Behind Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

 Nah, it's not working. You're, you're gonna cut all this shit out? I don't right now. I can't even use that camera. It's all Chris's ass right now. Nice, nice. Might best, might be the best part actually. That move right there. Do the twerking, man. Crack kills that like a kills, crack kills. That's, it's very off-putting.

We were at a restaurant the other day and there was one of those across the room. I'm like, dude, one of the cracks. Yeah. One of the crack kills. Pinky. It's crazy. Front of Pinky in our house. It like, we were out in public. The twerking dad. Yeah. Yes. . It was, it was rough. Everyone in the house was not okay.

I'm surprised you can actually do that. I know. I'd throw my back up. I'm impressed. It's not, it looks like a cat burping. It's not . Oh, ok. It's not a real, it's a cat. Keep that in . Yeah. Like a real twerk happens in the, it starts in the heels. I couldn't really do that here. Down. Yeah, it's from there down. It was the whole body.

Whatever he was doing, it was like a cat bar. Cause twk is from the what? Waist down? Yeah. Waist down. Yeah. Like you're just, and it's just your booty. Yeah. You can possibly, you cannot do it. I saw TikTok, they said it's all in the heels, so I don't know. Oh my God. Yeah. I don't know either. , maybe that's like, like the Tassian, you know, like when you do whatever it's like in your knees when you do the hula, it's not really the hips.

Mm-hmm. Sure. But, so maybe it's similar belly dancing. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. It might be. Yeah. Who knows? I don't know. Anyway, it's not a skill I possess, so. Yeah. And I'm good with that. Yeah. If we're being honest, you've got other skills, so it's all okay. Yeah. You can swing dance is that I can swing dance. Yeah. It's been a long time.

I now, when I do it, I can't make it through a whole song without being winded. . I can pinch with my toes. Oh, I can't too. Oh, you can, I can pick out just about anything. Like gripper toes. No, like, like that? Mm-hmm. . Oh, okay. Yeah. That's cool. Like pencils and stuff. Yeah. Like I can, well, and my wife, she hates that

Get her in the bed under the cover you goes. She's like, just let your toenails grow. Have, don't wanna do that. Jesus Gabby. Cool. Gosh, things go left really quickly around her. Uh, yeah. With her, especially with her.

I'm Kristen. This John Waas. Yeah. And I'm Kathy. Welcome, welcome. And we've got, you can chime in now. . Oh, can I chime in? , introduce yourself. Hi, my name is Alan Reynolds. And I'm the artistic managing director of Lakeland Community Theater. Yay. Yay, yay. All right. We are so excited to have Alan on today. Oh, I'm excited too.

Yes. Yeah, you can see it in my face. Yes. I'm so excited, . That's, I'm excited to have Chitty here with us, so Yeah, totally. That's what we're here to talk about today. Exactly. So, so Lakeland Community Theater, we are in the middle of our run of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Yes, ma'am. I, with this spectacular car.

Yes. And we have her here on stage with. Yeah. And because of Chris Gillette, we have her here. Yes. Because he went and flew up to Kalamazoo, Michigan and spent two and a uh, what, two and a half days in a truck that rattled Yeah. God. And brought her down in the cold. Yes. And then we had to build a special platform because the truck height was Dock Heights.

So we had to borrow a forklift from Charlie Swedberg who was very kind to let us borrow one. Yeah, that's awesome. Shout out to Charlie, Robert. Yeah. And Robert made a special steel platform that she barely got on, but she did and we unloaded her and now she's here. So's nice. It's nice to finally see her in person cuz I kept hearing about it but it's absolutely beautiful.

I know we've kept you kind of busy over. I know. The, at the other show. I love it. Yeah, it's gorgeous. It's bigger than I thought it would be. Much bigger. Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to show you after we've done some talking and we'll show you the wings out and everything cuz like That's right. It's, it's pretty impressive.

I'm so excited to see. She does some tricks. You know? Yeah. Yeah. It's good stuff. Yeah, she's great. She steals the show every night. Mm-hmm. , that's what we want. She does. So I, I actually, I don't think I ever actually saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Like what? As a movie? Like comedian? Yeah. Kid as a kid or adult or anything.

Well, you're, you're young, so that's why. So what's the premise? Like what's the storyline of Chitty? What's the storyline of Chi? Uh, yeah, high, high level. It's, well, it was written by, uh, uh, Ian Fl Fleming, who wrote the James Bond series. Oh, oh, how so? He wrote it for his children. Okay. And he finally got it published and, uh, yeah, it's just a fantastical, uh, car, if you like, cars.

Mm-hmm. . It's, uh, about a, a fantastical car now in the movie. The premise is that Pots, the Dick Van Dyke character is telling his children these stories. Mm-hmm. , and they're not necessarily. You know, at the end we see, um, we see them fly off in the car. Yeah. When truly and him kind of get together. But, and I think that's why in Greece, who I think Greece, I think that's a shout out to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

I think the producer or one of the directors was a fan of, uh, Chitty Chitty Bang, bang, bang. So they, okay. John Travolta and Sandy flew off in their car. Yeah. At the end. That's a great point, because otherwise it doesn't really make sense. I always wonder. Yeah. It was kind, it's kinda like, why is that in that film?

And that's the only kind of tie in that I can make, that he was a fan of the film and saw that. But in the stage play, , um, the events are played as real. Okay. You know, they really happen. The Baron and the Barness. The vulgarians tried to steal the car and all that stuff. Mm-hmm. , it's not a made up story. So Yeah.

In the stage play it's pretty, pretty real. But it's, it's about a, a, a widower that has two children and, uh, he mm-hmm. , they, they play in this, um, garage, this junkyard, uh, with this old car that won the Grand Prix many, many times. And he ends up buying it for his kids for 30 shillings, and then he fixes it up.

