Auditions for Lucky Stiff​ with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty, will be Sunday, January 14th at 3 PM at Walpole Footlighters, 2 Scout Rd, East Walpole, MA. Audition slots are 3-4:30 or 4:30-6.  Please sign up for a 90-minute slot by e-mailing Peter McElhinney, Assistant Director/Stage Manager, at [email protected]. Callbacks (only if necessary) will be Monday, January 15th at 7 PM.

Audition Info:

• Prepare 32 bars of a musical theatre song that showcases your range, personality, and comedic abilities.
• You may sing something from Lucky Stiff (no sheet music needed).
• If you want to sing something else, please bring your sheet music.
• A pianist will be provided; no a cappella singing or recorded karaoke tracks.
• There will be a brief dance audition, so please wear comfortable clothes.
• There will also be cold readings from the script.
• Please bring a list of all conflicts from February – May to add to audition sheet. 

 
Rehearsals: Rehearsals to begin in February.  They will be Tuesday and Thursday nights; Sunday afternoons (pending final cast availability)
 
Performances: May 4, 5, 11, 12, 18, 19 at 8:00 pm; May 6, 20 at 2:00 pm
Production Team:
Director - Dan Delaporta
Assistant Director/Stage Manager - Peter McElhinney
Music Director - Dan Moore
Choreographer - Lisa Kelleher

About the show
Looking for a versatile comedic ensemble cast who can have a blast creating a musical farce.  If you’re unfamiliar with the show, think “Weekend at Bernie’s” – the musical.  The score is fantastic and it’s the first produced show from the Tony Award-winning writing team (Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's) behind Ragtime, Seussical, Once on this Island, and most recently Anastasia.  There’s plenty of content from show out there on YouTube.
Based on the novel, The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo by Michael Butterworth, Lucky Stiff is an offbeat, hilarious murder mystery farce, complete with mistaken identities, six million bucks in diamonds and a corpse in a wheelchair. The story revolves around an unassuming English shoe salesman who is forced to take the embalmed body of his recently murdered uncle on a vacation to Monte Carlo. Should he succeed in passing his uncle off as alive, Harry Witherspoon stands to inherit $6,000,000. If not, the money goes to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn... or else his uncle's gun-toting ex!

If you want to learn more about the show or have any questions, please contact the director Dan Delaporta ([email protected]).

Character Breakdown:
 
All age ranges approximate – it’s all about if you can believably play that range (with costumes and make up)
 
HARRY WITHERSPOON - A shy, sweet, earnest, insecure, but ultimately charming shoe salesman from England.  He likes to play it safe, feels incapable of taking risks, and steps outside of his comfort zone to head to Monte Carlo to honor his uncle’s last wishes (and potentially inherit $6 million).  Male, British accent, 20s-40s; Range: Bb2 - F#4
 
ANNABEL GLICK - A no-nonsense representative for the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn. She is a proactive citizen with what seems to an overly attentive, semi-aggressive personality (but it comes from passion for the cause, so she’s still likeable - think Sarah in Guys & Dolls).  She becomes the unexpected love interest of Harry Witherspoon. Female, 20s-40s; Range: F#3 - E5
 
DOMINIQUE DU MONACO - A seductive French nightclub singer in Monte Carlo with a memorable dance number.  Will also play Spinster, Southern Lady #2, and Dancing Roulette Wheel.  Female, 20s-30s .
 
LUIGI GAUDI / VOICE OF TONY HENDON (on tape) - Luigi is a mysterious, boisterous Italian tourist in Monte Carlo who wears a beard and an eye patch. Tony is Rita's lover from New Jersey. Male, 30s-50s.  Range: B2 - F#4
 
RITA LA PORTA - Vinnie's high-strung sister with poor eyesight.  Impulsive, loud, erratic.  Think Karen from Will & Grace or Fran Drescher in The Nanny as potential examples of where to take role with character voice.  Female, 30s-40s.  Range: F#3 - D5
 
VINNIE DI RUZZIO - Rita's neurotic and mild-mannered brother who is dragged into her mess and is forced to travel to Monte Carlo. He is an optometrist with predictably conservative tendencies. Gets an amazing comedic solo!  Male, 30s –40s; Range: A#2 - F#4
 
THE BODY OF UNCLE ANTHONY – The dead guy, who has been preserved.  Think Bernie in Weekend at Bernie’s.  The body of a man believed to be "Uncle Anthony," who Harry brings with him on a very special trip.  Potential for hilarious physical comedy by playing dead in wheelchair throughout show.  Male, late 40s-60s; Non-Speaking Role (so huge plus - no lines to learn!)
 
ENSEMBLE:
Not your typical show, and not your typical ensemble roles!  A huge opportunity to cast strong triple threat character actors to create multiple different quirky and hilarious characters – when else will you get to play so many different types of characters in the same show?  Casting at least 2 men and 1 woman.

MAN 1 - Surly Lorry Driver, Solicitor, Prosperous Man on Train, Clothing Salesman, French Emcee, Croupier, Nun, Old Texan; age range flexible
MAN 2 - Offstage Telegram Deliverer, Vicious Punk, Mr. Loomis the Eye Patient, French Waiter on Train, Stationmaster's Voice (taped), Bellhop, French Waiter in Club, Dapper Gambler, Leper; age range flexible
WOMAN 1 - Landlady, Miss Thorsby the Secretary, Puerto Rican Nurse, Southern Lady #1, French Airline Voice (taped), Drunken Maid; age range flexible

The Walpole Footlighters are pleased to announce the cast for "Kiss Me, Kate":

The Walpole Footlighters are pleased to announce the 2014-2015 season!

