Das Barbecü Will Fill Your Belly With Laughter BY KAREN BOSSICK
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t pairs Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” with strains from the theme to “Bonanza.” It combines the Norse mythology of Siegfried and Brunnhilde with the familiarity of J.R. and “Dallas.” It’s got the pompous grandiosity of Texas, with big hair, big dresses and even bigger cowboy hats. In short, “Das Barbecü” is a three-ring circus. “Think ’39 Steps’ with music and Texas drawl, opera and folklore,” said Director R.L. Rowsey, referring to the melodramedy that Company of Fools staged two summers ago. “It’s a lot to pack into two hours.” Company of Fool opens “Das Barbecü” July 4. It runs through July 28 at The Liberty Theatre in Hailey. The play looked simple on paper, said Rowsey, what with five actors, five musicians and a debut in a regional theater. But as the Fools got into it, they realized it was much bigger, with five actors playing 32 characters, each with a different costume. “Not only do the characters have to speak in a different voice, they have to sing in differ-
ent voices and different genders,” said Rowsey.”This play is based on the grandest of tales. It’s told from the largest of hearts and with the greatest of passion, so there’s nothing little about this one.” The plot is convoluted, to say the least, says Mike Tilford, who plays in Jim Luigs and Scott Warrender’s zany spectacle, along with Debra Wagoner, Rachel Abrams, Duke Lafoon and Beth Hilles. But if you must know, it involves a guy who has a ring and a girl and some scheming connivers who want the ring. Its characters include a lisped, psychically gifted triplet and a one-eyed king of gods who is slightly irascible and wants to do right but finds it so against his nature. Those who know opera will recognize bits and pieces from Richard Wagner’s “Das Rheingold,” “The Valkyrie,” “Siegfried” and “Gotterdammerung.” Those who don’t will enjoy it anyway, actors say. “It shows the silly things about opera. At the same time, it shows what’s great about opera,” Tilford said. Joe Lavigne has built an ambitious playground on stage that includes an ore cart that rolls on
tracks out of a mine, a wooden water tank and a cantina with Western swinging doors. The band, made up of Rowsey, Jim Watkinson, Max Stimac, Alyssa Hershey and Ted Dyer, will sit on the rooftop of the cantina. Lavigne said he got the idea from a buffalo diorama in a museum in his hometown of Milwaukee. The Las Vegas look also played into it. “Everything’s there that’s necessary but it’s not real,” he explained. The back of the set is even more intricate with mazes of runways, staircases and five dressing cubicles. “As fun as it is on stage, it’s even funner back there because actors are going in one door and coming out another,” said Wagoner, whom Company of Fools devotees will remember from her portrayal of Patsy Cline. “It’s more tightly choreographed back there than here. But that’s so fun for an actor—it makes two hours feel like 15 minutes.” John Glenn and Wagoner scoured the Internet for suede Western jackets, sequined cowboy vests, horned hats and a bunch of boots and wigs. They even tapped into a church lady’s website for three dresses with
to know if you go
COURTESY PHOTO: KIRSTEN SCHULTZ
matching hats. Three dressers will help the actors shed and pile on clothes— using Velcro, since no one has time for buttons! The musical overture is almost as big as the state of Texas, Wagoner said. “It offers that swell of pride you know that causes Texans to get that big puffed-up chest and an instant smile,” she added. Though two hours long, Fourth of July revelers will be
briefs
What: “Das Barbecü” When: Wednesdays through Saturdays, July 4-28. The show starts at 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursdays and 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Where: The Liberty Theatre in Hailey Tickets: $30 for adults, $20 for seniors 62 and over and $10 for those 18 and under. Groups of six or more are eligible for $20 tickets. July 4 is Pay What You Feel preview. Educator Night on July 5 offers two $10 tickets to educators and school administrators when purchased in advance. Girls’ Night Out is July 7 with $20 tickets, $4 beer and wine, post-show chocolate and champagne and a chance to win a bag of treats. Ten frontrow seats are available the night of each performance for $10 each. The July 10 show is sold out. Information: 208-578-9122 or companyoffools.org
able to take in a Pay What You Feel premiere and still get out for the fireworks, Rowsey said. “We’re going all out with the belief that we all deserve to have fun this summer,” he added. “We want to put a smile on everyone’s face.” tws
This Week’s Free Summer Music Series in Ketchum, Presented by Will Caldwell Band” at Rotary Park, Ketchum. Bring picnics and low-back chairs. Tuesday, July 3, 7 to 9 p.m.: “Ketch’em Alive” features “Swagger” Celtic rock with opening band kids from “Music & Me.”
Take a Free Sun Valley Tour on Fridays In partnership with the KetchumSun Valley Historical Society and Sun Valley Magazine, Mountain Rides announces the launch of “The Sun Valley Story Tour.” The Sun Valley Story Tour is a free historical bus tour that leaves from the Visitor Center at 3:45 p.m. on Fridays throughout the summer. Visitors and
locals are invited to hop on the bus for a guided tour past some of the area’s most fascinating locales. The hourlong tour will take place on Mountain Rides’ regular Blue Route, which runs from the Visitor Center and serves Warm Springs, Ketchum, Sun Valley Village, Dollar and Elkhorn.
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Thursday, June 28, 6 to 8 p.m.: Ketchum “Town Square Tunes” presents “Dewey, Pickett and Howe” Americana music. Sunday, July 1, 6 to 8 p.m.: “Jazz in the Park” with the “Jazz House Big
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Free Lecture with Curator Toby Jurovics Toby Jurovics, curator, will speak in Ketchum on photographers Thomas Joshua Cooper and Timothy H. O’Sullivan, both of whom have photographs of Idaho’s Shoshone Falls on view at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts. The talk will be held on Tuesday, July 3 at The Center, Ketchum, at 6:30
p.m., and is free and open to the public. Both the Thomas Joshua Cooper exhibition and the talk by Toby Jurovics are sponsored by the Lannan Foundation. For more information, visit www. sunvalleycenter.org.
Sun Valley’s Most Glamorous Summer Party & Concert A Family Fourth Crossover Show Starring International Diva, Alyson Cambridge, with the American Festival Chorus and Orchestra d. by Craig Jessop
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