He's like a mad inventor. So he, yes. Okay. And so we kind of, we kind of took the steampunk elements of invention and stuff with our set and um Okay. Made really simple because we had to afford a car . Uh, but, but it still looks cool. It does. It's got a nice look to it. It's, uh, nice and clean. Yeah. And. And he ends up fixing up the car.

But in, in the process, the car does all kinds of magical stuff. Like it flies and it floats on the sea. It's like a boat. Mm-hmm. and, uh, so, and it has a personality. It has a character. It does. So, yeah, it even takes a bow at the end of the show, so it's nice. So it's fun. It's fun, it's fun. Chris gets to come out and wave cuz he's the operator of the, of the car.

I bet he loves that. I'm sure. But my friend Tony, I didn't know I was looking for the car and my friend Tony, who I didn't realize I'd worked before in Des Moines, Iowa years ago on an original show called Caucus as a Designer. And he was a director and I, I did a couple of shows for him when he directed at the Des Moines Playhouse.

But I looked online and I was like, well, I inquired about the car and then all of a sudden Tony is the head of that theater. So I was, he was like, yeah, you can have it, Alan. Come, come. Just come get it. So yeah, so we paid a nominal rental fee for it and then we spent a lot of money to go to go get it. But, Yeah, but it's here.

And like, like anybody knows, you can't have Chitty Chitty Bang Bang without the car. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how you could, I mean, you can't, you can't do the show. And if you go on YouTube, you can see numerous examples, of people that don't have the car. And it's like, ass, it looks like Right. Looks like ass.

If you don't have a good car, you don't have a show. You know, you just can't do this show's called Chi Chitty Bang Bang. Well, we have like, you kind of have three, right? So like we have V Chitty Yeah. The, yeah, we got the Chitty, then we have the Old Chi, the, the Race Car Chi, the dilapidated mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm

And we have the Baron's car, which he wants to make, like Chi, you know, put the floating device in and everything. But he's got the. Inventor, he's got grandpa not, not pods. Yep. And then you have, uh, you have a motorcycle or a motor bike, as they say, because that's all they were back then. Mm-hmm. , uh, they, they were just bikes with motors, you know?

So I, you know, when I think of a motorcycle, old motorcycle, I think, but I'm, I'm too young, I think of like, like an Indian motorcycle, something. But no, they, they were basically way, way back. They basically were bicycles with motors and a gas tank that was, you know, so we, Bernadette had one in her garage, so she let us, let us have that, so That's awesome.

So we painted it up so we didn't have to spend $800 on an electric bike. So that was good. That was nice. It's, it's fun when you find people to have stuff they want to, you know. Yeah. We, we did pay her for it, but we didn't pay her 800 bucks for it, but yeah. Right, right. So it's nice to, she's happy to donate for sure.

Yeah, exactly. And this show's probably one of the most expensive shows in my, yeah. It, it's. It's a big budget to this show. Mm-hmm. simply because of that. The car. The car. Yeah. You gotta have the car. And I had to make sure that if we couldn't rent a car, then we would have to have the means to at least build one.

But there's no way, I mean that, that the engineering of this car took a year and a half to do, I'm sure. And to build it probably another six months. Easy. Yeah. I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a fun thing, right? It's not just the shell, it does stuff. No, it, it lifts up what, four and a half feet, Chris? How? Yes sir.

About four and a half feet off the, off the ground. and it, it, it, you know, pivots and it's got wings. Yeah. It has floating devices. The wheels move, the lights go on, the, you know, it's, it's just a, the horn honks fun thing. It even has a fan inside to keep the, oh, passengers cool, but wow. I guess they wanted to make it look like there was wind through your hair.

But yeah, if you don't have much hair like me, then it doesn't really matter . So, but uh, yeah, it, it's, it's a, it's a, it's. It's, it's great that we were able, it was just serendipitous that I actually knew the person that had the car and he said, yeah, it's yours. You can bring it. So, yeah, that's pretty awesome.

It's a, that's a God thing in my mind, so Yeah. Meant to be. Yeah, totally. Exactly. Meant to be. Exactly. Are we the first in the area to do this? Yes. Musical? Yes. Uh, because of course, if you don't have the car, you can't do it. So we're probably one of the first community theaters in Florida to do the show, so that's pretty cool.

Yeah. Yeah. It is. Is this one you've wanted to do for a while? Uh, it's been on my list, but it's always the car, you know, it's like 1776, all the men in that show, it's kind of keeps you from, you know, really pushing it. But it's a challenge. But then, you know, but I, I was like, well, I might as well step off the cliff and, and do it.

And then see what happens and then fly like Chitty. Exactly. You and, um, and Charlie Swedberg was kind enough to, uh, build all the other cars. So he has a great shop in CNC machines and facilities and stuff. So he, he produced those in less than a week. We got those. That's Wow. So, um, because those aren't just regular cars either.

Like the Baron's car has a couple tricks to it. Yeah. Oh, does it? Yeah. And the little shitty car has the, the radiator falls down mm-hmm. and stuff like that. So, and anyway, you know, it's only a week away, so Yeah. We can give away a lot of stuff. So just come see the show. Yeah, exactly. Ladies haven't had a chance to see it.

So they're gonna come this weekend. We're finally free from our show so we can come. Yeah, I'm excited to see it. Mm-hmm. . Yeah, you should. It's a big production. Um, I love that you kept the rest of the scene, you know, like you said, very simple because it really allows the car to just shine. Mm-hmm. . Sure. You know, she's not overpowered.

