Wagon Wheel Performers Talk About Ties To NYC
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Perhaps more than any other group of professionals, actors have ties to New York City, either having lived there or knowing people who do.
The leading actors of "The Music Man" on stage now at the Ramada Wagon Wheel Theatre are no exception.
"My girlfriend watched the first building burn as the plane hit the second tower from her office window," said Rod Thomas, now based in New York. He was in Chicago Sept. 11 performing the lead role in "big, the musical."
The part earned him a Joseph Jefferson Award for best principal actor in a musical Nov. 5.
Thomas returns to the round stage for the role of Prof. Harold Hill after a season-long absence.
"My immediate feelings were that what I do is so inadequate," he said. "Slowly you come out of that."
Friend and fellow actor Mickey Fisher agreed.
"I've been on top of the twin towers, it is so scary, the loss of those buildings and the way they were brought down," he said.
Fisher, another Wagon Wheel audience favorite, returns to play Marcellus Washburn, Hill's sidekick in the holiday production.
"Just as we rely on the firefighters and police to save our lives, they rely on us to tell their stories," Fisher said. "This is what I'm called to do."
Currently Fisher lives in New York, where he writes and produces his own work. He and Thomas co-wrote "The Irontown Trilogy" recently and he has been filming "The King of Iron Town," a movie resulting from that work.
"It's about a guy training to be in a tough man contest," he said of the film. When Fisher isn't performing or writing and directing, he's producing.
A couple of years ago he directed and played God in "Children of Eden" at the Paramount Theatre in Ashland, Ky. Thomas took the role as Adam. The two first had these roles at the Wagon Wheel a couple of seasons ago.
The men met at the Wagon Wheel and have worked together since 1998. Fisher's first season was 1996 and Thomas started here in 1997 while Fisher worked elsewhere.
Their camaraderie is apparent. Fisher had to mention that in addition to winning the Jeff Award, Chicago's equivalent to the Tony Awards, Thomas also earned an After Dark Award for cabaret music.
Thomas waves a dismissive hand at the attention.
"It's kinda funny. I expected the award to go for a very dramatic role," he said. "I got it for having fun, for playing a 13-year-old kid. It's ridiculous!"
Jennifer Davis has the lead female role of Marian Paroo, the town librarian. Just back from a production of "Camelot" in Pennsylvania, the soprano already feels as if returning to the Wagon Wheel is like coming home.
Davis gave a delightful performances as Maria in "The Sound of Music," this past summer as well as Eliza in "My Fair Lady." She was one of the ensemble members in the season's final production of "The World Goes 'Round."
"People care about what they're doing here," Davis said of the Warsaw company. "Roy (Hine, artistic director) is so good about riding the actors, making them toe the line, that helps the entire cast more than anything else."
Davis recently moved from New York to Chicago and looks forward to a return to "good, old-fashioned America" in "The Music Man."
"It's honest," she said of the musical, which first appeared on Broadway in 1957, "full of sentimentality, romance and intrigue."
Fisher called the production a classical, distinctly American musical, loaded with Midwestern values.
"It ought to renew our sense of pride in being Americans," Thomas said.
Also appearing on stage will be The Chain Gang quartet appearing as The Buffalo Bills. Chain Gang members include Phil Randall of Pierceton and Jerry Frush of Warsaw along with Roy Pontzius of Columbia City and Jim Geller of Arcola.
Randall is the president of H & H Sales Co., in Huntertown. He is the newest member of the quartet, singing with the group for a year.
Frush is retired from Sun Metal Products after working there 44-1/2 years. He has sung in the area barbershop chorus for 30 years and with the Chain Gang for six years.
Pontzius is a Whitley County farmer and a six year member of The Chain Gang.
The last member of the group, Geller, is a livestock farmer and has served the Northwest Allen County School Board for 28 years. He has sung with the quartet for six years.
Tickets are still available for "The Music Man" tonight through Dec. 2; Dec. 7-9 and Dec. 14-16.
