Organization
Germantown Community Theatre
Germantown Community Theatre
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At-a-
Glance
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Contact Info
Germantown Community Theatre
3037 Forest Hill-Irene Road
Germantown, TN 38138
Phone: 901-754-2680 | Official Website
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Current Events
05/18/12-
06/03/12 |
Lend Me a Tenor
Germantown Community Theatre
Presented by Germantown Community Theatre
at Germantown Community Theatre
May 18-June 3, 2012
Winner of three Tony Awards, Lend Me a Tenor is set in 1934, when Saunders, the general manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, is primed to welcome world famous Tito Morelli, Il Stupendo, the greatest tenor of his generation, to appear for one night only as Otello. The star arrives late and, through a hilarious series of mishaps, is given a double dose of tranquilizers and passes out. Saunders and his assistant Max believe he's dead, so in a frantic attempt to salvage the evening,...
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Current &
Upcoming Events
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Current Events
05/18/12-
06/03/12 |
Lend Me a Tenor
Germantown Community Theatre
Presented by Germantown Community Theatre
at Germantown Community Theatre
May 18-June 3, 2012
Winner of three Tony Awards, Lend Me a Tenor is set in 1934, when Saunders, the general manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, is primed to welcome world famous Tito Morelli, Il Stupendo, the greatest tenor of his generation, to appear for one night only as Otello. The star arrives late and, through a hilarious series of mishaps, is given a double dose of tranquilizers and passes out. Saunders and his assistant Max believe he's dead, so in a frantic attempt to salvage the evening,...
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Past
Events
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Media
Reviews
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Member
Reviews
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Member Reviews
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Event Name: Willy Wonka Junior
"The Show Is Great"
Comment
posted by:
Kelley Walker (Aunt of Mrs. Salt, Zoie Brown)
from OLIVE BRANCH MS,
Jun 10, 2011
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Event Name: The Foreigner
"Find The Foreigner in Germantown, You’ll Be Glad You Did"
Comment
posted by:
George Conroy - ArtsMemphis Rants & Raver
from Memphis, TN,
May 05, 2011
At first this comedy feels like a drama, and later, when the Ku Klux Klan appears, it is chilling. However, ultimately it is a mystery story that is a lot of fun. Every single cast member has incredibly terrific comic timing, and many parts of the show are deep-down-belly-laugh funny.
The action takes place in a fishing lodge in rural Georgia run by an affable widow, Betty Meeks (Martha Graber.) She is friends with a jovial English demolitions expert, Sgt. “Froggy” LeSueur (Jason Spitzer), who visits Georgia periodically to train American forces. On this particular trip, he brings along a friend from England, Charlie Baker (John Rone), who is depressed because his wife has been cheating on him. Froggy hopes that some rest and relaxation at Betty’s lodge will cheer Charlie up.
However, Charlie’s self-confidence is so low that the thought of socializing with the other guests at the lodge – or with anyone – is paralyzing. He begs Froggy to “do something” so that he doesn’t have to. On the spur of the moment, Froggy tells Betty that Charlie doesn’t understand English and therefore wants to be left alone.
Betty hears the first part, but not the second. She takes Charlie the “foreigner” under her wing and tries to communicate with him. This is when the story changes from drama to comedy. “He don’t understand no English even if it’s spoke real loud,” Betty explains to another lodge guest…and we’re off.
Meanwhile, also staying at the lodge are the seemingly fine-and-upstanding Rev. David Marshall Lee (Brian Everson) and his fiancée, the former debutante Catherine Simms (Emily Childers). Catherine’s sweet but mentally challenged younger brother, Ellard Simms (Jeff Posson), earnestly tries to teach the foreigner English, including the pronunciation of words such as “fork,” which has, as we know in this part of the country, two syllables. Oafish local sheriff-wannabe Owen Musser (Sam Weakley) taunts the foreigner for “fun.” When you meet Mr. Weakley you’ll surely agree that should he ever require an understudy Larry The Cable Guy would be a perfect candidate!
Because they all think that Charlie can’t understand a word they’re saying, they speak their secrets in front of him. He begins to forget his own troubles by helping the good guys prevail over the bad guys from under cover of his foreigner role.
The Actors and the Music
John Rone is definitely a pleasure to watch, especially because so much of his humor is non-verbal, and also because we get to see his character Charlie blossom from a reserved, depressed, fearful man into a still English but more relaxed and happier man. From Mr. Rone’s every movement, every facial expression is purposeful. Mr. Rone reprises a role he has played three times over the years on the Germantown Community Theatre stage.