The actors are, are out there, um, doing their thing and you're just really pulled, focused with that. So, Yeah, that's great. The scenic design is wonderful. Yep. Um, and we have great talent. The crew has been fantastic. Yeah. We love Mr. Chris back here. Yeah. Robbie's backstage. We, we, he built all the, all the stuff that you see.

Mm-hmm. Well, you guys took all the fry lines that were available too, right? Yes, we did. You have like 20 locations, was that what you said? Yeah. Uh, beauty and the Beast Pro, it's comparable to that as far as the, as far as, but not without the car, you know? Right. Beauty and Beast as a castle. But that's, that's pretty straightforward, you know?

But this, this is a little different. So Yeah. We got the car and if we ever do back to the future, we'll have to have that car too. Oh, that's true. And which is on my list too. I love that. I feel like a DeLorean might be a little easier to get than a shitty probably. You could probably get an old DeLorean that you could fix it, maybe.

Absolutely. Or at least you know, DeLorean aren't as, I mean, you could probably mock up a DeLorean a lot easier than, than this thing here, but, Yeah, but, but it's gotta do stuff too, I mean. Mm-hmm. , you know, it's gotta one in Orlando you can rent so. Oh, there is lot closer . Does it fly? Does it fly? I don't think it flies, but it lights up and has gigawatts, whatever that all the Marty, we gotta get back to the future.

Exactly. Yeah. No, we need one that flies Chris. Keep hunting. Yeah, well that, there's one in Montana I heard. So you can go. Went to Montana. Yeah, that would fun. Next trip. . My hair's beautiful out there. There's not, yes, I'll go to Montana. That's a lot longer drive, I think. Dry, cold air. Oof. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Maybe that's a little foreshadowing.

Maybe a couple years. Sure. We'll get some back to the future. Sure. That would be fun. That'd be a fun show. Yeah. That would You have an exciting next season too? Not that this season's done, but We do, we do. Well we have, well we have, uh, well this season, if you want to kind of talk about that. Yeah, let's put it out there because cuz they need to hear about that.

But, uh, we have Rhino OSUs coming up as a stage read, which is a. Classic in n Esco play where everybody turns into a rhinoceros in society. That's kind of cool. Yeah. Well, it's kind of, I think it's kind of, uh, timely. Yes. with all the, that's very mandates and everything else. Yeah. All the lemmings following the government and everything else.

That sounds very similar to, um, what was the book we all had to read in school with the farm and the Pig and an Animal Farm? Thank you. Yes, yes, yes. Yeah, it does. We didn't all have to read that. I didn't read that. Yeah. Am I showing my age? Maybe. I don't know. . Yeah. We we had to read that one. Yeah. That that was a good one too.

Yeah. And then we have another stage read, uh, after that, which is based on a production of Rhinos, which was directed by Orson Wells and starred Lawrence Olivier. Wow. And it's called In Orson Shadow, and it's based on a, um, it's kind. Um, comedy about producing that play with Vivian Lee is one of the characters cuz he was of course married to her.

Mm-hmm. . And so, so that kind of ties in those two plays. So if you see rhinos, you can kind of see a play that's based on Okay. Production of Rhinoceros. That's pretty cool. That was cool to have them a package in the same Yeah. Yeah. I figured that would be kind of cool if you saw a Ron OSUs because a lot of people don't know that play.

Mm-hmm. and uh, you'd have to kind of know the play to to get something out of the other play about the play. Gotcha. Producing other play. And then of course we have uh, we got the rights to Finding Nemo Jr. Yes. Kids are excited about that one. Kids kids are excited about that. Yeah. Yeah. That's gonna be great.

So that was, we be one of the first theaters around to produce that. And then we have Escape from Margaritaville, which is our, Ooh, that'll be fun. Jimmy. I love some Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy Buffet Where Parrothead, uh, come see that and uh, we'll have some margaritas. So, For the summer. And that's, I just looked at Nick's doing the set for me.

So I just looked at some sketches and it's gonna be fun. It's a fun movie show. Oh, nice, nice. It's like SpongeBob on steroids. Oh gosh, man. But it has a, some, well without SpongeBob, it's got a volcano. It's got, you know, it's got it. It's like SpongeBob, but without the SpongeBob characters. Will you make the volcano erupt?

I don't know. We'll see. Dunk what we can do, we shall see. Yeah, that'd be kind of fun. Yeah. We can see. Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't know. Okay. I don't know. He, he's gonna take care of that. There's, I'm just trying to get out from flying people. There's a scuba, uh, not, not scuba, but a snorkeling scene that on Broadway they flew people like they were snorkeling.

Oh. But, um, I don't think I'm gonna spend the six grand to do that. Okay. It only happens really quickly. Mm-hmm. . So we can probably just, it's a montage about the days get improvise Monday through Friday, and that's only one of the days. So I think we can save a little bucks by not doing that little trick, you know?

Okay. Because we have to do our production, you know. Yeah. That, that, that's what I tell people. You gotta make your own. When you, when you come here, you know, we're, we're doing our version of the show. Mm-hmm. , we're not do, we're not copying, we're not plagiarizing anybody else's version. Mm-hmm. , we're doing ours.

So, yeah. And I think that's, that's what separates us. We don't try to. , because I've worked with a lot of directors that'll, you know, say, oh, I want it exactly like this, or Exact, and they'll, they'll show me the video of Broadway or something. I'm like, well, you know, you're really taking away from me as a designer mm-hmm.

and as a director to put my own stamp on things, you know? Right. I want to, I want to interpret the story. I want to tell the story. Yeah. I totally get that. Yeah. So you don't, you don't. It's part of being, it's, yeah. And, and it's okay artistic. If you're gonna steal, you steal from like Tiffany's. If you're gonna steal jewelry, you don't go to Kmart and steal jewelry

So if you're gonna steal an idea, it, it's a, it's gonna be a great idea. But, but, but you, you too can come up with great ideas, so, yeah, that's true. So then we got Margaritaville, and then next season we start out with nonsense, the mega musical. Mm. Yeah, some. None. So it's ba we did nonsense 19 years ago. Wow.

