SUMMER STOCK

  Where would the budding musical performer be without that nurturing institution? Can you imagine how many talented young neophytes earned their eventual entrance to the big time (New York and London were the destinations of choice in my day, and are still I’m sure), because of summer stock training. And what a training ground. For the alumni -- the graduates of Theater Under Stars -- the training received from our talented theater directors, music directors, choreographers and producers was professional all the way. Those years, and the numerous productions we appeared in, gave us a theatrical education to be envied. Beneath warm night skies -- stars obscured by powerful klieg lights -- we sang and danced our way into professional productions from Broadway's Great White Way to London's West End.
Summer outdoor theaters sprang up all across North America after the Second World War.  With the austerity of the war years gone, blackouts a thing of the past, open air theater was the perfect place to celebrate this freedom. The proscenium lights blazed out across the night the spirit of a new beginning. Old operettas, the mainstay of summer theater for so many years, were now being moth-balled, eclipsed by an exciting new musical genre, vibrant with the energy of  the post war years.  Fresh young talent, ready and eager,  flowed into the theaters of New York and London, and the renaissance of the musical, transformed for the times, began.

Theater Under the Stars was still young when I waltzed into in 1947. Waltzed?  More like stumbled, but the right word is lucked! Never mind my ineptness, I had tasted the wonder of performing in front of an audience, the excitement, the sudden quickness of the heart when the overture begins, the lights, the music, the thrill of the stage. Forget how embarrassed I was at my clumsiness, I remember only the  joy that surged through me when I sat down at my makeup table each night.

Dig that eyebrow!

Don't get me wrong, it wasn't the donning of makeup per se that was so great,  but it's application. The act of applying  makeup was to me a silent prelude to the lights, and to the magic of the show. I soon learned that the word slap, was much used in place of makeup, being considered more descriptive of the act, particularly among dancers. Much more entre nous (Excuse me, darlings, but I simply must put on my slap!). I also learned that you could put on too much slap. Watching me fumble with sticks of grease paint, eyebrow pencils, and other colorful items I was busily attempting to apply -- this prior to my first full dress rehearsal -- a fellow performer, more seasoned than I, and  fascinated by my abundant use of what lay before me, kindly whispered in my ear that if I didn't take most of it off before I went on stage I could be mistaken for an over indulgent drag queen . I was not yet aware of what a drag queen was, but gathered that I should not try to emulate that persons cosmetic use. I appreciated the face saving advice, and also the lesson which  followed in which he  demonstrated how little, not how much, one need apply. 
Late at night, as I lay in bed, exhausted from the excitement of performing and the performance itself, and before slipping into dreams where I performed dizzying feats, I often wondered if my longings for a career in the theater were not akin to that of a mountain climber as he gazes at the lofty peaks he strives to climb. Thinking only of arriving at their summit, he gladly accepts that whatever it takes to achieve that goal he will willingly do.
The program covers of twelve of the shows (shown earlier) -- except for Brigadoon -- are all I seem to have left of the 36 shows I was fortunate to be in during my six years with TUTS. Musicals like Oklahoma, Carousel, Finnian's Rainbow, and others, -- the latest Broadway hits -- were now the mainstay of the seasons. The old operettas may have lost their place, but they were never forgotten by either the audiences they transfixed or by the scores of performers who strutted them across the stage. Those wonderful old pieces, highlights of earlier periods in the history of the musical theater  initiated summer musical shows. Their worth must never be made light of as the musical theater moves forward. 
 How full, busy and exciting those seven years were. Classes with Kay and Betty, summer theater, ballet school, cabaret, exhaustive classes and rehearsals with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. The RWB's many performances, and tours across Canada and into the States. And of course a film, which I shall save for a latter post. So much more to write about, all of which I shall worry out of my keyboard in following weeks.