Everyone is in this cast is strong, not a weak link in the 2 hour long chain. John Rone is the versatile and consummate theatre professional, the star of the show to be sure, but everyone here is a treat, from their comic timing to their characters’ accents to their personalities to the way they move to the way they interact with the each other. You’ll think Jason Spitzer as Froggy, for example, arrived in Germantown directly from London’s west end theatre district.
There is no live music during this show, but the recorded music between scenes is perfectly selected to enhance the entire experience.
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Event Name: The Fantastiks
"The Fantasticks Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow"
Comment
posted by:
George Conroy - ArtsMemphis Rants & Raver
from Memphis, TN,
Apr 08, 2011
Yesterday
Eons ago when I was probably in the ninth grade, I first enjoyed the classic musical “The Fantasticks” at Front Street Theater. The theatre was then a small venue in the basement of downtown Memphis’ Hotel King Cotton. Teenage protégés Jeanne Sheffield and Gene Wilkins, Thespians who’d matriculated from the stage of White Station High School where they first created the roles of Matt and Luisa. I wonder where those talented “kids” are now….
Today
This week Germantown Community Theatre began an innovative staging of that timeless musical whose original off-Broadway run lasted 42 years. The romantic tale of a young couple and their meddling parents features the beloved songs "Try to Remember" and "Soon It's Gonna Rain."
Eisenhower was President when The Fantasticks first came to life, but at GCT young Matt (Justin Willingham) and Luisa (Emily Chateau) are in perpetual awakening. As the show begins, a tall wall through the backyard separates the fresh-faced heroes, and they are ordered by their parents not to breach the divide. So Matt and Luisa are left with only their imaginations.
But when did that ever trump the powers of young love? Matt and Louisa exchange glimpses and mementos over the top of the wall until, finally, their fathers Hucklebee and Bellamy (Bob Koch and Spencer Miller – a wonderfully zippy duo, more about Spencer later) come out with the truth: Luisa and Matt’s union is, in fact, what the parents always wanted after all.
The miracle of The Fantasticks is its lightheaded plot and simplistic characters who shine and exemplify art-on-a-shoestring; the actors perform on a minimalist set created by Andy Saunders, who also directed the production. It’s a platform, a bed sheet, and not a whole lot more. It’s a micromusical played with a wink and a grin.
Tom Jones’s comic libretto and Harvey Schmidt’s light, bubbly score – played at the Germantown Community Theatre by an orchestra of two to great effect, via keyboards tickled by Kenny Long and Angelo Rapan.
Matt’s character seems to be a pretty studious fellow, while Luisa, is a starry-eyed dreamer “I’d like to be the kind of girl designed to be kissed on the eyes.”The production’s mysterious host El Gallo (Kent Fleishman) spins the story straight out of the dusty air with a flick of his wrist and a few famous melodies (“Try To Remember”). His scampering assistant, the Mute (Philip Sandager) is always at hand to set an illusion in motion and to propel a scene forward with acrobatic flair (case in point: he plays the wall).
Sandager is marvelously precise in the silent role, and it’s under his care, mainly, that magic begins to erupt at choice moments. Folded paper transforms into all manner of props. Flames and snow rise and fall from fingertips. These fun ploys capture, in microcosm, this musical’s unique achievement: instant entertainment born from simple imagination and the sheer will to wring comedy and light drama out of seemingly nothing.
Even given the performers’ enthusiasm this Fantasticks doesn’t always ring as true as it might. Fleishman, although charming, doesn’t tap the magnetism required of the smoldering El Gallo (who soon gets drawn in as Matt’s romantic competitor). The Abduction Ballet played at half-speed when it might have crackled with more choreographed action. Justin Willingham and Emily Chateua make a cute couple but as the show progresses we don’t observe their hearts beating as one so much as their minds working through the mechanics of intertwining melodies. They’re both great singers, but it’s Emily Chateau who not only steels the show, she completely commands it and almost singularly carries it with her subtle acting talent and magnificent, beautifully trained voice of amazing range. Memphis is fortunate that Ms. Chateau has chosen to make her theatrical homes in Memphis and northern Mississippi. Enjoy her performance now in The Fantasticks and you’ll later say, “I knew her when!”
Audience members will recognize Justin Willingham as the radio voice of WKNO and it’s delightful to enjoy his musical theatre talents as well.
