SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, APRIL 14, 2018
F LORENCE
GOES APE FOR
CROW presents
Disney’s ‘Tarzan’
R EVIEW BY
B URNEY G ARELICK
T
he call of the jungle began
April 12 at the Florence
Events Center with performanc-
es for local schoolkids and
swelled to a crescendo through-
out the weekend, echoing up and
down the central Oregon coast.
CROW did it again.
The Children’s Repertory of
Oregon Workshops (CROW)
presented another fabulous
show, “Tarzan,” the stage musi-
cal based on the Disney film.
‘Tarzan” was a stretch for the
young troupe. In addition to a
comedy, fantasy, adventure and
romance, “Tarzan” is a drama
that tackles complex situations
— lost babies, lost parents, dys-
functional families, sibling rival-
ry, adolescent identity, adult anx-
iety, self-discovery, decisions,
loyalties and compromises.
Heavy duty stuff for young
actors, but the stuff dreams are
made of and the challenges
CROW prides itself on explor-
ing.
The troupe grows with each
performance.
When you entered the theater
leading to your seat, you step
onto another continent. Maps of
Africa line the walls, splashed
with large, exotic leaves. At the
top of the ramps you passed
through an arbor of green vines
to view an absolutely stunning
stage — a green and purple jun-
gle, thick with mystery, and a
rough-hewn gnarly bridge over a
bright blue stream.
No sooner are you immersed
in the set than the stage fills with
some 60 actors sporting ingen-
ious costumes and moving in
perpetual harmony.
Managing all those actors
ranging from age four to 20
would seem a logistics night-
mare, but CROW director and
choreographer Melanie Heard
and her extraordinary crew had
9 A
CROW’ S ‘T ARZAN ’
everything under control for a
seamless performance.
Each of the two acts is intro-
duced by 16 tiny telegrammers
strung across the stage wearing
pith helmets and khaki shorts, a
platoon of pint-size Indiana
Joneses leading a safari into the
heart of darkness. These were
the baby CROWs from whom
great things will come as time
goes by.
Then a tsunami makes waves
in the theater aisles and a ship
wrecks in front of the stage. A
human couple survive long
enough to secure their baby’s
safety before a vicious leopard
destroys them. The same beast
also takes the baby of a gorilla
couple. The human baby
becomes Tarzan, named by his
adoptive parents, the gorilla cou-
ple.
After that hair-raising opener,
the show gets down to monkey
business, and the years fly by.
Tarzan grows up uneasily, loved
by his mother but disparaged by
his father.
When Tarzan comes of age,
he swings gleefully across the
stage, clutching a thick, green
vine. It is a thrilling sight,
enhanced by two professional
aerialists from Eugene climbing
vines with dazzling dexterity.
Conflict continues when
humans arrive to study rare spec-
imens of flora and fauna. That’s
when Tarzan meets Jane — and
the rest is history.
The actors sing to a music by
Phil Collins, whose lackadaisical
lyrics are infused with passion
and wit by accomplished CROW
vocalists, including Jake Molano
as Tarzan’s birth father and Nyah
Vollmar in a variety of roles.
In “Who Better Than Me” and
its reprise, both Tarzan
(Cameron Utz) and his younger
self (Joey Greenwood), and his
gorilla best friend, Terk (William
Owens), and Terk’s younger self
(Cort Waggoner), sparkle with
the energy and generosity of
blood brothers looking out for
each other.
Halle Anderson as Kala,
Tarzan’s Gorilla mom, displays a
beautiful voice, singing “You’ll
Be In My Heart” to baby Tarzan.
She also shares a witty patter
song, “Sure As Sun Turns To
Moon,” with Jacob Ternyik, her
husband, Kerchak, the leader of
the gorilla tribe. Who better to
play the silverback than Ternyik,
a wise old CROW!
Alizabeth Norton as Jane
Porter exhibits a lovely singing
voice and speaks with a cred-
itable British accent. She and
Utz perform a striking parallel
duet, “For The First Time,” as
each reflected on their new-
found affection for each other.
“Trashin’ the Camp” is a
grand rocker by Terk and the
Gorillas as they ransack the
camp of the human intruders.
While high praise goes out to
the entire cast, special cheers go
to Owen Harklerode as Professor
Porter, Jane’s dad; the seventh-
grader is terrific as the elderly
Englishman, in both voice and
manner!