Okay. Uh, and this is called the Mega Musical because they've added songs and they've, uh, added some characters. So it's kind of our kind of anniversary, production of nonsense. Almost 20, it'll be almost 20 years since we did it. Okay. And is that like a. . Yes. I've never seen it. Yes. I don't, I guess it's gotta be common.

It's totally common. But we're also need a theater, Alan. Like, there's all kinds of shows that we just don't know. It's, it's so comedic. Yeah. We agree to be educated and nuns are fun anyway. You know, nuns are always fun. Yeah. I, I wasn't, I'm not Catholic, don't get me wrong. And, but, but you know, we did sister act, so why not do nonsense?

So, and then we're doing the mystery of Edwin drd. Oh yeah. So I know a lot of people are excited about that one. Yes. Why is that? Is it a big production? Like Not really. It's a, it's got cool twist. It's got, it's got twists at the end. The audience votes on the ending. Oh, that's, so the actors have to learn like four or five different endings.

and then the audience picks the ending. So it is clever in that sense. Mm-hmm. , that's great. Um, it also was written by the guy that wrote the Pina Colada song. Oh gosh. If you like, yeah. Escape. Yeah. And you like PK ? Yeah. Nice. Ru Rupert Holmes. Okay. So, okay. But it doesn't sound like Rupert Holmes. It's great music.

It's fun. Uh, my, my youngest son did it at William Peace years ago. I went up to see it and, um, and I fell in love with it, so, so we're gonna do that. It's kind of in that fall season, so it's a mystery. All right. Okay. So, and then's, um, and then, let me see what's next on the agenda. I think we're doing a little show called The Fantastics, which is an old chestnut.

It was, uh, it might still even hold the record. It may not, it may have lost a little shot, but it was the longest running off Broadway show. , um, for years and years and years. So it's a fifties musical about, uh, two fathers who kind of engage in matchmaking and they want their son and daughter to get hooked up, you know, and marry.

And it's all about life and fun. Okay. And, uh, the famous song from it is, uh, try to remember, you know, the song, try to remember the kind of September, you know? Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It's a sweet song. Mm-hmm. . And it's, it's a fun, it's a, it's a small musical. Mm-hmm. , I think there's six people in it. Uh, and then, uh, tick, tick, boom.

Yeah. Yeah. That's got Jason Robert Brown, about him. About his, yeah. Uh, uh, that's a small cast too, I learned. Yeah. It's about the, it's an autobiography about the guy who wrote Rent. Mm-hmm. . Okay. That's who it's about. Yes. And it's three people. It's two guys and a female. I think so. And it's. I'm, I wasn't really familiar with it.

I listened to the soundtrack and it, I was intrigued by it. And I think it'll be popular for our younger, I think it our, our 30 somethings will, like, based on the reactions I saw online. Yes. It's like the last, the last five years and stuff. You know, it's that kind of Jason Robert Brownish, kind of, kind of a musical.

Okay. And then we have big the musical, which, uh, which the original Broadway was a piece of Trash . Okay. It was a, it was a, so we're not gonna copy that one. It was Alop , but they rewrote it for the touring company and they fixed a lot of stuff, so it's very cute. Okay, good. Um, and if you're a fan of the Tom Hanks movie Yeah, yeah.

Where he, uh, wishes he was big and then he turns into Tom Hanks. Yep. Um, and then they play the big piano. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. We'll have to get that. Oh yes. We have to, we have to. You buy those at Target now? Well, that's easy. Well have to supersize it. Yeah. . Yeah. This, this is pretty, this is pretty impressive though, cuz all the keys light up and Oh yeah.

It needs to be really something that's engineered and Yeah. In made not one of those rollout ones you get now Target. No, because I think our, our audience will be, yeah, cuz you want, especially in here because we're raised, uh, if this was over at theater Winterhaven it'd be different cuz you can see the floor.

So you can probably get away with a fla. Well you have to rake then the floor to make it so people can see. No, I think as long as the, it's high enough that the keys light up on, on the ends, you know, so people can see from the back. We'll be able to see it. Mm-hmm. , the people in the front road need to be able to see the keys light up.

So if we make, as long as it keys here, if we make the whole thing like a regular keyboard with thickness mm-hmm. , and then make the whole thing light up. I think we can, we can, that'll work. It'll be effective. So sense. But that, that'll be an expensive little thing. Didn't . And we need a voltar. Is it Voltar?

Is that the she? Yeah. You need the, you need the Zul. Voltar or Zar. It's, it's the z It's Zar. It is Zar. It's Zar. It's the, uh, people's name. You know, it's the old, uh, the old, uh, it's Angela. That's what she wants to be. That's true. The old fortune teller. The old fortune teller guy. Yeah. Just put a little hat on in.

And it wasn't even plugged in, if I remember correctly. Wasn't that like the creepy thing, right. He went, yeah. It's pretty, it's pretty creepy. Works without it. Yeah. There's, there's all kinds of, there's like a abandoned, uh, you know, like, uh, like an amusement park. Yeah. Like fair, like Ferris, you know, parts of AM amusement park.

Abandoned like a Carney. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So, yeah, it's kind of, it's kind of creepy in that sense. But uh, yeah. I was just on the TV the other day actually. Big, big, the movie. It was, I remember that coming out. I was a kid. It's in the nineties. It's fun. Mm-hmm. . You were a kid in the nineties. Well, I graduated high school in the nineties.