Veteran actress Jo Lynne Palmer was originally playing the role of "Henry," the old actor. Ms.Palmer suffered a stroke on Saturday. She is in recovering in stable condition at Saint Francis Hospital, but sadly will not be returning to assume her role. Fortunately, she did have her opening night performance on a role she has always wanted to play. Assistant director Spencer Miller took over for her and did an amazing job in the part , learning the lines and blocking in under 3 hours. Kudos to him for stepping in so seamlessly and delivering so remarkable a performance!
Tomorrow
During intermission I chatted with two young girls in the audience about the show, and both told me they were enjoying it. They’re the next link in what has become a very long chain of shared musical theatre experience. As the decades pass, sons and daughters will continue to come back to see The Fantasticks again as fathers and mothers.
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Event Name: The Dixie Swim Club
"The Faster We Swim, The Sooner We Win"
Comment
posted by:
George Conroy - ArtsMemphis Rants & Raver
from Memphis, TN,
Mar 03, 2011
"The Dixie Swim Club" is a delightful comedy drama by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten has been described as "Steel Magnolias" meets "Same Time Next Year." But it also resonates with notes of "Golden Girls" and even "On Golden Pond." Yet such comparisons sell the show short. "The Dixie Swim Club" grows into a unique experience that stands on its own.
The show spans about thirty years in the lives of five Southern women, whose friendships began many years ago on their college swim team. Each year they gather together as they did in their competing days around the rallying cry of "the faster we swim, the sooner we win." With rules to leave spouses, kids and work at home, they meet at the same beach cottage on North Carolina's Outer Banks to drink, swim and enjoy their longtime friendships.
Each character fits a different personality type. Sheree (Mandie Cool), the steadfast team captain, organizes the activities of each weekend. Dinah (Mary Buchignani), the career dynamo, drinks too much and cannot seem to find a man. The vain, sexpot Lexie (Tracie Hansom) believes the world revolves around her and her problems, until she has a problem too awful to share with the others. The epitome of bad luck, Vernadette (Tamara White), shows up each year with improbable injuries and even more outlandish events in her personal life, but she brings an acerbic wit and enthusiasm to each swim club gathering. And lastly, Jeri Neale (Robin Wilcoxr), who had entered convent life, has a series of life-changing experiences that provide interest and opportunities for humor among the team.
The dialogue runs from hilariously funny to heart-wrenching as the lives of the women unfold and the years pass. Director Leigh Ann Evans has assembled a uniquely tight knit ensemble, incredibly talented with a wide range of both comic and dramatic gifts and the power to move the audience’s emotions intensely. These fine women are excellent performers.
Each performer creates a memorable character with crisp performances. At first, Robin Wilcox’s Jeri Neale seems the weakest of the lot, but then she precipitates the cause of what moved me to tears in the second scene. Lexie could easily be a caricature reminding some of Samantha from "Sex and the City," Tracie Hansom portrays subtle changes and a richness of character. Tamara White and Mary Buchignani deliver much of the comedy and the show's best lines, yet the production shows a more serious side in later scenes that are as touching as they are funny because of the talents of all these fine actresses. Tamara Wright proves why she is the consummate professional, who uses her considerable acting talent to create a character that rises above her stereotype in complexity and nuance.
Throughout the evening you’ll laugh ‘til you cry. When the curtain falls you’ll leave the theatre wiping a tear from your eyes.
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Event Name: The Velveteen Rabbit
"Adorable Little Velveteen Rabbit Found in Germantown"
Comment
posted by:
George Conroy - ArtsMemphis Rants & Raver
from Memphis, TN,
Dec 02, 2010
When a grown-up human looks at Lindsey Ferreira’s Velveteen Rabbit, the stuffed bunny tips her head to one side and a beatific look takes over her face. It’s that sweet-natured bliss largely from Lindsey’s bunny that lends Germantown Community Theater’s musical version of The Velveteen Rabbit the good nature it has. (Lindsey is a talented third grader at Grahamwood Elementary School).
Lindsey and her fellow cast members, especially Robert Ferguson as the Boy and Lee Grant as the Skin Horse, understand the simple charms of this childhood classic Forgive the rookie mistakes of this charming young, very young, cast and concentrate instead on the warmth that flows among those three characters and you may find this show lovely.
The Velveteen Rabbit goes a little awry when it puts aside the boy and the bunny and turns instead to the subsidiary characters and their songs. The songs accompanied by a lone piano player minus any other live musicians are pleasant enough. But many are performed by characters you don’t care all that much about and a plethora of iffy voices. One exception is Montera Wench whose perfect portrayal of Nana the housekeeper/nanny is right on. Her voice is fresh and blessed with perfect pitch. Hers songes are the musical highlights of the program.