Cheers also to Victoria
Schlager as the oh-so-lithe,
stealthy, fluid Leopard who
moves faster than you can say
“Edgar Rice Burroughs,” so fast
her spots seemed to vanish.
Huzzahs as well to Isaiah
Seeley, who was scary convinc-
ing as Clayton, the greedy guide
and great white hunter ready to
exploit the gorillas and humans
for his own profit.
Fortunately, Clayton got a
cagey comeuppance, and all was
swell and ended well.
That’s why Florence contin-
ues to go ape over CROW’s
“Tarzan,” wondering how the
troupe’s next show can possibly
top this one. Look into your
playbill for the first announce-
ment of next year’s show.
CROW presents “Tarzan”
Friday through Sunday, April 13
to 15, at the Florence Events
Center, 715 Quince St.
Showings will be at 7 p.m. on
Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m.
on Saturday and Sunday.
Tickets are $18 for adults and
$12 for youth 10 and under.
Purchase tickets at the Box
Office, by calling 541-997-1994
or visiting eventcenter.org.
PHOTOS BY CHANTELLE MEYER/SIUSLAW NEWS
Revelers Aerial Works
teaches students how to
ascend silks in a special
workshop Thursday.
Tarzan
from 1A
Heard contacted Brewer about
both “Tarzan” and CROW’s
Black and White Ball fundraiser
in February.
“She was super receptive to
coming and working with the
CROW kids and just positive
about this whole process from
the very beginning,” Heard said.
It was Brewer’s idea to train
Tarzan, played by Cameron Utz,
on the silks.
Heard said other companies
can spend upwards of $15,000 to
hire a professional theater flying
company for one show, and that
can mean a bulky harness for
Tarzan and other actors to wear.
“We had to be creative,”
Heard said. “This way Cameron
can be free and fun, and have
that adrenaline swing when he
comes on stage.”
That “adrenaline swing” is
something that the 10 students
who attended an aerial workshop
learned on Thursday night.
Revelers Aerial Works agreed to
host the class on aerial basics,
and let each CROW student fly
on Tarzan’s swing. The students
ranged from 8 to 16 years old,
and each also has a role in
“Tarzan.”
“It was the best thing I’ve
ever done in my entire life,” said
Haylee Cole. “I want to do it like
a thousand times, and I want to
do it every single day.”
The students talked over each
other, saying that the class was
both painful and incredibly
exciting. They expressed interest
in taking further classes, showed
each other sores on their skin,
cheered on whoever was up in
the silks, and commiserated after
a graceless fall.
“I feel like I’ve grown as a
dancer,” Elyse Stewart said. “It
helped technique wise, because
you have to keep your feet point-
ed, you have to stay strong and
you have to use all your core
muscles. I thought it was really
cool.”
Clover
Holbrook,
the
youngest participant at only 8,
impressed her castmates, the
instructors and the family mem-
bers in the audience. She said
she was only “a little bit” afraid
of the heights.
The girls added that they
loved the “flippy-dos” and other
spins that Brewer and Milliot
trained them to do.
“It was terrifying, but so much
fun,” Eryn Morgan said.
Besides
the
workshop,
Brewer also taught Utz and
Alizabeth Norton, who plays
Jane in “Tarzan,” in special ses-
sions at her studio space in
Northwest Ninja Park in
Springfield, Ore. In addition to
running Revelers, she also
teaches aerial workshops for
adults and youth.
“We’re just so excited to
work with the kids in this cast,”
Brewer said. “They’re the
kindest group of kids and so
respectful. They’ve been noth-
ing but welcoming and wonder-
ful to us. I’m having the best
time ever hanging out with
these cool kids and swinging
like Tarzan.”
Milliot added that the kids in
the workshop were “enthusiastic
thrill seekers” as they volun-
teered to do spins and new and
more moves.
“This is the beginning of more
stuff like this for us,” Heard said.
“We’re going to have to find
more fun ways to do aerial silks
out here, because the kids love it.
It’s a good tool for them to have
in their real-life toolkit.”
CROW’s presentation of
Disney’s “Tarzan” opened
Friday and continues today and
Sunday at Florence Events
Center, 715 Quince St. Tickets
are $18 for adults and $10 for
youth 12 and under. They are
available at the Box Office, by
calling 541-997-1994 or by visit-
ing eventcenter.org.
For more information about
CROW, visit crowkids.com.
For
more
information
about Revelers, visit www.
revelersaerialworks.com.
“I’m really grateful that they
were able to be part of this pro-
duction,” Heard said. “Their
energy just adds so much.”