DANVILLE —
The Danville Light Opera invites its audiences to suspend realty for a while and join the residents at Armadillo Acres, Florida’s most exclusive trailer park, for its dinner-theater production of “The Great American Trailer Park Musical.”
Performances will immediately follow the dinner, which will be served at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 12:30 p.m. Sunday at the Danville Area Community College Bremer Center auditorium. Doors open one-half hour prior to meal times. A dessert buffet will be available during intermission.
“The Great American Trailer Park Musical” unfolds when Pippi, a stripper on the run from Oklahoma, moves in and comes between Jeannie and her tollbooth collector husband, Norbert. The show has mature themes and some coarse language, and it is recommended for adult audiences only.
Cast members include Suzy Smalley as Betty, Gretchen Yordy as Lin, Drake Taylor as Norbert, Allison Willard as Pickles, Chelsea Zych as Jeannie, Sarah Albers as Pippi, and Aaron Martin as Duke.
Jodi Prosser is the director and David Zych is music director. The producers are Mark Willard and Jeanne Dunn.
Prosser first directed this show in 2009, when it was produced by The Celebration Company at Urbana’s Station Theatre. She said 16 out of those 18 performances were sold out.
“If you saw this show in Urbana, then you’ll undoubtedly want to see it again,” Prosser said. “And if you’ve never seen it, you won’t want to miss this runaway hit. You’ll laugh harder at this show than you ever laughed before.”
Prosser continued, “Since I’m getting a second chance as director, I can now fix the things I didn’t like the first time around. Since I’m working with a totally different group of actors now, it’s cool to see what they bring to their roles.”
Prosser said this play first intrigued her when she drove down to Memphis with her college-age daughter just to see it performed.
“I liked it right from the start,” she said. “This show is a blast.”
Yordy, who plays Lin in the show, has performed in local theater for about seven years.
“My character’s name ‘Lin’ is short for ‘Linoleum,’ because my momma gave birth to me on the kitchen floor,” Yordy said.
Lin has a foul mouth, and she’s sarcastic and tough. She is one of three gals in the trailer park who help tell the story of the love triangle involving Jeannie, Norbert and Pippi.
“People should come see this show because it’s hilarious,” Yordy said. “It’s very fast-paced, and you might miss some of the one-liners if you aren’t paying attention. There’s also a nice variety of song styles — funny, emotional, and rockin’.”
The sponsor of this production is Chittick Eye Care.
Dinner menu
The dinner will be catered by CaterME Events of Champaign. Menu items include dinner salad with Italian, French or ranch dressing, seasoned tilapia (Friday only), rubbed thin-cut roast pork (Saturday and Sunday), onion/garlic-seasoned boneless chicken breast, rosemary/olive oil roasted potatoes, green beans almondine, steamed vegetable medley, dinner rolls with butter, petite dessert buffet and special-blend coffee and tea.
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