CIVIC THEATRE ANNOUNCES AUDITIONS for FOLLIES in Concert
Auditions Scheduled for Monday, May 11
Civic Theatre of Allentown announces auditions for a concert production of Stephen Sondheim’s legendary musical “Follies.” Auditions will be held in the upstairs rehearsal hall of Civic’s historic 19th Street Theatre, 527 N. 19th Street on Monday, May 11 at 6:30 p.m. The show will be presented for 2 performances only in Civic’s historic 19th Street Theatre on Friday and Saturday, June 26 and 27 at 7:30 pm. All roles are open.
As per Civic’s past concert performances, this will be a semi-staged concert with a live, 24-piece professional orchestra.
Stephen Sondheim’s landmark musical concerns a 1971 reunion of the past performers of the “Weismann’s Follies,” a musical revue (based on the Ziegfeld Follies), that played in the now crumbling Weismann Theatre, which is scheduled for demolition. The show features a large cast ages 18 – 80, with strong roles for an assortment of mature women, who play the retired Follies girls. A character breakdown follows below.
Actors who wish to audition should do the following:
· Prepare 16-32 bars of a song from “Follies” or a similar musical theatre genre that shows your range and experience. Actors who are interested in a specific role, please prepare a piece that character sings. An accompanist will be at the audition; actors are expected to provide sheet music, but we will have a score from “Follies” available.
· Bring a head shot or picture in which your face is clearly visible.
· Bring a list of your conflicts from audition date until the last night of the concert (June 27) Directed and by Civic’s Artistic Director, William Sanders with musical direction by Steve Reisteter, “Follies: In Concert” will play Civic’s Nineteenth Street Theatre for two public performances, Friday, June 26 and Saturday, June 27 at 7:30 pm.
Character Breakdown for “Follies: In Concert”
Civic will also be casting an ensemble of singers, dancers and showgirls. Most older roles also have a “young” counterpart.
• BENJAMIN STONE – A big man on Wall Street, with a chic Manhattan wife, no children but everything else.
• YOUNG BEN – Ben thirty years earlier, in 1940, when he was dating a Follies girl.
• PHYLLIS ROGERS STONE – Ben’s 50-year old society wife, smart, tart, vicious and sleek.
• YOUNG PHYLLIS – A showgirl in the chorus of the final edition of the Weismann Follies.
• BUDDY PLUMMER – Ben’s pal, now a prosperous realtor in Arizona, with wife, kids – and a mistress.
• YOUNG BUDDY – The eager young beau of a Follies chorine.
• SALLY DURANT PLUMMER – Buddy’s well-to-do wife, still gushy and girlish despite the routine of married life.
• YOUNG SALLY – A Follies chorine, 20 years old in 1940, and caught between Buddy and his pal, Ben.
• CARLOTTA CAMPION – A resilient motion picture star, once a vamp, then reduced to mother r6Ies, but still hanging in there.
• YOUNG CARLOTTA
• STELLA DEEMS – Another veteran of the final Follies.
• YOUNG STELLA – The singer and dancer as she was in 1940.
• HEIDI SCHILLER – A 90-year old Broadway legend, whose ringing soprano inspired the operetta kings to produce their lushest waltzes.
• YOUNG HEIDI – The celebrated soprano in her heyday.
• HATTIE WALKER – After all these years, still a Broadway Baby.
• EMILY WHITMAN – The female half of a cheerful song and dance team.
• THEODORE WHITMAN – Emily’s husband
• SOLANGE LAFITTE – A Broadway Parisienne.
Please visit
www.CivicTheatre.com or call the Civic Theatre Box Office for more information.
Civic Theatre of Allentown is a 501c3 non-profit organization that has earned a regional reputation for its artistic quality and commitment to diverse, challenging works of theatre and art cinema.
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