Okay. I graduated college. So, yeah. I didn't, she's older than I, I didn't, 90 is when I graduated college. Yeah. I, I graduated high school in the eighties, so . Oh my gosh. Yeah. Yeah. I grew up in the seventies. So lady disco lady disco. Doesn't talk about her age. did disco. Era. Did disco. Yes. Where we didn't care about anything.

We really didn't. Studio 54. Right. We didn't care. That was the thing. We, we, uh, we did it with everybody. Yeah. It was crazy. Everybody. Everything, everything. It didn't matter. Yeah. And took everything we could get our hands on. Yeah. And I'm, believe me, pr, I'm, I don't even know. I'm a ghost here. I, I don't even know why I'm alive.

Francis Smith. I'm Francis the ghost. Francis the talking mule. Francis. Francis is sitting over there watching. Yeah, he is. He's like, what is happening? His chair is down, I tell you. My gosh. So Francis is a boy? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. He's a boy. I always wondered, I didn't know if it was a mile. He's a boy. He likes to go up.

I hate to name. It could go either way. He likes to go up in the fly. Loft and turn on the lights while the guys are up there and Okay. Do stuff. Yeah. That's not, that's not creepy at all. Not at all. No, not slightly. Yeah. But he's a nice guy. Right. Are we segueing into Ghost Stories now? I don't know. I don't know.

No, you didn't finish the season. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay. ? Yes. Yes. Hold on. Isn't your, um, what's the Christmas show? Isn't there a Christmas show? It's the kids, or doing Okay, let's talk about doing Harry Connick Jr. Wrote a, uh, a musical called The Happy Elf. Okay, nice. So we're doing that. So, and it, it involves kids and adults.

Oh. So it's kind of a theater for you show with kids, with kids. And Big has a lot of kids in it too. Perfect. Because he's got all his friends. Yeah, that makes sense in the, yeah. Gotta have that. And then our last show, we, we, uh, were fortunate enough to get the rights to the School of Rock. Oh my gosh. I'm looking forward to that.

Yeah. And that's the Jack. That's the giant black from movie. Yeah, yeah. Right. But the kids, the hallway. Yeah. Half ago I've seen clips from like, uh, the play version or the musical. Oh, okay. Yeah. It looks like it's it's gonna be a fun one. Yeah. Do they say, do they sing that? Stick it to the man song? Do they sing that in there?

Because I remember that from the movie. It's drifting. He gets all, I think they do got the song. Yeah. It's kind funny. I love that. Yeah, it's good. No, it, it, it should be fun. And we did it in the summer cuz everybody asked me, why didn't you do that in spring? I said, because the kids are not outta school. We need, we need the kids that can actually play those instruments.

So Yeah. We want them to commit. We're gonna do it for three weeks, so. Nice. Okay. We want 'em to commit to, uh, doing the show and so yeah. Nice. That one I'm directing. Okay, good. Most likely do big too, so. All right. But we'll see. We'll see. And I don't think anyone in the area has done either of those two. No.

No. Big, it's never been produced around here. And School of Rock will be one of the first, so. Mm-hmm. So that's a good thing. L C T is groundbreaking. Yeah. Well, we tried to be, I it, and I try to pick stuff that, that we've never done before. Yeah. I mean, we're doing nonsense. It's different, but it's the same.

Yeah. But, but we kind of did all musicals this season. Okay. Uh, this coming up season, I should say. Mm-hmm. , um, uh, we do that every now and then we'll do musicals. And the good thing is three of the mu musicals are smaller. You know, I don't, I don't want to do, you know, huge shows, one after the other. But yeah, I like the musicals.

I'm partial to those. Mm-hmm. , I think it's my music background. Me too. Well, they sell a lot better. Yeah. Um, people, people like that, especially in the economic states, you know, usually when the economy's bad, You want to go for something, you know, cheery and happy, like a feel good because we, we had talked about doing hunchback, but you know, for a spring show that's, that's a little dark, you know?

Okay. It's a little dark. Yeah, yeah. With the guy and the girl. Yeah. It's, it's pretty dark. We watched the Harrison kids do that. Was that two just a couple years ago? Yeah, it's been two years ago. It's on our list. But that was a good production. That and can be winter. Have did it. Yeah. And it's got a choir in it.

I mean, it involves a lot of people, but I just thought the subject matter was a little, it is a little heavy. A little heavy for the, you know, if the economy gets better, then we can do heavier stuff. When the economy's bad, you want make people feel good. , you want 'em to escape, you want 'em to have a good time.

So, yeah. Um, so that's kind of my mantra. I try to keep it that. And then, you know, once, once, Like the economy was good when we kind of did Sweeney Todd, you know? Mm-hmm. , because that's one of my favorites. And it's, it's really dark that is, it's really dark. I'd like to see that. We're gonna get on my list, get your haircut.

Oh no. And we did it, we end up with something else. We did it in the, kind of the traditional way that it's, you know, the Broadway was done with a big cube in the center and uh Okay. And just the open space. There was no, there was no wings. Everything was, you know. Oh wow. Nice. It was huge. I mean, as far as the look, it was huge.

You know, the flats went up 22 feet and Wow. Um, and the cube in the center, you know, cuz that, that's where the, the barbershop is and the on top. And then you. , her little meat place and her little place is down below Meat. You shoot, they the, you know, they, they go down, put the people down. Yeah. That's pretty cool.

It's fun. Robbie Robbie actually did the, the chair for us. He did a great job. So, yeah. Yeah, the chair was cool. It was kind of scary going down though. I went down a couple, couple times and I was like, cause I said, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna ask you to do anything that I wouldn't do. Geez. And I was like, man, I regretted that.

