8 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
‘A REAL MAGICAL PLACE’
Actors, musicians from across U.S. help stage ‘The Gearhart Hotel’
By LUCY KLEINER
FOR COAST WEEKEND
W
hen Mike Herron was 9 years old, he
started taking piano lessons in Sea-
side. At 13, his lessons moved to an
in-home studio directly above the
Flavel House. Every Saturday for years, his par-
ents drove him from their apartment above the
Gearhart Golf Course to Astoria, where Herron
first learned to play.
He has been playing ever since.
W
If You Go
What: “The Gearhart Hotel” Musical
When: Friday, July 26, at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday,
July 27, at 2 and 7:30 p.m.
Where: Liberty Theatre, 1203 Commercial St.,
Astoria
Cost: $25. Tickets are available in advance at
bit.ly/2Yb0w4h
Herron’s musical talent and playwriting skills
have taken him across the country. This sum-
mer, he returns to the place where it all began with
directors Jefferey and Gloria Emmerich.
The nationwide crew of professional musi-
cians and actors — as well as debut high-school
actors from Clatsop County — will present Her-
ron’s original musical, “The Gearhart Hotel,” Fri-
day-Saturday, July 26 and 27, at the Liberty The-
atre in Astoria.
See Stage, Page C9
Lucy Kleiner/The Astorian
From left: Lorenzo Taylor as Preston Devereaux, Crystal Rouse as Sally Shea and Don Warren as Chef Mark rehearse the opening number in ‘The Gearhart Hotel.’