Fall 2014 
Boeing, Boeing 
by Cross, Evans, & Camoletti
Directed by Wendy Stuart

This 1960's French farce adapted for the English-speaking stage and revived in 2008 features self-styled Parisian Lothario Bernard, who has Italian, German, and American fiancees, each beautiful airline hostesses with frequent "layovers." He keeps "one up, one down and one pending" until unexpected schedule changes bring all three to Paris and Bernard's apartment at the same time.

Winter 2015 
Summer & Smoke 
by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Marianne Phinney

A play that is profoundly affecting, SUMMER AND SMOKE is a simple love story of a somewhat puritanical Southern girl and an unpuritanical young doctor. Each is basically attracted to the other but because of their divergent attitudes toward life, each over the course of years is driven away from the other. Not until the end does the doctor realize that the girl's high idealism is ultimately right, and while she is still in love with him, it turns out that neither time nor circumstances will allow the two to come together. 

Spring 2015 
Kiss Me Kate 
by Cole Porter 
Directed by Colleen Lavery
Musical direction by John Ferguson

Combine Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" with Porter's music and lyrics to get KISS ME, KATE an instant success with every cast and audience. This is a play-within-a-play where each cast member's on-stage life is complicated by what is happening offstage. Musical numbers include Why Can't You Behave, So In Love Am I, Wunderbar, Tom, Dick or Harry, Were Thine That Special Face, Too Darn Hot, Brush Up Your Shakespeare, I Hate Men, Always True to You (In My Fashion) and Another Op'nin', Another Show. KISS ME, KATE is fun, melodious and sophisticated. 

The Walpole Footlighters is scheduling interviews for Directors for our upcoming 2014-2015 season. Our fall show will be the comedy Boeing Boeing by Cross, Evans and Camoletti.  The winter drama is Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams.  We are also calling for Directors and Musical Directors for the spring musical, Kiss Me, Kate. There is a stipend for stage directors and musical directors.


Boeing Boeing production dates are October 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26.  
Summer and Smoke production dates are February 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22.
Kiss Me, Kate production dates are May 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17.
Friday and Saturday performances are at 8:00 pm; Sunday performances are at 2:00 pm.

We will be conducting Director interviews on Saturday, February 15, 2014 at starting at 11 am. to 1:30 pm. The interviews will be 15 minutes long. We will schedule them at 25 minute intervals. The interviews will be conducted on site at our theater, 2 Scout Road, East Walpole , MA 02032. Email your request,  including which show/shows you are interested in directing, time you would like to interview and a copy of your resume and your phone number to [email protected].

Auditions for The Drowsy Chaperone will be held Monday, December 9 and Wednesday, December 11 at 7:00 pm at the Footlighters Playhouse, 2 Scout Rd., Walpole, MA. The production will be directed by Barbara Pettis with musical direction by Dave Coccia. Lisa Kelleher is the choreographer.

Bring 16 bars of uptempo sheet music to perform. You will be asked to go through some simple dance steps in a small group with the choreographer and read lines from the script. Performances are the first three weekends in May 2014.

Summary
In the darkness, we hear a theatre-goer’s lament. The lights come up, and we see a rather ordinary Man in a Chair sitting in his rather ordinary New York apartment. He asks us to escape with him as he plays the LP of his favorite musical, "The Drowsy Chaperone." The music starts and into his apartment parades the entire cast of the original 1928 production!

Characters: Age is approximate. (Also Ensemble)

ALDOLPHO: European self-proclaimed "ladies man;" played by former silent movie star Roman Bartelli. 
Male, 35-45 yrs old 
Range: A#2 - G4
 
FELDZIEG: Broadway producer who is desperate for his star to return to his show; played by Jack Adler. 
Male, 25-35 yrs old 
Range: Db3 - Db4 

GANGSTERS: Posing as pastry chefs, this duo is intending to collect from Feldzieg; played by the vaudeville duo Tall Brothers.
Males, 35-45 yrs old 
Range: Db3 - Gb4 

GEORGE: Robert's anxious, dim-witted best man who has Robert's best-interest always at heart.
Male, 35-50 yrs old 
Range: F3 - Bb4 

JANET VAN de GRAAF: The famous bride. Glamorous and talented star of Feldzieg's Follies; played by rising star Jane Roberts.
Female, 25-35 yrs old 
Range: G3 - Eb 

KITTY: Feldzieg's dim-witted companion who has hopes of being a star; played by Sadie Adler. 
Female, 25-30 yrs old 
Range: Bb3 - F5 
MAN IN CHAIR: Musical theatre aficionado who mourns the end of the Golden Era. He narrates the show as he listens to the record on vinyl.
Male, 30-50 yrs old 
Speaking Role 

MRS. TOTTENDALE: The air-headed, proper, and bossy host of the wedding. 
Female, 50-60 yrs old 
Range: G3 - Db5 

ROBERT MARTIN: The dashing, ever-cheerful groom; played by matinee-idol Percy Hyman. 
Male, 25-35 yrs old 
Range: C3 - Ab4 

THE DROWSY CHAPERONE: Janet's alcoholic confidante and friend; played by well-established stage actress Beatrice Stockwell 
Female, 45-55 yrs old 
Range: F3 - D5 

TRIX: The brave and brash female aviator who, by chance, is recruited to perform the wedding.
Female, 30-40 yrs old 
Range: Ab3 - Eb5 

UNDERLING: Mrs. Tottendale's savvy butler who is thrifty and stiff yet has an understated sense of humor. 
Male, 35-50 yrs old 
Range: Ab2 - G4