No, it was fun though. It it, it was a fun show and, uh, Chris Kazak was in it and Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It, and the music is so tough. Mm-hmm. , it's such a tough one, you know? Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . So we had Pat Flights do that one we love. Yeah. We love Pat. Yeah. I love, love Pat too. So, so hopefully he'll be back to do School of Rock.

He's doing. . He's doing Margaritaville this summer, so. Okay, nice. Cool. We're looking forward to that for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll probably do some kind of margarita tasting Oh, nice. Or sell margaritas in the lobby. We'll see. Okay. We'll see what we can get away with, but yeah. Mm-hmm. gotta have margaritas. Ah.

But we don't want drunk people in this either, so Yeah. Gotta fine line. Limited it to two. Yeah, we can do like this. Two little, like those little, yeah, the little ones. Not watch cups. Oh no. Well, when we did Savannah Sipping Society, we had a bourbon tasting on steroid. Okay. So that, that was fun. So it was after the show was over, so, so you could get twisted and drive home

That's so much better. So that's so much better. Put somebody in a automobile when freshly, freshly drunk. They could Uber well or, okay, take chi, you know, shitty and get 'em home. Just say please. That's all you to, I was just say please. Yeah, exactly. You gotta be polite to her. That's how she works. Oh, okay.

Exactly, yes. It's the whole premise. Otherwise she'll talk back at you or, oh my goodness. Yeah. So, When going back to Francis? Yeah. Yes. Because we, we love Francis. Hey Francis. And he's Francis. He's, he's there. . So anyway, I, I met Francis for the first time when we were doing Mary Poppins in here. Oh. And I had gone to an antique store and I had bought some porcelain head antique dolls that were probably from the turn of the century.

Okay's a little creepy. They are the creepy kind from the twenties. Yeah. Maybe 19 circa 1920s or something. But they're, you know, the Jenny Lynn kinda looking dolls. Yes. And I got a good deal on 'em. So they were getting rid of them. And so I'm, I was down here and I'm dressing their little, their little toy room, you know, the set.

And I've got everything laid out with the toys and the dolls and these are all old toys. And all of a sudden, out of the peripheral vision of my eye to the left, I saw that seat that's down right now. Mm-hmm. . I saw it go down and go back up. And go down . Wow. I had to take a moment and leave change your drawers.

Yeah. I was like, okay, did I just see that? Wow. So, you know, if it fell down, that would be something else. Right. But going back up and going back down. Yeah. That was a little different. That, so it's harder to explain that one away. Yeah. Yeah. So we kind of just, that seat kind of stays down. Mm-hmm. usually.

And I don't, you know, I don't want to tell people where he's, you know, cuz he probably gets mad if somebody sits on him, but, but people do get that seat, you know? I was gonna say Yeah. Cuz we sell it, right? Yeah. It's gotta So we, we talked about super superstitions in, was that our last class? Oh yeah, that's what, that's what, that's what she said.

And one of the things that I remember reading, cuz I also did a follow up blog post with it. Mm-hmm. like, and went more in depth and, um, it said that most theaters will actually lake, leave one seat that they don't sell. Do you guys do that? , like when you sell out, do you technically have one seat left? Um, I know she keeps house seats available, so, so we probably have more than one.

Yeah. Uh, but we have sold out in here, especially during La Mis, we had to add chairs in the back. Thank God the fire marshal didn't come in . But did Francis wreak havoc then? No. Not having, no, he's, he's pretty, he's. , you know, he, he's just a kid. I think so. Oh, I was gonna ask you. Okay. So we think he's a child.

Yeah, I think he's a child. Maybe that's why he's excited about the toys. The creepy dog. He's probably, well, yeah, that's, he's like jumping down. Yeah. I'm like, oh. That's why. I think that's why, kind of the kinetic energy or whatever, you know, because I, I do believe in, you know, spirits, spirits and stuff. I believe there's angels and Absolutely.

And I believe, you know, we, we all are meant for something else, so I guess he just likes to hang out, you know? I mean, it's not a bad place to hang. There's always stuff going on. Yeah. No, and, you know, good work. We're a pretty fun group that hangs out here, you know? Yeah. If I don't, he only sees me yell a couple times during the shows

It's just a few times. Just a few times I've, yeah. So. Well, that's pretty cool. Is there any story behind him? Like how he's here or No, just everybody's kind of just, I, I, I don't even know how he got his name, but, okay. I think that's kind of the. . The, my mysterious of it. Just, well, not mysterious, it's just something that's kind of evolved over the Yeah.

Course of years, you know? That's pretty cool. So he wasn't around. I mean, I, I've been in this theater since I was 16, so, um, we didn't really have any ghost stories in. Now I, I hear that the RP funding center is, uh, is haunted too. The really, really Yuki and stuff. Cuz it's, because that's, it's on an Indian burial ground.

Ooh. Oh. Haven't people, that's, how did they learn not to do that? You don't dig a basement yet. Mm-hmm. . So, anyway. Or a pool. Or a pool or anything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, but yeah, I, I hear stories over there too, a lot. Um, but theater's always, you know, there's kind of a mystique about theaters having ghosts and it's okay.

I mean, that's why we put the ghost light out. Yeah, yeah. It's just super cool. Yeah. So we don't fall off the apron, , we come in in the dark also, but also the ghosts, whoever wants to come in and play and, and play on the stage, they can, you know, so, yeah. And make it. A safe, safe place for them. Yeah. Is that your only Francis story, or is that your first Francis story?

