‘Show Boat’ musical to float into Connellsville
CONNELLSVILLE – The musical, “Show Boat,” will be presented on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 27-28, and Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, at Connellsville Area Senior High School. Curtain time is at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Feb. 27-28, and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 1, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 2.
Tickets are now on sale in the lobby at the entrance to the high school library and auditorium at the front of the building from noon to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Tickets are $6 for the Thursday, Feb. 27, performance and $8 each for all other performances.
Spanning the years from 1880 to 1927, “Show Boat” tells the story of the lives, loves and heartbreaks of three generations of show folk on the Mississippi River in Chicago and on Broadway.
The primary plot follows Magnolia, the na’ve daughter of the show boat captain, as she marries a gambler and moves with him to Chicago. His gambling continues as his debts compound, and soon he deserts her and their young daughter.
A subplot concerns the potential arrest of Magnolia’s selfless best friend when it’s discovered that she is a mulatto, and her subsequent downward spiral into despair. The passing of time reunites Magnolia and her now-grown daughter with her family on the show boat as well as with her husband, who eventually returns offering a hopeful second chance at familial fulfillment.
The cast includes Josh Haines as Steve Baker, the leading man in the “Show Boat” troupe; Rachel Bryner as Queenie, the cook; Karey Mullin as Pete, the engineer; Sarah Arndt as Parthy Ann Hawkes, Captain Andy’s wife; Nick Napolillo as Windy, the pilot on the “Show Board; Ryan Alberts, Captain Anday, the captain of the “Show Boat.”
Other cast members are Ashleigh Weimer as Ellie May Chipley as the soubrette in the “Show Boat” troupe; Ryan Mastowski as Frank Schultz as Ellie’s boyfriend, the villain in the troupe; Emily White as Julie LaVerne, Steve’s mulatto wife, the leading lady in the “Show Boat” troupe; Tyler Handford, Gaylord Ravenal, a handsome gambler; Eddie Irwin as Sherrif Vallon of Natchez; Chelsey Kurtz as Magnolia Hawks, Parthy and Andy’s daughter.
Among the cast members are Allen Hixon as Joe, Queenie’s husband; Rachel Stange as Ethel, a boardinghouse cleaning woman; Rachel Szabo as Mrs. O’Brien, the boardinghouse landlady; Brittany Molitor as Mother Superior at St. Agatha’s Convent; Joe Teets as Jim Greene, the director of the floor show at the Trocadero Nightclub; Mark Newill as Jake, the pianist at the Trocadero; Laura Lucas as Dottie, her friend; Jordon Hoover as a radio announcer; and Mia Richter as Kim.
For more information about the show, call the school at 724-626-4063 or stop at the musical ticket sales location near the auditorium at the front of the high school.