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NEWS
Secrets, songs and single-wides
By Dave Schlenker, THE GAINESVILLE SUN
Pippi the stripper
is hiding at the Hipp. The leggy Oklahoma City native is on the lam from
a boyfriend with a dog's name and an unhealthy affinity for cooking
spray.
Her hasty retreat
led her down U.S. 301, where she landed a job at the Litterbox
Showpalace and took refuge in a single-wide mobile home in Armadillo
Acres - a typical Florida trailer community under the shadow of Starke's
water tower.
That's right, The
Great American Trailer Park Musical, the Hippodrome's raucous summer
offering with an indefinite closing date, originated from a short-lived
Off-Broadway musical set in Starke F-L-A, just northeast of Gainesville.
But more on that
later; first let's meet more neighbors.
Our guides through
this adventure - our narrative muses in sandals - are Betty, Pickles and
Lin, the latter named for linoleum. Lin's husband, by the way, is on
death row in the neighboring state prison plagued by a faulty electric
chair.
Pickles is married
to a "fancy" man from Jacksonville who delights in foreign beer and
community theater. Betty, meanwhile, inherited Armadillo Acres thanks to
the tragic and quite convenient death of her husband.
And then there's
Norbert and Jeannie, the stars of this offbeat musical. Norbert is a
toll collector, and Jeannie is a full-time agoraphobic. When we meet
them, they are on the cusp of their 20th wedding anniversary; Ice
Capades awaits - if only Jeannie can muster the courage to leave the
trailer.
She gains some
motivation, however, once Pippi arrives and snags Norbert's attention,
much to the delighted tittering of the neighborhood.
Make no mistake,
The Great American Trailer Park Musical is, indeed, a
musical-comedy. For all the satiric pokes at small-town South, there are
also the big voices of Broadway and the dreamy eyes and outstretched
arms of the show-stopper - even if the lyrics do proclaim "I've got to
make like a nail and press on."
There is the happy
ending, the second-act surprise and the big musical-ensemble finale.
And, as with most musicals, there is a sincerity and old-fashioned
sweetness among these characters - even as they fire off some bawdy
trailer talk laced with a few f-bombs.
Written by David
Nehls (music/lyrics) and Betsy Kelso (book), Trailer Park is a
comedy on the blue-collar South, as well as its stereotypes. It is a
play laden with bittersweet showtunes and trash talk. It is a play that
had Director Lauren Caldwell, after a recent rehearsal, seriously asking
actress Kelly Atkins if her movement problem in the second act was
caused by unsteady spike heels or a G-string snag.
The Great
American Trailer Park Musical is where Wisteria Lane meets rural
U.S. 301, a place with good people and poorly kept secrets - in short, a
place just like any place on the map.
"I have a friend
from Jacksonville who suggested Starke as the location," Nehls wrote in
an e-mail to The Sun this week. "He said it would be 'perfect,' and he
has been proven right."
At the Hippodrome,
Scenic Designer Mihai Ciaupe built a set based on real landmarks in
Starke - a motel sign, the water tower, a Brahma (or bull?) statue.
Additionally, there are references to the state prison and an electric
chair, although here it is called "Old Smokey" instead of "Old Sparky."
The play has stirred
some skepticism from Starke's mayor, Steve Futch, who said recently he
would have preferred the Hippodrome use a fictitious city name for a
stage comedy about trailer parks. And while there are a few
Starke-flavored jokes, Caldwell contends this is a good-hearted story
that represents any community where gossip flows freely and neighbors
know WAY too much about each other.
Nehls agrees. "My
main hope is that folks have a great time, forget the problems of the
day and get some good, hard laughs out of a situation that can happen
anywhere - trailer parks or Park Ave.," he noted. "We just hope everyone
takes the humor in the spirit it is intended - just good rowdy fun.
"I am from 'white
trash,' so this is an homage to my people, if you will. And I hope
people love these characters as much as I do and sympathize with their
plight."
The Hippodrome's
production is the musical's first time out of New York City. Nehls is a
friend of cast member and Hipp veteran Cindy Thrall (Betty), who
initially flagged Caldwell about the quirky musical based in Starke.
In October, Caldwell
and Hippodrome Prop Designer Lorelei Esser found themselves in NYC and
saw Trailer Park.
"We had a ball. It
was pretty much rock 'n' roll," Caldwell recalled. She left the theater
with one thought: "How can I bring this to Gainesville?"
After the musical
closed in December, the cast and crew were considering a tour when the
Hippodrome - a professional company - requested the rights to it. The
first response was no. The Hipp continued to press, and, according to
Caldwell, Nehls himself stepped in and saved the day.
"I don't know how
much I had to do with 'Trailer Park' playing the Hippodrome," Nehls
noted, "but being that it is so close to where the action takes place, I
am very excited by it happening.
"Most of what I know
of the theater itself comes from friends of mine who have worked there
and had positive experiences. I know they've done some offbeat shows . .
. and our rowdy little show fits in with that company very well."
Notes, quotes &
'Trailer' talk
-
Cast members
Mackenzie Curran (Pickles) and Ted Stephens
(Duke) are University of Florida students;
Jennifer Anderson was cast as Lin just before
she graduated Summa Cum Laude from UF with a
degree in Musical Theatre
-
Professional
actor Mark Chambers (A Tuna Christmas,
Dracula, Shear Madness) plays
Norbert, a toll collector who lives in Starke.
In reality, the closest toll booths to Starke
are in Leesburg, Palm Coast and islands off
southeast Georgia.
-
In the play,
Pippi is an exotic dancer who lands a job at
Starke's Litterbox Showpalace. In reality,
Starke does not have any strip clubs.
-
Chambers and
Cindy Thrall (Betty) are professional actors who
last appeared on the Hippodrome stage together
in 2001's Hedwig and the Angry Inch. They
also worked together in the Hipp's Rocky
Horror Show.
-
Other Rocky
connections: Thrall spent nine months in Europe
touring with The Rocky Horror Show (movie
and play) creator Richard O'Brien's company. She
also sang back-up vocals for Meat Loaf on one of
his tours. Mr. Loaf, of course, also played the
ill-fated Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture
Show.
-
On her Trailer
Park character, Thrall said: "I feel like
Betty is in everybody's pocket." Betty, Thrall
continued, loves her community, but she also
loves it "when the fur flies."
-
Kelly Atkins
plays Pippi, a stripper in very high heels.
Atkins last appeared at the Hippodrome in last
summer's musical, 8-Track: The Sounds of the
'70s - as a disco dancer in very high
platform shoes.
-
Anderson has
lived in Alachua County for most of her life.
Asked if she could relate to any of the
characters in Trailer Park, she said with
a laugh: "I've met a lot. I have some people in
my family who are very much like that."
-
"Once I started
reading (the part of) Pickles, I loved her,"
said Curran. "She's like the little sister
always wanting to be along for the ride."
-
Musical Director
Bryan Mercer, now an Atlanta resident, grew up
in a trailer home in Lynne (in the Ocala
National Forest).
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