Well, everybody has a Francis story, so I don't know everybody's Francis story, but I'm sure that we can gather them and yeah. Mm-hmm. , I bet Robbie has a bunch of, I would love that. Robbie has a bunch. Juan Robbie's actually, uh, photographed Poltergeist in here, and he's got, uh, several pictures of somebody sitting in a seat that's not here.

Okay. Really? Yeah. Oh, we're gonna have to definitely bug Robbie for that. Yeah. He's got, I think he posted on Facebook one time. Okay. But, um, yeah, it's just weird. I'll have to ask him about that. Yeah. It's just, I mean, and, and it's interesting, you know, I, I've met people from all over the country that worked in other theaters that are much older than ours, that, that have stories too, you know, of, of, uh, you know, just, just crazy, you know?

Mm-hmm. . Half men in the balcony walking back and forth at midnight because you know, when you work in a theater, you, you work late sometimes you work 2, 3, 4 in the morning and you know, stuff, stuff can play tricks on your mirror, you know, like you hear something, it's a little late who's there? Especially Margaritas, you hear your name or whatever.

So yeah. You know, start hearing whispering and Yeah. And I've known a lot of people that have passed over on the other side that I worked in this theater with, so I Sometimes you feel their presence sometimes, you know? Yeah. You feel like they're still here, so it's kind of cool. That is, it's kind of cool.

Yeah. So I love that everything goes up. Spooky, but cool. Yeah. Spooky, but cool. It's fun. So, yeah. But it adds to the, yeah. The mystique awesomeness of it. Yeah. The, my, how old is this theater? When did this? 56, I think it was built. Okay. Yeah. 1956, uh, Lakeland Little Theater was formed in 1951 and they used to perform over, you know, where the City commission meets.

That used to be May Hall Auditorium. Okay. In there. And then they redid it for the commission. But they moved here. Uh, so from 19 50, 51 and then to 56, they moved here and they performed here until the Yuki was built. And then the city invited them to go to the Yuki. Well, the Yuki is too big. Mm-hmm. , it's much too big for a community theater.

You don't, you know, it, it's just, it's not intimate enough. There's not, you know, 400 to 380 seats is perfect. Gotcha, gotcha. Nice intimate space. And uh, you know, and the bigger the stage, the more cost you have cuz you've gotta fill it up or you, or you bring the wings in. So everything looks like a little jewel box in the middle, which is kind of stupid.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's a little weird. Plus, you know, people don't realize, Especially when they talk about us moving to another space or building another space for us, um, that, you know, your, your royalties are based on your house size too. So if you've got a house that has 1500 seats or 1600 seats, you're gonna pay a lot more for royalties.

Oh, that's interesting. I didn't know that. Yeah, you didn't know that. Yeah. So you want to keep all kinds of things. We don't know. Yeah. Yeah. You, if you come love this. If you come and see a show here, like, like I saw Chicago at Ru Ruth Ecker Hall, you know, and I was in the nosebleeds and that show, I mean, it was a show.

Mm-hmm. , but I couldn't see anybody's face. Yeah, right. Yeah. You didn't get that connection. It says, same thing at the str. You go to the str. If you're in the, if you're not in the orchestra, forget it. You're gonna have to get some opera glasses and see people's faces. Yeah. So the great thing about this theater, it's probably one of the best.

spaces I've worked in, in my whole career because it's so intimate, it's so tiny. Mm-hmm. . And, but it's not, I mean, we, we have, we have more seats than theater. Winterhaven has. Mm-hmm. and their continental seating, I mean mm-hmm. , they, they don't have two aisles. Mm-hmm. . Right. But, but we have more seats. Uh, and, and the design of the theater's not bad.

The only thing I hate is the Persian March has those little things. I don't like that. And I tried to get 'em to, when they did the renovation, I tried to get 'em to cut 'em out and, you know, make the, make the Persian a rectangle. Yeah. Um, but there's, they say there's. Uh, you know, asbestos don't in there.

So if they start cutting, don't, let's not do, that's the whole thing. That's basically, that's whole what the renovation was because, you know, every, every building built in the 1950s probably hasn't. Oh, I'm sure. Mm-hmm. . I mean, we used to make a masks with ob asbestos. Yeah. I mean, we would put 'em in. Yeah.

You take acid, do a lot of things back in the day, acetone and o asbestos and four mask, and you'd wear on stage. Oh, wow. . Yeah. Well, and you know, all the blue dyes and stuff that we used as scenic, I mean, they, they're all carcinogenic. I, you know, I'm a ghost here, you know, I shouldn't be alive. . It's amazing that you're still here, but Yeah, it is.

It is. But um, yeah, all the toxic stuff that we worked with, but we didn't know it was toxic. Mm-hmm. , so. Right. You know, it was just fun. It's fun to make, play with that guy, guy worked with for 20 years, just drop dead and not sure what happened, what happened. Fell off , put some gap tape on it. But anyway, yeah.

Tape. Yeah. Gap tape. Yeah. But anyway, but yeah, I mean, um, so, so, yeah. And, and if you, if you, if you reproduce this theater now, I mean it would cost as much. Nuclear power plant. I mean, it's crazy. The with a fully, we got 24 full line sets. They're double purchased. We, I, I, I would love to have more wing space on stage.

Right. But Oh, yeah. You know, we, we d we deal with it. We do, we've done every major musical known man in here with the wing space we have mm-hmm. and we, you know, it's like a 10 pounds of stuff packed in a five pound bag, but, uh, but we make it happen. Mm-hmm. , you know. Yeah. You just shuffle things around. You just have to, it's like a big Rubik's cube.

You gotta, you know, like a Jenga game or whatever. You have to move things around. I mean, is it all that different than like Broadway theaters? Have you ever been to a Broadway theater? I've seen a lot of videos of it. Yeah. I was in New Amsterdam. Uh, I have no idea. LL took me back. Um, I've seen videos enough.

