Weekend Rehearsal

We ran through Act II on Friday Act I on Saturday and the full show on Sunday. Cleaned up some messy blocking, worked on songs & dances some more - cleaning them up, making sure everyone is hitting their notes and picking their feet up when dancing. Its starting to come together. we also had a new pianist this weekend. I'm so thankful for everyone who's stepping in and taking a part of the show - that's what makes community theatre so wonderful!

A color ad ran in Sunday's paper - haven't seen it yet. My fabulous mom & brother picked up a copy for me.

Music is supposed to arrive today. I'm anxiously awaiting its arrival. We're supposed to rehearse Act I music tonight with the recorded music.

The Mom of Pepper red has been taking rehearsal photos - they look wonderful!!! I can't wait to share some of them here.

Annie Article in Local Newspaper and Online

Annie PR has started!!! The article for which I was interviewed for earlier in the week has been published online and in the local newspaper. Annie even made it to the front page!!!! All photos by Reeves Photography.

A musical message of hopeGreater Grand Forks Community Theatre brings ‘Annie’ to stage

By: Paulette Tobin, Grand Forks Herald

Want to hear a couple of quick choruses of the beleaguered orphans from “Annie” singing “It’s a Hard Knock Life”? Just call Mary Lizakowski’s cell phone. It’s been her ring-back tone for the past two years.

“I’m an ‘Annie’ fan. I love that show,” said Lizakowski, who is directing the Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre’s “Annie,” which opens Thursday. “I love the whole history of the show, going back to the cartoon days.”

“Annie,” a story of hope triumphing over adversity, began as the Harold Gray “Little Orphan Annie” comic strip in 1924. His young heroine, with her curly red hair, signature red dress and fondness for regularly exclaiming “Leapin’ Lizards!,” came to Broadway as a musical in 1977 with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin and the book by Thomas Meehan.
In 1982, it became a musical film starring Carol Burnett, Albert Finney and Aileen Quinn, forever immortalizing Annie’s trademark anthem, “Tomorrow” and her furry co-star, a mutt named Sandy.

Community theater’s “Annie” will feature 10-year-old Ali Nicolai, a student at East Grand Forks Sacred Heart School, as the spunky Depression-era orphan determined to find her parents.
Annie is living in an orphanage run by the cruel, embittered Miss Hannigan (Michelle McCauley). In one adventure after another, Annie foils the plots of Miss Hannigan, her no-good brother, Rooster Hannigan (Chris Berg) and his floozy girlfriend, Lily St. Regis (Marjorie Morris) and finds a new home with billionaire Daddy Warbucks (Jon Jackson) and his personal secretary Grace Farrell (Amanda Hill).

The show will run at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Feb. 13 and Feb. 18-20, with 2 p.m. Sunday matinees on Feb. 14 and 21, all in the Empire Arts Center. Reservations are available ($15, $12 and $10) in UND’s Chester Fritz Auditorium box office or by calling (701) 777-4090.
With such a large cast (more than 75 children and adults), organizing a rehearsal schedule
wasn’t easy. The ordered scripts didn’t arrive until three weeks ago.

But Lizakowski said they’re the latest touring version of the show and feature a lot more stage time for the orphans, more humor and a new song for Daddy Warbucks. Working with the cast has been great, she said.

“We have a top-notch cast of orphans,” she said. “They’re really excited, they learn quickly and they take direction very well. And I’m very excited for Annie, which is Ali (Nicolai), because she’s a triple threat, she does it all, sings, dances and acts, which is great.”

Ali had her blond hair dyed red to play Annie. She’s been performing on stage for four years and has had parts in community theater’s “Schoolhouse Rock” and “Alice in Wonderland,” and in “South Pacific” at UND Burtness Theatre.

Mare Thompson is assistant director with Jenny Morris as choreographer, Jeff Kinney as technical director, Amy Sanner as head costumer and Carly Flaagan and McKenzie Netz as student directors.

