Home Photo Galleries   • 2000-2009   • 1990-1999   • 1980-1989   • 1979   • 1978   • 1977   • 1976   • 1975   • 1974   • 1973   • 1972   • 1971   • 1970   • 1960-1969   • 1950-1959   • 1949   • 1948   1977 Vegas Vanities The Thirtieth Year: May 6 and 7, 1977 Producer: Roger Thisdell Associate Producer: John Grande Directors: Jill and Al Benone Ad Sales: Bill Wolf Musical Director: Bob Adolphe Choreographers: Yvonne Rodriguez and Jackie Larson Vocal Director: John Elsner Program/Poster Art: Keith McConnell Set Design: Keith McConnell Stagecraft: Dave Kern By Jill Benone: We devised a "bus" made of six flats, each one on wheels and manipulated by an actor as inspired by the 1955 trolley car. The bus took the Dads’ Club on a fact-finding trip to Las Vegas to find new ideas for Fathers’ Follies. Throughout nine scenes, the men travel to five hotels on the Strip running into various acts and stumbling blocks along the way. They were followed by the PTA ladies, a couple of kids, and Principal Steve Smith, who was followed by a show girl in charge of his ever-expanding money bag of winnings – in the last scene, his money bags were carried in a wheelbarrow. Initially, there was some suspicion about a new script that was much shorter than the previous ones. The show came in at one hour forty-five minutes – the right length for our television-trained audiences—and the gimmick of the "bus" (also viewed with suspicion) was a huge success. Several performers were taken aback when I insisted everyone must write down his blocking, and held him to it at the next rehearsal. However, they learned basic stage techniques, and the light board operator’s job was certainly easier as the cast no longer wandered all over the stage. The entire cast, especially singers and dancers, were equally taken aback during Rehearsal Week when there were no changes. The program was still assembled higgedly-piggedly, and the program photographs were from the last year’s show, but more changes were on the way