Home Contact Information Photo Galleries   • 2000-2009   • 1999   • 1998   • 1997   • 1996   • 1995   • 1994   • 1993   • 1992   • 1991   • 1990   • 1980-1989   • 1970-1979   • 1960-1969   • 1950-1959   • 1949   • 1948   1997 FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY SHOW! Fifty Years to Broadway The Fiftieth Show: May 30 and 31 and June 1, 1997 Steering Committee Chairman: Mike Shaughnessy Assistant Steering Committee Chairman: KD Shaughnessy Steering Commttee Treasurer: Ian Clark Producer: David Lazier Director/Writer: Jill Benone Musical Director: Steve Hill Choreographer: Melinda Prentice Set Design: Bobbie Wortmann Poster/Program Collages: Jim Hoffman and GCC Theatre Guild Student Technicians By Jill Benone: Fathers’ Follies fame had spread to a trio of down and out Broadway producers, Feeble, Fumble, and Fitch, who opened the show with a patter I’d wanted to do for years. The boys decided to mount the show on Broadway, and Follies enthusiastically accepted. The names of the PTA ladies bore tribute to immortal actresses (Siddons, Duse, and Tanguay), while the kids were Valley types (Muffy, Buffy, Tuffy, and Robin). Teachers Mike Lichtman and Sam Donabedian kept the lid on, while Historian Hyacinth Herodotus (played by Ancient Lovely Bruce Hinckley in his red dress) covered all bases. The machinations of villain Gludwig the Glaborious and his henchmen, Ippity and Uppity, looked as if it would scuttle the show. Returning faculty member Gary Goold called for help from previous principals Don Fiske and Steve Smith and current Superintendent Jim Brown. These worthies put their heads together and came up with a solution: "Bring back the Ancient Lovelies"! I attempted to re-stage some of the Ancient Lovelies’ favorite numbers, but cut some in final rehearsal. There was no Ancient Lovely Chairman of the caliber of 40th anniversary chair Herb Wedemeyer. There was a skit depicting Gurash’s "little idea" of 1948. John and Kay Gurash were in the audience, and John was called on stage, where he received a certificate of appreciation. The evening ran longer due to a quite lovely, unrehearsed tribute. With the full cast onstage, Bruce Hinckley brought me out (onto the stairs so I wasn’t onstage!) and read off the years, hours, and minutes I had spent on Follies along with some very complimentary (and somewhat exaggerated) tributes. The biggest surprise came at the Cast Party, held at the Oakmont Country Club. There was a large turn-out, including many Ancient Lovelies and men and women I had worked with at VW. The group presented me with two round-trip tickets to England and a Lifetime Achievement Award, signed by the families of the current cast and crew, the GCC Theatre Guild, as well as my daughters, all of whom had donated to the evening. At the party, there was an opportunity not only to express thanks for a lovely gift and demonstrations of appreciation, but a reiteration of what I said to every cast every year – always heartfelt, and not in the least untrue because it had been said before. "I am not Fathers’ Follies. No one person, man or woman, is Fathers’ Follies. You are Fathers’ Follies – all of you who have worked on the show, are working on the show, and will work on the show. It is because of you it has lasted fifty years. It is because of you it will last fifty years more. You are part of this incredible, marvelous thing because you support your children, their school, and their community. If everyone were as supportive of their children as you are of yours, there would be no need for Fathers’ Follies. Of course, we would find another reason to do it anyway!"