Alumni from the Wagon Wheel’s last 18 years will return May 18 to celebrate the 60th season of the theater and help raise funds for the non-profit. The title of the fundraiser benefitting the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts is “One Night Only.” “The idea being it’s one night where you can see all these alumni perform individually, in duets and groups,” said Ben Dicke, Wagon Wheel alum and event co-master of ceremonies. Andy Robinson, another alum, will also co-host. The red carpet reception starts at 6 p.m. May 18, with the variety show starting at 7:30 p.m. Cost to attend the reception and show is $75, with the cost to attend just the variety show $25. Dicke said the fundraiser will feature a wide variety of performances – from comedic and big, brassy songs to duets and big group performances. Wagon Wheel Jr. will give a performance, and Center Street Community Theatre will perform a bit from their recent show “Almost, Maine.” As part of the 90-minute variety show, there will be a preview of the 2015 summer season. The shows this year will include “Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid,’” “West Side Story,” “Bye Bye Birdie,” “The Addams Family,” “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Little Women, the Musical.” The encore show will be “Avenue Q.” The Symphony of the Lakes will present a preview of its upcoming season, and there will be a tribute to long-time Wagon Wheel owner Bruce Shaffner. “There will be a little bit of everything,” Dicke said. Dicke offered to help arrange the night’s performances. He said he tried to set it up in a variety show format. He said the 60th season celebration will have a different feel to it than the 50th. Instead of bringing back big-name alumni like Faith Prince, recent alumni are highlighted. Alumni who volunteered to come back and perform for the fundraiser include Dicke, Robinson, Kristen Yasenchak, Lauren Roesner, David Schlumpf, Kira Lace Hawkins, Brianna Borger-Aguilar, Adrian Aguilar and Carrie McNulty. Dicke said his first season at the Wagon Wheel was in 2004. “That’s where I met Andy, and our first show was in ‘Kiss Me, Kate.’ We played gangsters, and we’ve been friends and colleagues ever since,” Dicke said. From there, Dicke and Robinson transitioned to starting the kids camps and then directing four to five years ago. The first show the two men directed together was “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” which was on the Wagon Wheel stage from Aug. 12 to 22, 2009. The cast included Cameron Carter as Eugene, Jennifer Dow as Blanche and Adrian Aguilar as Eugene’s older brother Stanley. Yasenchak’s first season at the Wagon Wheel was in 2014, Dicke said. Audiences may remember her as Emily Brent in “And Then There Were None” or Golde in “Fiddler on the Roof.” This summer, she will play, among other roles, Ursula in “The Little Mermaid.” At the May 18 fundraiser, Dicke said she will preview that performance. Roesner played several roles from 2011 to 2013 at the Wagon Wheel. She was Angie in “The Wedding Singer” and Irene Molloy in “Hello, Dolly!” but may best be remembered as Judy Bernly in “9 to 5, the Musical.” Anyone who remembers “Shrek The Musical” from June 5 to 15, 2013, will remember Schlumpf as Lord Farquaad. He played the role on his knees as Farquaad is a short, little man with a big attitude. Dicke said Schlumpf also had quite a few other good roles, including Charles Condomine in “Blithe Spirit” in August 2012 and Billy Flynn in “Chicago” in July 2012. “He’s a great actor,” Dicke said of Schlumpf. “He’s got a great Chicago career.” Since 2008, Hawkins has appeared in numerous Wagon Wheel musicals and plays, including the roles of Aunt Em and Glinda in “The Wizard of Oz” that year. The Wicked Witch of the West was played by longtime Wagon Wheel favorite Carrie McNulty. Hawkins also appeared as Vi in “Footloose” that year, and her most recent appearance was Mother in “A Christmas Story, the Musical.” Brianna Borger-Aguilar and her husband Adrian Aguilar met at the Wagon Wheel. “They met at the Wagon Wheel and really fell in love with ‘Leader of the Pack,’” Dicke recalled. “That’s when they fell in love and started dating and then got married.” He said Brianna has “got a huge voice,” while Adrian recently was seen on Broadway in “Rocky.” Adrian was the first understudy for the role of Rocky so got to play the role many times, Dicke said. On the Wagon Wheel stage, Adrian also played Ren in “Footloose,” Walter Cunningham in “To Kill A Mockingbird” and Niki Sullivan in “Buddy, the Buddy Holly Story.” Adrian and his brother, Alexander Aguilar, both made their Wagon Wheel debuts in 2005. They appeared in shows together like “Annie Get Your Gun,” “The Pirates of Penzance,” “It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Superman” and “Singing in the Rain.” A late addition to the lineup is McNulty, who Dicke said has played everything from Dolly to Mame and Mama Rose to the Wicked Witch. “She’s played all the leading women and we’re excited to have her,” Dicke said. Michael and Erin Vangemert had their first season at the Wagon Wheel the same as Dicke, in 2004. They appeared in shows like “Picnic,” “Grand Night for Singing” and “Cabaret” in 2007. Also, longtime Wagon Wheel actress and wig maker Jennifer Dow will be a part of the fundraiser’s ensemble. She was last seen as Flick’s mother and ensemble in “A Christmas Story, the Musical,” but has appeared in many other shows from playing Esther Smith in “Meet Me In St. Louis” in 2002 to Louise in “Always, Patsy Cline” in 2011. Dicke said the alumni invited were those who also performed several years in a row. All alumni were back on a volunteer basis, and to volunteer to do the show to benefit the Wagon Wheel says a lot about how much the Wagon Wheel means to them, he said. “I’m really excited about this group of people, and to perform on this stage with them as well,” Dicke said. Mike Yocum, a longtime Wagon Wheel actor, will do the voiceover for the fundraiser, Dicke said. With McNulty first having appeared on the WWT stage in 1997, and the other alumni going back from a few years ago to over 10 years, Dicke said not only will the May 18 event be nearly 20 years of history on the stage, but they’ll be celebrating 60 years of history. He estimated the variety show will last 90 minutes. “We’re cramming a lot in there,” he said. “It will be family friendly and there will be something for everyone,” he guaranteed. There will be a silent auction in the lobby, and a live auction of special items at intermission. “There’s some really neat packages to bid on: weekend getaways, football games. At the end of the day, that’s what this is really about – continuing to build on the legacy going forward.”
