DRY COLD PRODUCTIONS Fall 2008

COMPANY

Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Book by George Furth

May 22 - 24, 2009 CanWest Performing Arts Centre

Director Mariam Bernstein

Music Director Danny Carroll

When first produced in 1970, COMPANY was a milestone in musi-

cal theatre history. It was the first Stephen Sondheim/Hal Prince

collaboration and by the time of its 1995 revival, it was being re-

vered as one of the “handful of greatest musicals ever written”, hav-

ing paved the way for large-scale acceptance of concept shows like

A Chorus Line and Cats.

The plot of COMPANY revolves around Bobby, the five married

couples who are his best friends, and his three girlfriends. Unlike

most book musicals COMPANY is a concept musical composed of

short vignettes linked by a celebration for Bobby's 35th birthday and

his friends‟ concern for his single status. COMPANY was among

the first musicals to deal with adult problems through its music. As

Sondheim put it, "they are middle-class people with middle class-

problems." It is also one of the first musicals where the songs com-

mented on the characters in the play instead of furthering the plot, a

device which became a Sondheim standard.

After seven previews, the Broadway production, directed by Hal

Prince, opened on April 26, 1970 at the Alvin Theatre, where it ran

for 705 performances. For the first and only time, the Tony Awards

for Music and Lyrics were split into two categories. Sondheim won

both awards. COMPANY was nominated for twelve Tony awards,

winning six of them, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musi-

cal and Best Original Score. That original score includes some of

Sondheim‟s most powerful songs, including The Ladies Who Lunch

(first performed by Elaine Stritch), Sorry-Grateful, You Could Drive

a Person Crazy and the tour-de-force Getting Married Today.

We‟re very excited to

have Mariam back for

her fifth Dry Cold

show after her master-

ful direction of The

Secret Garden and

She Loves Me and her

performances in Nine

and Into The Woods.

Danny was with us as

music director for

Nine and we‟re de-

lighted he can join us again. Steve Ratzlaff, Laura Olafson

Carson Nattrass

Join us for a delightful fund-raiser

The Dry Cold Brrrrr-unch

Sunday, November 2 - 12:30 p.m.

The Inn at the Forks

Enjoy a fabulous brunch prepared by the Inn

at the Forks, wonderful entertainment by

some of the Dry Cold artistic family and a

spectacular offering of silent auction items.

Tickets: $50 (with a tax receipt for a portion

of the cost.)

Tickets available:

by phone: 228-3431 or 489-9095

by email - info@drycoldproductions.ca.

Or from any Dry Cold board member.

music & lyrics by Mark Hollmann

book & lyrics by Greg Kotis

Director – Ann Hodges

Music Director – Celoris Miller

Set Design – Brian Perchaluk

Lighting Design – Scott Henderson

Stage Manager - Karyn Kumhyr

Harlequin Costumes of Winnipeg

Sharon Bajer Lisa Durupt

Donna Fletcher Reid Harrison

Kevin Klassen Tim Magas

Carson Nattrass Laura Olafson

Steve Ratzlaff Miriam Smith

Tom Soares Melanie Whyte

Cory Wojcik

Clever musical a Dear John letter to Broadway convention by Kevin Prokosh (Winnipeg Free Press)

May 9, 2008

Urinetown, being given an easy-to-like professional premiere by Dry Cold Productions, is more about shameless

cheek than bloated bladders. Most of the fun - and there‟s lots to go around in this giddy 130-minute Tony winner,

comes from not taking itself seriously and deriding musical theatre and Broadway banality. Director Ann Hodges finds

the subversive heart of this improbable entertainment with the help of a strong local cast headed by Carson Nattrass,

reprising his award-winning performance of Bobby Strong. He projects goodness and decency while singing the hell

out of Run, Freedom, Run. Laura Olafson‟s naive Hope offers a delightfully grating duet with Nattrass and then pulls a

Patty Hearst after she is taken hostage by the free pee resistance. Brenda Gorlick‟s cute choreography pays tribute to

Urinetown‟s musical targets by parodying Les Miserables, West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof. The Act 1 finale,

called „Act One Finale‟, is a hilarious send-up of the marching French rebels, except the revolutionary flag is replaced

with a crutch attached to a streaming length of toilet paper. With Urinetown‟s

regrettably brief run, if you want to see it, you gotta go.

Steve Ratzlaff, Sharon Bajer

Carson Nattrass, Laura Olafson

Reid Harrison

Tim Magas,

Melanie Whyte.

(Miriam Smith in

rear.)

Miriam Smith, Tom Soares

Kevin Klassen, Lisa Durupt

All the Urinetown photos are

courtesy of Gary Barringer.

Miriam Smith

The Dry Cold Family is a busy one.

Samantha Hill (Wendy), Jeffrey Kohut, Stan Lesk, Carson Nattrass, Andrew Stelmack

(Smee), Cory Wojcik, and Chris Sigurdson (Captain Hook) all were in Peter Pan (Rainbow

Stage). Robb Paterson (director), Scott Henderson (lighting), Georgette Nairn (stage man-

ager) and Marlene Meaden (ass‟t stage manager) all worked on the other side of the curtain.

Jeff Kohut (Ethan Girard), Stacy Nattrass (Georgie) and Melanie Whyte (Jeanette) were in

The Full Monty (Rainbow Stage). Taming of the Shrew (SIR) featured Harry Nelken.

