In the musical production of the Grimm’s fairy tale coming to Clinton this week, that hair is an eight-foot long braid made out of shiny purple material.
“It weighs about four pounds,” said Alyson Kessinger.
Alyson is one of two directors from the Missoula Children’s Theater in town this week to stage the fairy tale using local talent. She and Stevee Wittlieb arrived last Sunday afternoon in one of MCT’s signature red trucks, in which they haul sets, scripts, costumes, props and make-up.
Auditions were held Monday morning at Clinton United Methodist Church, a sponsor along with the Clinton Arts Council. Participation is free, and open to students entering first grade through recent high school graduates. All cast members commit to rehearsals through the week to prepare for two public performances, which are Saturday, July 22, at 3 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. at the Clinton High School Performing Arts Center.
Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students/children.
Stevee and Alyson have put on shows in Eads and Loveland, Colorado, and Concordia, Wichita and Iola in Kansas, in the past month and half.
When asked if it’s an intense schedule, they laughed.
Last week, in Iola, Kansas, the production had an unexpected finale. On Friday, a storm blew through town, causing flooding and massive damage to the center, which canceled that night’s performance.
‘The manager told me, “They weren’t able to put on the show, but at least they’ll have a story to tell,” Stevee said.
Last Monday morning, they auditioned children and teens who showed up at the Back Room of Clinton United Methodist Church, which offers space for audition and rehearsals, and a pianist.
This year’s show is a fun twist on the Rapunzel story, Alyson said. There’s the tower where Rapunzel is imprisoned by Madame Gothel, but other characters are integrated into the plot, including the Three (or is it four?) Bears, and a troll guarding the troll bridge from the 3 Billy Goats Gruff. The show, an original musical adaption by Michael McGill, also has ogres, unicorns and elves, Stevee said.
Auditions for the show are done as a group with everyone in a circle. Each person is asked to repeat a line in a clear voice loud enough to be heard by “grandma in the back row.” Each group of five or six are asked to sing a simple song together, and to follow a simple step pattern, like a cheerleading routine, also done in a group.
Rapunzel has parts for up to 64 actors, Alyson said, with auditions in other towns drawing between 20 to 70 students. The youngest cast members in Rapunzel are the mushrooms, who bounce around the stage in large, floppy mushroom caps in pink, purple, orange and green with speckles.
Alyson said her favorite musical number is the Dance of the Mushrooms, who dance under the moon in Madame Gothel’s garden. Stevee’s favorite scene is when the troll guarding the troll bridge steals the identities of Rapunzel’s parents, another plot twist.
Older children take the roles of wood elves, who have speaking parts plus four musical numbers with the on-stage narrator, Frenchie, who keeps the action moving. The two MCT directors alternate playing the part, they said. Alyson will play Frenchie in Clinton.
Seeing new places is a cool part of the job, Alyson said, which they describe as exciting and rewarding. They get a day off every once in a while, they said, and were able to spend a day sight-seeing in Denver, and a day at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City.
When they arrived in Clinton, however, they were ready to get some rest.
“We got up early this morning to take down the set,” Stevee said. As well as casting, rehearsing and producing a play in a week, a challenging part of the job is driving across the country, from where they started in western Montana, to places they’ve never been before.
Speaking roles besides Rapunzel include another traveler, the perennially lost Prince Yon, who rides in on his steed from the castle Yon, and a potato and two stalks of corn, who are the “eyes and ears” of Madame Gothel. Assistant directors are also needed to help with the production.
“Rapunzel” runs about an hour, and is a good introduction to live theater for young children. Parents may want to review the fairy tale beforehand with young children, and may also want to explain why, when the prince is supposed to climb up Rapunzel’s hair, the scene goes dark, and shifts to the characters sitting inside the room of the tower.
Alyson, from Texas, is a college student majoring in musical theater. Stevee, from California, is a graduate of the University of North Dakota, where she majored in musical theater. After Clinton, they are headed for Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma, with two more productions after that.
The color of the wig that Rapunzel wears was chosen to suit whoever plays the part, Alyson said —not all female story-book heroines and princesses are blond.
Missoula Children’s Theater was founded by actors based in Missoula, Montana, who also put on productions in nearby communities. While planning a trip to Miles City to stage “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves,” they decided to cast the seven dwarves from the Miles City community. The audition drew 450 children, and emphasized the interest in theater experience for children, which promotes public speaking skills, poise and self-confidence.
That was in 1972. This year, MCT will work with 65,000 children in more than 1,200 communities in all 50 states, five Canadian provinces and 17 countries.
