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| ‘The Wedding Singer’ is celebrated: an interview with Bruce Danielson |
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| Wednesday, 04 November 2009 | |
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By Dolly Ann Fairchild Guest reporter The cast and crew of Cambridge-Isanti’s Wedding Singer are behind the curtain ready to perform in nine days. I went to rehearsal last week; what work goes on for months before each show. When you see the finished production all laid out for us like a live Broadway show, there are two men who have tirelessly given their incredible talent together for 25 years, Bruce Danielson and Frank Wells. I had the opportunity to ask Bruce a few questions about his experiences: “The first time we did Annie was a great memory. We were overwhelmed with the number of girls that auditioned for the lead role (the little theatre was FULL) and we had to add on performances to meet the response of the show. It was a highlight. “Peter Pan is a favorite of mine. I saw it performed at the U of M when I was in fourth grade and the pirates came right up next to me in the balcony. I’ve loved theatre ever since. It was a magical show from the flying, to the pirates repelling off the catwalk, to the magical tree that came to life through the imagination of Tim Anderson. It was the most expensive show we ever presented and my favorite ... so far. This year’s musical may just replace it. “One of my favorite [things that has happened during a production] was, again, in Peter Pan when the time bomb accidentally got thrown in the orchestra pit. When the sound effect of the bomb went off, Mr. Wells took his sheet music and threw it up in the air. What a great, spontaneous moment. “Not casting a student that auditions is a very hard thing for us to do. We feel as bad as they do. But by far the hardest thing to ever do is to remove a student from a production, for whatever reason: misconduct, not fulfilling their obligation to do what they had promised, or whatever. We do these productions for the sake of the kids and their future memories of the productions. Removing one of them for any reason haunts us forever.” Plans for the future: “There are so many wonderful shows still out there to do and so many wonderful actors and actresses to work with, we plan to continue doing what we love and loving what we do. Each year, the kids re-invigorate the directors to try to outdo what we’ve done before. I can’t believe 25 years have passed; it seems like Annie Get Your Gun was only yesterday. “It’s been my privilege to work with Mr. Wells for these 25 years. He is a patient man ... thank goodness!” Come and enjoy Danielson and Wells’ 25th anniversary production on Nov. 13, 14, 19, 20, 21 at 7 p.m. and Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. Tickets are on sale now from the box office at the Richard G. Hardy Performing Arts Center at 763-689-6466. Groups get special recognition before each performance. |
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