Pride & Prejudice (MTC)) will feature Mairi Babb, Evelyn Anderson, Carson Nattrass,

James Durham & Derek Leenhouts. P& P will be directed by Robb Paterson with Karyn

Kumhyr as stage manager. Danny Carroll, Scott Henderson & Brian Perchaluk will be pro-

viding the sound, lighting and set designs respectively. Tim Gledhill will croon his way into

your hearts in Forever Plaid (Rainbow Stage) and Steve Ratzlaff can be seen in Essay & the

Russian Play (WJT). Other shows to mark on your calendar include How It Works (PTE) with

Miriam Smith & Chris Sigurdson; Rich (MTYP) - Kimberley Ramparsad; Jitters (MTC) -

Lisa Durupt; Death of a Salesman (WJT/MillerFest) - Kevin Klassen, Carson Nattrass,

Harry Nelken & Laura Olafson; Little Shop of Horrors (Rainbow Stage) - Kevin Aichele &

Kimberley Ramparsad: Moonlight & Magnolias (PTE) - Miriam Smith & Gord Tanner; Boys in

the Photograph (MTC) - Carson Nattrass & Laura Olafson.

Mariam Bernstein will be directing Death of a Salesman (WJT) and at FemFest, while Reid Harrison will be at the

helm of The Pirates of Penzance (G&S Society). Chris Sigurdson may have the most unusual directing challenge:

male and female versions of Neil Simon‟s classic comedy The Odd Couple performed on alternate evenings as the

MTC lawyers‟ fundraiser production. However, it is Ann Hodges who might just be the busiest director - with Jitters

(MTC), Moonlight & Magnolias (PTE), Madama Butterfly (MOA) as well as operas in Vancouver and Calgary.

Other little interesting tidbits::

Kevin Aichele & Danny Carroll can often be heard at the Palm Room at the Fort Garry Hotel.

Matthew Fletcher will be studying theatre at Northwestern University (Chicago) this year. He is

the recipient of scholarships from both Rainbow Stage and MTC to help him along the way.

Alexandra Frohlinger played Anybodys in the Boston Conservatory's production of West Side

Story and in the spring of '08 was a chorus member in Cy Coleman's The Life. Samantha Hill

will be attending University of Alberta in their BFA Acting Program. She can also be seen in an

upcoming episode of NBC's Fear Itself. Kevin Klassen’s play Bleeding Hearts will be pro-

duced at the MTC Warehouse this season. Heather Jordan will reprise her role in So You Think

You Can Be A Canadian Musical Theatre Idol (Too) this November for White Rabbit Produc-

tions. Kimberley Ramparsad is performing again in Dream Girls but this time at The Grand

Theatre (London Ontario.) Jaz Sealey has signed on for another year of Dirty Dancing at the

Royal Alex in Toronto. Miriam Smith was in the film Amreeka and did an episode of The L

Word while in Vancouver this summer.

And, of course, the most recent addition to the Dry Cold Family:

Amalia Grace Fletcher Hickerson, born on September 15th (6 lbs, 12 oz.)

Congratulations to Amalia‟s proud parents, Donna Fletcher & James Hick-

erson.

These are only some of the fabulous artists who call Winnipeg home. No

doubt more will find their way into our family come the spring production of

COMPANY

Tim Magas

L to R. Donna Fletcher, Melanie Whyte, Lisa Du-rupt, Sharon Bajer, Tim Magas, Miriam Smith

Sharon Bajer

Dry Cold Productions

Board of Directors

Donna Fletcher

(President)

Glynis Corkal

Denis Fletcher

Reid Harrison

James Pappas

Heather Pullan

Ron Robinson

Sharon Goszer Tritt

Help build the Dry Cold Snowbank!

Autumn comes followed by the cold winds and snow

of winter. Help us rebuild our Snowbank so it lasts

until our spring production. Make a contribution.

The Dry Cold Snowbank categories:

Wind-Chill $15 to $49

Blizzard $50 to $99

Sun Dog $100 to $149

Snow Angel $150 to $99

Northern Lights $200 or more

Cheques payable to Dry Cold Productions should be

sent to: 262 Renfrew St., Winnipeg MB R3N 2J6.

Dry Cold is a registered charity.

Tax receipts will be issued for all donations.

A paperless world?

Not yet but help us

do our part.

This newsletter has

been distributed to

over 500 Dry Cold

supporters. To those

who have received it

by email as a pdf

file, we say „Thank

You!‟ Not only

have you reduced

the paper being used

for this newsletter,

you have reduced

the cost of paper,

printing and postage.

To everyone else,

please send us your

email address (to

info@drycoldproduc

tions.ca) so we can

send the next news-

letter by email to

you as well.

We hope that you enjoy hearing about Dry Cold‟s activities but if you wish to be removed from our mailing list, please email

or phone us (info@drycoldproductions.ca / 228-3431) and let us know. We will remove you from the list immediately.

Here’s this season’s menu of musical theatre and opera. Don’t miss a

moment of these wonderful shows.

Forever Plaid - Rainbow Stage - Oct. 1 - 12

Il Trovatore - Manitoba Opera Association - November 22, 25 & 28

Candide - Manitoba Opera Association - February 28

Little Shop of Horrors - Rainbow Stage - March 11 - 29

The Boys in the Photograph - Manitoba Theatre Centre - April 30 - May 23

Madama Butterfly - Manitoba Opera Association - April 25 & 28, May 1

The Pirates of Penzance - Gilbert & Sullivan Society - May 7 to 10

Tom Soares, Donna Fletcher

Kevin Klassen, Tom Soares

Cory Wojcik

THE GAIL ASPER FAMILY FOUNDATION INC.

The Free Press

We’re there for you

Inn at the Forks

Norwood Hotel

Thanks to all our wonderful sponsors