ELY – A packed house enthusiastically welcomed a return to live theater here last Sunday afternoon for a matinee performance of “A Grand Night for Singing.”
The 2022 Ely Community Spring Musical, a Rodgers and Hammerstein revue of more than two dozen popular tunes from a variety of successful musicals, was presented last weekend by the Northern Lakes Arts Association and Vermilion Community College.
Performances in the VCC Fine Arts Theater continue Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 7-9 at 7 p.m.
“We are thrilled to be back onstage,” Artistic Director Sarah Skelton said as she directed her 17th Ely Spring Musical. Public health concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic forced the shelving of many community events. “We were forced to shut down in Spring 2020 just one week before opening and we suspended production in 2021,” she said.
“The cast, directors, orchestra and crew have been extra-magical this year, and I am so grateful for their talents and supportive spirits,” Skelton said. “In the midst of darkness, light twinkles though.”
Dressed in formal wear and lots of sparkling dresses, the cast combines Ely Community Musical theater veterans with several new faces, featuring accomplished singers in every voice part, including a mix of Ely Public School students, Matthew Janeksela, Gabe Mann, and Alison Poppler, VCC student Gerald Olarinde, Ely, Tower, Babbitt and Nett Lake teachers, Jim and Ruth Lah, Sarah Mason, Karin Schmidt, Crystal Poppler, and Ryan Bajan, and community members, Linda Bajan, Crystal Chopp, Justine Carlson, Anne Folz, Laurie Kess, Susan Laine, Emily Weise, Todd Crego, Ian Lah, and Peter Kess.
The show opened with the full ensemble performing “Sounds of the Earth.” Soloists, duos, just men and just women performed more than a dozen popular tunes from musicals, including The Sound of Music, Oklahoma!, Cinderella, South Pacific, and more. After a brief intermission, the cast returned onstage for another ten pieces. The full ensemble closed with the title tune, “A Grand Night for Singing.”
Skelton is joined backstage by Marcia Homer as music director, Peter Kess as set designer, Laurie Kess as costumer and Greg Mann as lighting director.
Choreography is provided by Ian Lah, Crystal Chopp, Jim Lah, Laurie Kess, and Sara Skelton.
The orchestra, set up on stage rather than in the pit, includes Mike Rouse and Barb Litchfield on keyboards, Nina VanGelder, flute, Sarah Mason, clarinet and saxophone, Lynn Evensen, bass, Margie Miller, harp, and Richard Dunstan on drums.
Backstage help for the production includes Morgan Sauls and Charlie Ah Sani, lights, Asmaa Myran, sets and costumes, and David Radke and Carly Wogen, sets.
Tickets are available online through the Northern Lakes Arts Association’s website at northernlakesarts.org and are also available at the door. Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for NLAA members and $8 for students.