‘The Phantom Of The Wagon Wheel’ Haunts The Theatre This Weekend
April 26, 2023 at 4:50 p.m.
‘The Phantom Of The Wagon Wheel’ Haunts The Theatre This Weekend
By David L. Slone-
“The Phantom of the Wagon Wheel” is an event best for groups, according to Director Melissa Jordan.
“So if you come, get a group of six to eight people, and then at intermission you’ll be able to do the clue hunt together and there’s basically clue helpers set up all around the theater. You will go find your clues, and then you’ll turn in your solution sheet. From there, we choose a winner from each team who gets the correct answer, and we have a lot of prizes for first, second and third place each performance, including free tickets. So it’s a lot of fun,” she said.
The show is a popular fundraiser for the Wagon Wheel.
Jordan said “The Phantom of the Wagon Wheel,” rated PG-13 due to some language and innuendo, was written by Ilene Moushey, whose murder mysteries have been performed before by the community theatre.
“She writes all of them, and this one was originally written for Akron Civic Theatre and you just insert the name of whatever theater you’re doing it in,” she said.
Moushey was friends with the late Jennifer Shepherd, who was one of the founders of the community theatre, and that’s how the theatre and Moushey got connected.
“We really love her murder mysteries and they’re really fun, and we love the audience participation aspect, and the audience loves it, too,” Jordan said.
The show doesn’t have a big cast, just four men and three women.
The basis of the “The Phantom” is that a famous operatic tenor - Marco Virelli - has supposedly seen a phantom at the Wagon Wheel. He writes an original score and show based on the phantom telling his story. Jordan said Marco is very passionate and your “typical famous artist.”
Clinton Slade is the producer of the show who invested all of his Navy pension into it. He needs the show to succeed.
Tim Marshall plays the phantom in the show-within-a-show. He’s a younger guy who Jordan called “your typical dude.”
Alexis Virelli is Marco’s wife. She comes from a “new money” wealthy family and is the reason Marco has reached stardom.
Marco’s sister is Theresa Virelli and “pretty much in charge of Marco’s life,” Jordan said. “She runs his business. Pretty quickly into the show, you realize that she is the driving force and she plays the piano for the show,” she said.
Maria Gambone is the ingenue for Marco’s phantom and was someone that Marco met while singing at a party. Maria was a server at the party.
The show is setting in the modern day.
This isn’t Jordan’s first time directing for the Community Theatre. She’s directed two of their full-length shows and assisted directed one full-length show and two murder mysteries.
“It’s been really fun,” she said of directing “Phantom.” “Being a small cast and also being a shorter performance, we haven’t had that much time together, but they have been really great at taking direction and at really creating fun characters. I think the audience is really going to love this cast.”
She said the cast includes four people new to the community theater, which is really exciting.
“You would not know that they’re new. They seem like they’ve been doing this forever,” Jordan stated.
In the cast are Craig Knight, Katie Smallegan, Rocky Whitaker, Kay Sheets, Addie Neher, Bradly Caudill, Jason Dugger, Katie Davis and Kathryn Anders.
Show times for “The Phantom of the Wagon Wheel” are 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, 2515 E. Center St., Warsaw. Tickets are $20 general admission - $150 for groups of eight - and can be purchased at the box office or online at wagonwheelcenter.org.
“It’s really fun. It’s a fun time to get together with friends, and even teams - work teams - it’s a great team-building experience,” Jordan said.
“The Phantom of the Wagon Wheel” is an event best for groups, according to Director Melissa Jordan.
“So if you come, get a group of six to eight people, and then at intermission you’ll be able to do the clue hunt together and there’s basically clue helpers set up all around the theater. You will go find your clues, and then you’ll turn in your solution sheet. From there, we choose a winner from each team who gets the correct answer, and we have a lot of prizes for first, second and third place each performance, including free tickets. So it’s a lot of fun,” she said.
The show is a popular fundraiser for the Wagon Wheel.
Jordan said “The Phantom of the Wagon Wheel,” rated PG-13 due to some language and innuendo, was written by Ilene Moushey, whose murder mysteries have been performed before by the community theatre.
“She writes all of them, and this one was originally written for Akron Civic Theatre and you just insert the name of whatever theater you’re doing it in,” she said.
Moushey was friends with the late Jennifer Shepherd, who was one of the founders of the community theatre, and that’s how the theatre and Moushey got connected.
“We really love her murder mysteries and they’re really fun, and we love the audience participation aspect, and the audience loves it, too,” Jordan said.
The show doesn’t have a big cast, just four men and three women.
The basis of the “The Phantom” is that a famous operatic tenor - Marco Virelli - has supposedly seen a phantom at the Wagon Wheel. He writes an original score and show based on the phantom telling his story. Jordan said Marco is very passionate and your “typical famous artist.”
Clinton Slade is the producer of the show who invested all of his Navy pension into it. He needs the show to succeed.
Tim Marshall plays the phantom in the show-within-a-show. He’s a younger guy who Jordan called “your typical dude.”
Alexis Virelli is Marco’s wife. She comes from a “new money” wealthy family and is the reason Marco has reached stardom.
Marco’s sister is Theresa Virelli and “pretty much in charge of Marco’s life,” Jordan said. “She runs his business. Pretty quickly into the show, you realize that she is the driving force and she plays the piano for the show,” she said.
Maria Gambone is the ingenue for Marco’s phantom and was someone that Marco met while singing at a party. Maria was a server at the party.
The show is setting in the modern day.
This isn’t Jordan’s first time directing for the Community Theatre. She’s directed two of their full-length shows and assisted directed one full-length show and two murder mysteries.
“It’s been really fun,” she said of directing “Phantom.” “Being a small cast and also being a shorter performance, we haven’t had that much time together, but they have been really great at taking direction and at really creating fun characters. I think the audience is really going to love this cast.”
She said the cast includes four people new to the community theater, which is really exciting.
“You would not know that they’re new. They seem like they’ve been doing this forever,” Jordan stated.
In the cast are Craig Knight, Katie Smallegan, Rocky Whitaker, Kay Sheets, Addie Neher, Bradly Caudill, Jason Dugger, Katie Davis and Kathryn Anders.
Show times for “The Phantom of the Wagon Wheel” are 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and a matinee at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts, 2515 E. Center St., Warsaw. Tickets are $20 general admission - $150 for groups of eight - and can be purchased at the box office or online at wagonwheelcenter.org.
“It’s really fun. It’s a fun time to get together with friends, and even teams - work teams - it’s a great team-building experience,” Jordan said.
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