Thirty-wonderful years of ‘Shanghaied’
ocal thespians are ham-
ming it up again. The
original, infamous, his-
torical, hysterical melo-
dramatic musical hilarity
of “Shanghaied in Asto-
ria” — in its 31st year — opens Thursday,
July 9 and runs through Sept. 12 every
Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Astor
Street Opry Company Playhouse.
“We like to say, this is our Thirty-Wonder-
ful time to produce this show,” said director
Nate Bucholz from the rehearsal stage last
week. “And this year we’ve had 45 come out
for auditions. It’s an amazing turnout!”
How do they do it, year after year? Ac-
cording to Bucholz, “It’s because we have
so much fun — everybody wants to be a part
of that.”
Part vaudeville, part soap opera, and part
1950s-style Hollywood musical, “Shang-
haied in Astoria” has a little something for the
ZKROHIDPLO\7KHVKRZUH¿QHGDQGSHUIHFW-
ed over the decades, is the longest-running
local theater production west of the Rocky
Mountains. It incorporates local legend and
tom-foolery with a dedicated and talented
cast of both fresh faces and old-hands.
L
Bill Carr kisses the arm of ChrisLynn Taylor during a rehearsal of “Shanghaied in Astoria.”
From left: Ashley Kacate, Angela Lister, Jaime Baird and Jessica Villiard,
give their best Uff Daa on stage.
Jones, Jessica Villiard, Ashley Cate, Aliyah
Craig, Darlene Van Auken and Playhouse
band members Phil Morrill, David Bennett
and Bill Brookes.
The show runs every weekend all sum-
mer, and that’s a bit hard for folks, so the
large cast means that actors swap parts
during the run. “We do a lot of rehearsing,”
Bucholz continues. “We’ll run a scene, and
then we’ll switch it out and do the same
scene with a different set of actors. It’s a
little time consuming, but everyone gets a
chance to rehearse their parts.
“I can hear them on stage right now —
they’re warming up their voices.”
Fresh faces
³,¶PMXVWWU\LQJWR¿JXUHRXWZKHUHWRSXW
all the women!” Bucholz says with a laugh.
When asked what’s new this year, what
exactly has been tweaked for public con-
sumption, he is coy. “Well, we’ve got four
Virginias this year, every one of them great.
There are two new ones — Ashley Rowles,
a total newbie to our stage and Lexi Black-
sten, a veteran of three years but new to the
9LUJLQLDUROH$QG-RUGDQ*ULI¿QLVSOD\LQJ
(ULF IRU WKH ¿UVW WLPH WKLV \HDU 7KHQ ZH
have Kimberly Waltemate from the Long
A cast of thousands
%HDFK3HQLQVXOD²LW¶VWKH¿UVWWLPHVKH¶V
Included in the lineup this summer are acted with us.
Bill Carr, Jason Hippert, Marcus Brown,
“Everybody is enthusiastic about this
Mark Galbraith, Dave Bergquist, LaMar year’s show — we’re going to have a really
Blackner, Deac Guidi, Oscar Morales de good time,” Bucholz says. “But I can’t tell
Leon, ChrisLynn Taylor, Lexi Blacksten, you everything, you know; we have a keep a
Makayla Mestrich, Dena Tuveng, Ashley few secrets. You’ll just have to come out and
Mundel, Josh Mendenhall, Tim Murphy, see for yourselves what’s new this year.”
Jon Osborn, Elsa Nethercot, Zack Sandoval,
If you are one of the unlucky people
Stephanie Osborn, Eric Bredleau, Ron Wolt- who have not yet seen this example of com-
jer, Timothy Mendenhall, Charlotte Men- munity-building creativity, this may be the
GHQKDOO-RUGDQ*ULI¿Q+DOH\:HVW$VKOH\ year you just give in and hoof it over to the
Rowles, Austin Brown, Ellen Kachel-Bew- ASOC Playhouse, 129 W. Bond St., for a
ley, Kimberly Waltemate, Arlene Holmes, North Coast phenomenon.
Rosalina Fallin, Crystal Neher, Sara Berner,
Be ready to laugh, cry, cheer for the he-
Jamie Baird, Ali Craig, Josiah Haynes, Cal- roes and heroines, and boo the baddies. A
vin Roy, Mae Loya, Christena Jones, Kylie good time is guaranteed for all.
The cast of “Shanghaied in Astoria” lets out a cheer on stage.
‘Shanghaied in Astoria’
7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, July 9 to Sept. 12
Box office opens at 6 p.m.; doors open at 6:30 p.m.
2 p.m. Sunday, July 19, Aug. 16 and Sept. 6
Tickets are $17 to $21 and can be purchased online at
www.astorstreetoprycompnay.com or by calling 503-325-6104
the arts
Seats can also be purchased at the door one hour before
each show, but reservations are recommended
VISUAL ARTS • LITERATURE • THEATER • MUSIC & MORE
Be sure to ask about group and family rates and senior and child discounts
Story by CATE GABLE • Photos by JOSHUA BESSEX
July 9, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 9