October 13, 2006

“Wonderful Town,” a Tony Award-winning musical featuring music by the great American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, will open October 20 at Dana College in Blair.

The musical is a charming comedy about two young sisters from Columbus, Ohio, trying to make their way as a writer and an actress in New York City. Their efforts to locate work in the big city and to navigate through a curious assortment of Greenwich Village residents produce a splendid collection of funny scenes and superb music. Audience members will be dancing the “Conga” and singing “The Wrong Note Rag” for weeks after seeing the show.

“ Wonderful Town” premiered on Broadway in 1953. It won seven Tony Awards that year, including the Tony for Best Musical. Since then, it has seen only one major Broadway revival, a 2003 production starring Donna Murphy (and later in the run, Brooke Shields) as Ruth, the insecure, sarcastic fledgling writer originally created by the great film and stage star, Rosalind Russell.

The 29-member cast includes Dana students Nick Albrecht, Sara Andrews, Thomas Gjere, Jenna Gray, Chris Lunbeck, Molly Polk, Luther Simon, Stephanie Smith, Katie Spicka, Chase Stuto and Nicole Taylor, all of Omaha; Joe Blackstad of Andover, Minn.; Keith Block of Sioux Falls, S.D.; Jaimie Brabec of Schuyler; Tommy Brandon of Logan, Iowa; Josh Cogan of Salisbury; Ryan Dinkelman of David City; Brooke Fencl of Elkhorn; Hayley Harris of Gretna; Amy Jackman of Seward; Nick Makris of Sidney; Lindsay Payne of Bellevue; Greg Rickenbacher of Tacoma, Wa.; Alicia Rodasky of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Laretta Starkey of Wessington Springs, S.D.; and Paige Vaughan of Coon Rapids, Iowa. The cast also includes Gerald Otte Middle School students Gavin Rasmussen and MacKenzie Santos and Blair teacher and veteran performer, Jean Hundtoft.

Showtimes will be at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 20, 21, 27 and 28, and at 2 p.m. on Oct. 22 and 29. All performances will be at Dana’s Lauritzen Theatre in the Madsen Fine Arts Center, which seats approximately 350 people. Tickets are only $7, and can be reserved by calling Sandy Sonderup at 402-426-7255.

Dana’s next musical will be “Violet,” which will open March 2, 2007. This musical is different from most popular musicals audiences are used to seeing. Set in 1964, it revolves around the serious and somewhat darker story of a woman on her way to see a televangelist preacher to heal a terrible scar she received as a little girl. The production features an eclectic mix of musical styles, from country ballads to pop, R&B and gospel.

Dana College’s musical theater program is known throughout Nebraska and western Iowa for high-quality productions of both new and challenging musicals. The Omaha music and theater community features many extremely talented graduates of Dana College who studied vocal music and performed regularly on the Dana stage. Capitalizing on the program’s success, the College will launch a new musical theater major in fall 2007. To learn more, visit www.dana.edu.