For more information call 267-8041, toll-free 866-823-2618 or on the Net: www.wagonwheeltheatre.com [[In-content Ad]]
Perhaps more than any other group of professionals, actors have ties to New York City, either having lived there or knowing people who do.
The leading actors of "The Music Man" on stage now at the Ramada Wagon Wheel Theatre are no exception.
"My girlfriend watched the first building burn as the plane hit the second tower from her office window," said Rod Thomas, now based in New York. He was in Chicago Sept. 11 performing the lead role in "big, the musical."
The part earned him a Joseph Jefferson Award for best principal actor in a musical Nov. 5.
Thomas returns to the round stage for the role of Prof. Harold Hill after a season-long absence.
"My immediate feelings were that what I do is so inadequate," he said. "Slowly you come out of that."
Friend and fellow actor Mickey Fisher agreed.
"I've been on top of the twin towers, it is so scary, the loss of those buildings and the way they were brought down," he said.
Fisher, another Wagon Wheel audience favorite, returns to play Marcellus Washburn, Hill's sidekick in the holiday production.
"Just as we rely on the firefighters and police to save our lives, they rely on us to tell their stories," Fisher said. "This is what I'm called to do."
Currently Fisher lives in New York, where he writes and produces his own work. He and Thomas co-wrote "The Irontown Trilogy" recently and he has been filming "The King of Iron Town," a movie resulting from that work.
"It's about a guy training to be in a tough man contest," he said of the film. When Fisher isn't performing or writing and directing, he's producing.
A couple of years ago he directed and played God in "Children of Eden" at the Paramount Theatre in Ashland, Ky. Thomas took the role as Adam. The two first had these roles at the Wagon Wheel a couple of seasons ago.
The men met at the Wagon Wheel and have worked together since 1998. Fisher's first season was 1996 and Thomas started here in 1997 while Fisher worked elsewhere.
Their camaraderie is apparent. Fisher had to mention that in addition to winning the Jeff Award, Chicago's equivalent to the Tony Awards, Thomas also earned an After Dark Award for cabaret music.
Thomas waves a dismissive hand at the attention.
"It's kinda funny. I expected the award to go for a very dramatic role," he said. "I got it for having fun, for playing a 13-year-old kid. It's ridiculous!"
Jennifer Davis has the lead female role of Marian Paroo, the town librarian. Just back from a production of "Camelot" in Pennsylvania, the soprano already feels as if returning to the Wagon Wheel is like coming home.
Davis gave a delightful performances as Maria in "The Sound of Music," this past summer as well as Eliza in "My Fair Lady." She was one of the ensemble members in the season's final production of "The World Goes 'Round."
"People care about what they're doing here," Davis said of the Warsaw company. "Roy (Hine, artistic director) is so good about riding the actors, making them toe the line, that helps the entire cast more than anything else."
Davis recently moved from New York to Chicago and looks forward to a return to "good, old-fashioned America" in "The Music Man."
"It's honest," she said of the musical, which first appeared on Broadway in 1957, "full of sentimentality, romance and intrigue."
Fisher called the production a classical, distinctly American musical, loaded with Midwestern values.
"It ought to renew our sense of pride in being Americans," Thomas said.
Also appearing on stage will be The Chain Gang quartet appearing as The Buffalo Bills. Chain Gang members include Phil Randall of Pierceton and Jerry Frush of Warsaw along with Roy Pontzius of Columbia City and Jim Geller of Arcola.
Randall is the president of H & H Sales Co., in Huntertown. He is the newest member of the quartet, singing with the group for a year.
Frush is retired from Sun Metal Products after working there 44-1/2 years. He has sung in the area barbershop chorus for 30 years and with the Chain Gang for six years.
Pontzius is a Whitley County farmer and a six year member of The Chain Gang.
The last member of the group, Geller, is a livestock farmer and has served the Northwest Allen County School Board for 28 years. He has sung with the quartet for six years.
Tickets are still available for "The Music Man" tonight through Dec. 2; Dec. 7-9 and Dec. 14-16.
For more information call 267-8041, toll-free 866-823-2618 or on the Net: www.wagonwheeltheatre.com [[In-content Ad]]