“Two By Two,” a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, will be performed by the Valparaiso Theatrical Company May 1-3 and May 8-10, and this humorous musical is sure to please audiences here as it once did on Broadway.
Richard Rodgers, one half of the Rodgers & Hammerstein duo, entered his seventh decade of writing for the theater with this fresh retelling of the Biblical story of Noah. It seems that building the Ark was only the first of Noah’s many daunting challenges in a journey that wasn’t always smooth sailing.
By turns inspirational and hilarious, the audience discovers that being chosen by God for great things does not necessarily simplify the daily demands made of a father and husband. It’s good fun from The Good Book and when the land has dried, man and beast alike are invited to go forth and prosper on a bright new world.
“The show is classic Rodgers & Hammerstein who produce it and it is almost Mel Brooks-ish, very comedic, touching as well,” says Colleen Zana, president and founder of Valparaiso Theatrical Company, which performs at The First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso, 3401 Valparaiso St.
“The songs are fun and fast in this classic story of Noah, but not verbatim from the Bible. It’s a little of a tongue-in-cheek version. The singing in the show is wonderful and our choreography is fantastic,” she says.
Zana says that the tickets are priced at $10 because of the unique nature of their theater.
“Our theater is unusual in that we are philanthropic. Our prices are low so our charities can sell them, just $10, and so $6 of that goes toward a local charity, $2 goes to the church where the show is held, and $2 is what we use for our budget to put on our productions, just 20 percent. We don’t have sponsors or donors, we simply rely on our charities to sell those tickets, so people can get them online or at the door which opens a half hour before we start,” says Zana.
The show will feature a special prop, so audiences should be sure to watch for it.
Zana says, “We have a hat from the original performance on Broadway and that will be in our show, the hat that was worn by Marilyn Cooper in the original 1970 Broadway production.”
The cast features Larry Hinken as Noah, Vickie Cash as Esther, Mark McColley as Shem, Becky Lieske Bongard as Leah, Ken Siegfried as Ham, Trish Neary as Rachel, Howard Brenneman as Japheth, and Ashleigh Lane Dulik as Goldie.
Heather Augustyn is a freelance writer.
“Two By Two”
Where: The First Presbyterian Church of Valparaiso, 3401 Valparaiso St.
When: May 1-3 and May 8-10
Tickets: $10
Information: 219-309-6794 or valparaisotheatricalcompany.org
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