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Civic Theater Takes Risks With 'Follies'

Civic Theater Takes Risks With 'Follies' image
Parent Issue
Day
27
Month
May
Year
1979
Copyright
Copyright Protected
Rights Held By
Donated by the Ann Arbor News. © The Ann Arbor News.
OCR Text

At This Stage

by Norman Gibson

Civic Theater takes risks with 'Follies’

If some of the costumes in the Ann Arbor Civic Theater production of "Follies," which opens May 31, look familiar, it's because they come from the original Broadway production.

Costume designer Barbara Mostaghim is making a lot of the costumes for the production but she has been able to get hold of a few of the originals, for which the Civiv Theater will pay Broadway rentals.

This production marks the first time that a Civic Theater production has been presented in the Power Center for the Performing Arts and it is the kickoff for the group's celebration of its golden anniversary.

THEY ARE paying a royal price for not only costumes but for the sets, the orchestras and royalties to the script owners.

This is the reason for the move from the smaller 750-seat Lydia Mendelssohn Theater, where Civic Theater usually performs, to the 1,400-seat Power Center, which it hopes to come close to filling each of the four nights of "Follies."

Tickets are selling well but it takes a lot of extra effort to fill an auditorium twice the size of the one you usually use.

OFFICERS of Civic Theater say that "Follies" is a musical the group had to present at this time.

It has the complex music of Stephen Sondheim and a theme that parallels what the nation's number one community theater stands for.

IT WILL bring back to the stage a number of local actors who haven't performed in years.  At the same time, a number who haven't performed before with the Civic Theater will appear, and it is this opportunity for young, old and middle-aged that Civic Theater considers to be its mission.

Directors Charles Sutherland and Jim Posante searched the community for six-foot actresses to protray the mannequins in the show business era of the 1920's through 1940's for this 1971 winner of the New York Critics' Circle and Tony Awards.

Musical director Wendy Bloom will have her hands full conducting the large pit orchestra and the stage band that plays for a part scene.

As Civic Theater faces the task of raising money to buy and outfit the Elks Club building on Main St. and undertakes extra productions in the next year, it is taking a chance with the huge "Follies" production.

Those who buy tickets to this production demonstrate their support for such a necessary community activity, which this next year has dedicated itself to looking both forward and back, reflecting on its strengths and where it could be stronger.