.

And of course, that show again is coming up Thursday, November 6th, 730, over the beautiful

performing arts center right here in Rapids.

Before I let you go, Sally, I did want to let everybody know or remind everybody that

coming up on November 7th, the U.S. Navy's premier jazz ensemble is going to be performing

here in Rapids.

They are.

We have given out all of the tickets for it.

So we do have a waiting list on that.

So you can call the arts council.

This time we had a waiting list.

We went through.

It was three pages long and I went through a page and a half calling people back.

So don't hesitate to get your name on the list.

Give us a call.

If we're not available, you can leave a message, leave your phone number and how many tickets

you'd like.

It's really great that you do that for the community.

That's really nice.

It's above and beyond.

That's very cool to do.

And understandable, too, though, because so many people want to take in these shows.

And when we have any of our, you know, any branch of our military coming in with a band

or something, it is so well attended.

And if anybody has never been able to take in one of those shows, it's going to be one

of the most precise shows you will ever hear.

If you love good music, you can almost guarantee it that it's going to be good music.

They have that military discipline, for sure.

And it really, really comes across in the music.

It's really fun.

And it's a great way to support our military.

It's a wonderful win-win kind of situation, all of the above.

And of course, keep in mind, the Do-Wop project is coming to town with their 90-minute

show, Echoes of the Street.

It'll be at the arts.

It'll be here as this amazing show Thursday, November 6th, 730, over at the Performing

Art Center of Wisconsin Rapids at 18116 Street, North, South, right here in Rapids.

Get your tickets and find out more at saverthearts.com.

Be sure to follow them on social media and share their posts and your page as well.

And thanks to Sally right away, because she gave us a handful of tickets to give away.

We'll be doing that on our morning shows.

Thank you for that, Sally.

Thanks for doing it.

And as always, we appreciate the time for you, Sally, and everything you and your team

put into the community.

Thanks a lot for the time.

It's my pleasure.

We'll talk again next month, and we'll talk to you again real soon.

Thanks for joining us here for another edition of WFHR's Rapids Report.