Cast of Assisted Living from left: Lissa Valentine, Frank Kohel, Sharry O'Hare, Micheal O'Hara
Assisted
Living: The Musical is
a comedic romp through an assisted living home where, as director Jon Douglas
Rake puts it, “70-something
is the new 20-something, only with looser skin.”
The
cast includes Frank Kohel, Sharry O’Hare, Micheal
O’Hara and Lissa Valentine. O'Hara
and Kohel have appeared opposite one another in three shows in the past five
years, including The Story of My Life at Olympia Little Theatre, Hairspray
at Auburn Community Players and Man of La Mancha at 2nd Story
Rep-Redmond. Valentine played Sherlock Holmes’ mother in Tacoma Little Theatre’s
Holmes for the Holidays. O’Hare is practically a South Sound theater
institution all on her own, having appeared often in many area theaters over
the years, many times playing opposite her husband, O’Hara—don’t you just love
the pairing of the names, and is the “chemistry” between these two any wonder?
Recently she was seen in Forbidden Broadway at Lakewood Playhouse, The
Full Monty at TMP and Calendar Girls at TLT.
Music,
lyrics and book were written by Rick Compton and Betsy Bennet, set by Bruce
Haasl, costumes by Julles Mills, and
filming and editing by Dennis Kurtz.
Assisted
Living is a vaudeville-style show of silly
skits, bad jokes, and silly songs—many of which are parodies of pop music and
showtunes, all set in the Pelican Roost retirement home, and all poking fun at
senior citizens.
O’Hara
falls to the floor from his motorized cart and sings “Help, I’ve fallen for you
and I can’t get up.”
Valentine
sings a song about her ageing body with the refrain “saggy, saggy, sagging.”
Pushing a
food cart, Kohel sings “Sunday night is steak night and my teeth have gone
away.”
O’Hare
sings a sweet and sad lament about internet acronyms and online dating and a
sweetheart who writes BYB (be right back) but never comes back.
In a wild
and crazy windup to the evening’s entertainment, the duo of O’Hare and O’Hara
perform a tribute to Viagra as a medley of pop songs such as “Up, up and away
with his beautiful blue pills” and “Viagra, I just took a pill called Viagra” (you
know the tunes).
O’Hare
writes about the rehearsals, staging and filming process:
“When
Jon brought us all together via Zoom, he let us know that this was going to be
a collaborative effort and that we would do some rehearsals (via) Zoom and then
a few times in person for marking our staging. He sent the music we would be
using over the computer and guided us through our characters, truly allowing us
generous liberties in creating them. We had three Zoom rehearsals; each of us
had individual rehearsals at the theatre, and then we all met to put the opening
and closing on stage. In addition to the normal concerns when directing, Jon
now had to ensure that we were all social distanced and masked until we
actually sang. None of us faced each other in the foursome during the numbers. We
all decided the final week that we wanted in-person rehearsals and kept to the
protocols in place. That final week was such a treat—got to see all the other
skits and songs in the show.
“The filming was a new
experience for all of us. It took a little over six hours. Some of the numbers
went quickly and in one take. The most difficult solo I had went so well to my
surprise. But I attribute that I had my personal conductor, Jeffrey Strvrtecky
down at the edge of the stage guiding me through with the tricky rhythms. Micheal
and I had a very challenging duet that we performed to perfection the first
time and we all cheered at how well it went only to discover that the sound
wasn't on! It was a struggle to get back on track, but with the magic of film
they can splice our best work and piece it all together. Dennis Kurtz, who is a
phenomenal photographer, did the tapings. Again, so strange to be distanced and
masked throughout, except when we were actually performing. When we were
finished, we all cheered and gave ourselves and the crew, Jon and Jeff,
jubilant applause. It had been a long day, but one that lifted us from the
troubles outside and brought us back on stage with a set, lights, props,
costumes, makeup, and each other. Because, after all, isn't that what theatre
does for us—both the performer and the audience regardless of what is going on
in reality?”
ASSISTED
LIVING: THE MUSICAL plays virtually filmed from the Tacoma Musical Playhouse stage.
Show
Times
Friday,
November 20 | 7:00 PM
Saturday,
November 21 | 2:00 PM
Sunday,
November 22 | 2:00 PM
Ticket Prices
General
Ticket Price $27.00
Run Time
1 hour 15 minutes
Rating
PG
Tickets
are on sale and can be purchased online at www.tmp.org only.
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