© The Wichita Eagle
June 9, 2002
Lassoing A Legend In 'The Will Rogers Follies'
-- Music Theatre Of Wichita Opens Its Season
With A Look At Show Business Legend Will Rogers.
by Bud Norman
America could use a man like Will Rogers again. That's what Wayne Bryan thinks, and that's why he's bringing the philosophizing cowpoke back in "The Will Rogers Follies."
"The show is always set in today, because Will's stuff is so timeless," said Bryan, Music Theatre of Wichita's producing director, who is reviving the title role in the production running Wednesday through June 16.
"He had such a bead on politics, religions, nations, ethnicity."
A hit on Broadway when it opened in 1991, "The Will Rogers Follies" opens a conspicuously patriotic season for Music Theatre of Wichita. It chronicles the true story of a part-Cherokee cowboy from Oklahoma and his remarkable rise in show business, first as a trick roper for the Ziegfeld Follies, later as an actor and comic commentator on politics and life, and ultimately as one of the most beloved personalities of Depression-era America.
Written by Peter Stone, with music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, "The Will Rogers Follies" combines the extravagant glitzine ss of the Ziegfeld revues with plenty of Rogers' down-home and low-key observations. While the Ziegfeld style has been updated for modern times, director and choreographer Roger Castellano said, Rogers' wit has proved a perfect fit for modern times without any changes.
"On the subject of war, for instance," Castellano said, "he remarked that this country never had such good friends as the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."
This is Music Theatre of Wichita's second staging of "The Will Rogers Follies," after a successful 1995 run, and Bryan's fifth time to take on the title role after three California productions. Bryan said this version will feature new choreography and be "closer to the Broadway show" than the 1995 show, with some sets and costumes taken directly from the Great White Way's original run.
"I managed to fit into Keith Carradine's pants from that show," Bryan said. "The diet worked."
The big show also features 14 showgirls, four wranglers, four cute kids, one expert rope-twirler, the disembodied voice of Florenz Ziegfeld and supporting performances by Nicholas F. Saverine, Tracy Lore and Barb Schoenho fer. Saverine will revive his 1995 role as Clem Rogers, the star's often-ex asperated father, while Lore joins the cast as saintly wife Betty Blake. Schoenhofer is also new to the show as the saucy showgirl known simply as "Ziegfeld's Favorite."
"She's a glorified chorus girl who was pulled out of the line. She's Ziegfeld's favorite because of, well, something special," Schoenhofer said with a laugh, carefully choosing her words because of the presence of 6-year-o ld co-star Quintan Craig, who plays Rogers' son.
Director Castellano said he hoped to use all of the cast's abilities to update the Ziegfeld style of entertainment for modern audiences. While noting that the showgirls were cast with a contemporary standard of beauty in mind, and that today's performers tend to be more talented and versatile than in the past, Castellano said he still wanted the essence of a Ziegfeld show.
"We're trying to revive the class and beauty of the Ziegfeld Follies," Castellano said. "They were the most beautiful and radiant women in the world, and we're trying to duplicate that. They had a calmness and style about them, because they knew that once you've become a Ziegfeld Girl, you've made it."
The show's music also pays homage to the styles of '20s and '30s, from the western music of Rogers' Oklahoma boyhood to the jazzy show tunes that were played in the New York theaters where he performed. Musical director Paul Christman said he didn't want to update those classic sounds at all.
"I figured out in the early '90s how to dig up the old charts. I wanted to give people the same impression they had of music from the old MGM musicals," Christman said.
"It's a full sound, like a Tommy Dorsey or Woody Herman or Glenn Miller sound. It's a studio recording feel, and it's fun to listen to. There's some ragtime, some Dixieland, some easy country folk type ballads. It's a nice mix."
Of course, there's no updating the play's lead character. Bryan spoke about the "privilege of exploring Will Rogers," and recalled meeting a woman who had interviewed Rogers just hours before he departed Point Barrow, Alaska, on a fatal flight with pioneer aviator Wiley Post.
"I heard her story in 1995, 60 years after his death, and she gave me a few tips about him, like how he always looked at his feet," Bryan said.
"It occurred to me that we'll soon get to a point where no one who actually knew him is still alive. I hope he'll be remembered by this show."
If you go
What: Music Theatre of Wichita's "The Will Rogers Follies"
Where: Century II Concert Hall
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, June 16.
How much: Tickets range from $14 to $41. For more information call 265-3107
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