The cast
The cast includes Abby Anderson, Chris Berg, Ava Birkholz, Doug Chavis, Noah Cline, Seth Cline, Taylor Corbit, Emma Dodds, Roger Dykstra, Jaxon Flermoen, Jetiah Flermoen, Ruben Flores, Amber Fuller, Katie Gabik, Rod Gillund, Tacy Gillund, Lucy Glessner, Sophie Glessner, Kenneth Granle, Lily Grossbauer, Sarah Grossbauer, Amanda Hill, Maia Jackson, Jon Jackson, McKinley Kartes, Kathy King, Jared Kinney, Kelly King, Shealyn Klave, Madeline Kleven, Ali Kvidt, Michaela Lee, Naomi Lee, Victoria Lee, Bailey Mankie, Michelle McCauley, Lauren McCreary, Ivy McGurran, Kathleen Mohr, Haleigh Mooney, Marjorie Morris, McKenzie Netz, Ali Nicolai, Nicole Rothenberger, Kathryn Rutz, Lauren Sanner, Rebecca Sanner, Tessa Sanner, Sydney Skaro, Francie Shaft, Taylor Stauss, Elise Stayman, Hannah Syberson, Lizzy Syverson, Claire Thompson, Sophie Welsh, Nichole Wilson, Taylor Wilson and Juliet Wolfe.

The role of Sandy, Annie’s lovable mutt, will be played by two real-life mutts, Lizakowski said: Honey, who became part of Ali Nicolai’s family after they rescued it from a ditch, and Buddy, a dog Lizakowski adopted from the humane society.

When Lizakowski isn’t directing “Annie,” she works in the learning and organizational development department for Altru Health System, is a sideline photographer for UND football games and technical director for the Fighting Sioux Sports Network broadcasts. Even if she wasn’t a lifelong fan of “Annie,” she said, she’d have faith that this show will be a hit for community theater.

“Kids and dogs, you can’t go wrong,” she said.

Music Problem Solved

Last night we decided to go with The MT Pit for canned music. A live pit would've been great, but at this point, this is the best solution. Ben is ordering it today and should arrive by Monday - hopefully in time to have music rehearsal that night. I was also sent a cue sheet for the music by our Rooster and it looks like it should be very easy to run. The actor will have to adjust, but that should be ok.

We Open In TWO Weeks!!!!

Two weeks from tonight Annie will open at the Empire. Everything is looking good - except for the music. Still no solid pit or conductor - BUT I was given a website to look at: http://www.themtpit.com/

I called and spoke with Elizabeth from MT Pit. She was very kind. I asked if it would be feasible for us to even use their services two weeks from opening. We can, provided we use the canned music they have and not make changes to it - they even have the current version of the tour script which includes Warbuck's song "Why Should I Change A Thing?"

Jeff has organized a meeting tonight to discuss our music options. We'll see what comes of it.

200 and counting

Was told that as of yesterday, we've sold 200 tickets for the show so far. Not bad since publicity hasn't really started and we are a little over two weeks from opening.

Interview, Buddy on Stage, FDR & Drake

Yesterday I had a 25 minute phone interview with Paulette Tobin from the Herald. I hope she can use something from my ramblings and could make sense from what I was saying - I could talk for hours about the show.

I'm so proud of Buddy right now!! I think we finally found a way for him to be comfortable with Annie on stage. Right now I'm pretending to be a homeless person asleep next to the trash can on stage. We ran through Act I Scene 2 a couple of times that way and he didn't want to stray from Annie so much that way. I took some peeks when Annie was belting out her Tomorrow and Buddy was right with her facing the aundience for a good portion. We'll see how it looks when we get to the Empire. I may also throw myself into Hooverville to make sure he behaves himself since the tour version puts Annie into the scene much earlier and includes her in the Hooverville song.

We have our FDR!!!!! We blocked Act II Scene 3(actually re-blocked with the new actors) I'm loving our FDR - I knew he'd do a great job when he auditioned. So glad he reconsidered - it adds so much to that scene. My men in that scene also belted out "Tomorrow" for the very first time - EVER. Acapella. They sounded so good. I was told that the orphans in the other part of the theatre just stopped with an amazed look on their faces and gave a listen to the guys. The ending needs help, but that'll get fixed on Thursday. I just loved hearing tomorrow with those lower voices.

We also have a Drake!!!! Thank you Jared!!! Can't wait to see how he interprets the role. Jared's so talented and has great instincts. We haven't worked on a show together since 2002 when we did West Side Story at Frost Fire. Yay!!!!