But other than Montera Welch, you may wish that the show would get back to the rabbit and the boy whenever anybody else starts to sing.
Set designer Bo List created a handsome set, and Caroline Redfern’s costume for Lindsey Ferreira’s bunny is adorable. The warmth between the Boy and The Bunny is palpable.
Special “honorable mention” goes to some “real bunnies” in the cast – youngsters aged from about six to eleven whom you’ll not only enjoy in this performance but also may expect to see in many, may others as they grow into bigger roles: Alyssa Campbell (6), Kate Jeter (8), Elena Gentleman, (11), Anya Vadayar (9) and Katie Ryan.
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Event Name: Agatha Christie's "The Hollow"
"Agatha Christie’s “The Hollow” at GCT is Anything But Hollow"
Comment
posted by:
George Conroy - ArtsMemphis Rants & Raver
from Memphis, TN,
Oct 21, 2010
The Hollow premiered in 1951 and ran for nearly a year in London. This Agathie Christie Whodunit has all the classic ingredients: a grand country house, upper middle class family, weekend house party with variety of guests, genial butler and dutiful staff, drinks served before dinner ands throughout the scenes… all accompanied by a complex triangle of love affairs and past secrets revealed through the course of the drama. The stage set features the traditional drawing room with French doors open to a garden and high walls and windows modernized in contemporary soft colors. The clever suggestion of manicured green lawns outside creates a surrealist image of an English country estate.
This is the home of Lady Lucy Angkatell (Martha Graber), her cousin, Henrietta, played by Christina Wellford Scot, a sculptress, and her husband Sir Henry, Robert McIntosh. A weekend house party brings an array of assorted relations - including a working class second cousin Midge (Heather Malone), a dress shop employee, and a wealthy estate owning cousin Edward (Jody Koster) - with friends from London, Dr Cristow (Brad Kroeker), a physician who “hates sick people” and his timid sweet wife Gerda (Theresa Brignole). During Friday night cocktails a stranger arrives, Veronica Craye (Mary Margaret Walker), a glamorous blonde bombshell of a Hollywood movie star who astounds everyone by claiming that Dr. Cristow was her former lover. A mood of jealousy, hatred and intrigue soon colors the happy gathering when gun shots are heard.
Martha Graber plays Lady Angkatell with ladylike charm and confidence, happier in gardening gloves than evening dress. She wears the pants in the family while her husband Henry is a quiet soul wanting only a liesurely peaceful life. An interesting character, young Midge is performed by Heather Malone with gentility and refinement. Her soft and perfectly understated accent mask her character's tough inner spirit.
Theresa Brignole brings her wide rage of emotional versatility to the central role of Gerta Cristow. We feel her joy when she receives the gift of a simple statue and her sadness when it falls to the floor. She shows anger when she describes her husband’s infidelity yet perfectly portrayed faux surprise when she discovers his murdered body.
Costumes, mannerisms, accents and sharp witticisms on class and servants are all right on. The detectives from Scotland Yard, Inspector Colquhoun (Chris Sterling) and his young assistant Detective Sergeant Penny (Steven Burk) are oddly complementary. Mr. Sterling portrays his character with calm and understated professionalism while Mr. Burk is a little more eager and over the top.
This is a classy production, well directed and fast-paced to keep you on the edge of your seat. Incidental period music and excellent sound effects of rain and thunder appear at dramatic moments adding to the atmosphere. The curious aspect of Christie’s novels may be that no matter how many times we may have read the book – even years ago - or seen a television adaptation, the plot is so convoluted with so many suspects it’s easy to forget “whodunit”!
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Event Name: Disney's The Jungle Book Kids
"Free Event for the family"
Review
posted by:
Shelly Cheng
from Lakeland, TN,
Jun 01, 2010
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Event Name: Over The Tavern
"Hilariously Irreverent"
Review
posted by:
Jacinda Johnson
from Memphis, TN,
Feb 26, 2010
This play is laugh-out-loud funny! If you ever questioned your parents' religion (or at least can see the humor in doing so) you will LOVE this!
We saw the dress rehearsal last night and I highly recommend it. The intimate venue added to the feeling that you were literally sitting in the 1950's apartment watching the characters.
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Event Name: Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical
"Wonderful!"
Review
posted by:
Mrs. C
from Germantown, TN,
Dec 18, 2009
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Event Name: Madeline's Christmas
"Madeline's show is GREAT!!!!"
Review
posted by:
Jackie
from Memphis,
Dec 09, 2008
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