It feels like they're more about like, Okay. Than they are about this kind of space. There's no, there's no wing space in Broadway houses. And that could be, cause those used to be old vaudeville houses. There's not a lot of, like the Polk, there's no wing space in the Polk because it was a Vaudeville house.

Okay. You know, so, you know, the pokes a great, but even the Polk has 1400 seats almost. So. Ooh, wow. I mean that's, that's a huge theater. It is, yeah. And it's uh, cuz they're leveled. Yeah. Yeah. They have balcony and everything else. So you're looking. Yeah. Poor bald people, you know, with their actors, they need to wear two pastes cuz everybody sees the tops of their heads

Uh, you know, that's why when I go to work at Peter Winterhaven, I've been in several, several, many shows over there and I always tell them, I say, yeah, I hate this place cuz people can see the top of my head , when you're here, you can't see the top of my head. Yeah, I'm up, I'm up above you. You know, it's nice.

I feel like I'm looking down on the masses, so , but over there it's like, oh gosh. Anyway, but uh, no, I digress. But anyway, uh, yeah. So I mean, I mean, if, if the city moved us, it would cost them hundreds of millions of dollars to do that. Yeah. And I don't think anybody realizes that. of what an asset they ha even though this building is old.

Right. It's still a great, it's got all the right parts. Yeah. Asset. Mm-hmm. , I mean, and to reproduce it in the form it is now without any wing, space, without, without rehearsal halls Right. Without no improvements, without, without a shop, without mm-hmm. , you know, it would, I was like, who could pin ache for that?

Mm-hmm. . Yeah. You know, I don't know. We tried to play the lotto for you. Yeah, we tried. We did. We did. I know. I really play that the first time I'm winning the lottery. $1 at a time. . That's the way I figure it. But . But it's just, it's crazy. Um, yeah. So, so we, you know, the, the, you know, the decision has to be made in, in the city.

If, if they, if they want, they want culture, if they want Yeah. The apex of culture, which is theater, which is the all inclusive art that includes every art. Mm-hmm. and. If they want a civic theater. That's that. Anybody from any strata, any, any economic circumstance, any age can come and participate in, uh, what's the payoff?

You know? Is it, is it all about money? No, it's not. It's about quality of life. Absolutely. Yeah. And we have great programs here, like out of the box and page, the stage, and those, if something happened to this place, you, you better believe those parents would be upset. Mm-hmm. for sure. We would, and they would, and they would make their voices heard.

Mm-hmm. . Yeah. So, um, yeah, I just, I just hope that, uh, that wisdom, uh, will prevail. Yeah. Uh, and, and I think it will. We have a lot of smart people. The mayor's great. Uh, and, and, and, and the commissioners, they're all people of, of value and of, uh, you know, they, they, they know the value of the arts. Mm-hmm. . If they don't, I'll sit down and talk to 'em about it, but, uh, yeah.

But, uh, yeah, it's just, uh, it's just nice to, uh, , it's nice to know that, you know, at least, at least you know that somebody has your back. Yeah. And, uh, you know, because this, this property was, uh, I mean when I was, when it was Lakeland little theater, uh, and when, and when Paul took over for Pipe Piper's from Rick, uh, the city wanted this property for the Chamber of Commerce and there was a big lobby to tear down the theater and put the Chamber of Commerce here, because this is one of the best pieces of real estate in Lakeland.

Yeah, for sure. That's a beautiful place. Mm-hmm. , you know, so, yeah. So, um, so we've been fighting that fight. Um, For a long time as far as, you know, the value of us here. Yeah. And it would be great to have a new, new place, a new facility mm-hmm. , you know. Sure. It would be great with some rehearsal space, especially rehearsal, if you could design it, you know?

Yeah, sure. Yeah. It would have to, it would have to be, it can't be a cafeteria or something with cafeteria or some kind of, or strip box bs mm-hmm. . Right. That that is a, you know, and we can't move, you know, uh, I mean, I, I've talked to commissioners that, you know, that say, well, well, we have Harrison. I said, well, Harrison's a school.

Mm-hmm. . Yeah. It's not the same thing. It's not a community theater. It's not a civic theater. I can't go in and audition at Harrison if I wanted to do something or, or my kids if they didn't go there or whatever. Yeah, yeah. It's not, it's different. It's, and, and that doesn't put any, not, you know, that that Harrison has great value.

Right. Don't get me wrong, but Absolutely. It's not a civic theater. No. And every great community that's ever been around has always had a great civic theater. I mean, you know, if a city without a great civic theater, it really isn't much of a city. No, it's true. And there's a lot of little towns around here that don't have this, that that's very true.

And they rely on this. Yes. You know, have folks that come from all over. Yeah. We talk about that all the time. Yeah. Mm-hmm. about our talent. We have so much talent around here. And if they didn't have a place to go, they'd just be, they'd go somewhere else, be shame. Well, they'd go somewhere else. Would, they would go move some police else so they could, they could do it and everything would move, their tax money would move their, everything, everything that they bring to the community, you know?

Yeah. And all of our, our influx of, uh, you know, we do at least I would think, uh, I'd haven't looked lately on the, uh, American for the arts site and done the calculation, but, but our, our, uh, influx of, uh, into the, into the coffers of the community is well into the 400 thousands a year. Yeah. I mean, our budget is over 500,000.

So, I mean, that, that just makes sense, you know. Right. Absolutely. You know, and people rely, you know, folks, And, and it's good that we have other places like Theater Winterhaven and stuff that people can go audition for and do it, but some people can't make the drive. Some people it is a long drive for It's a, a long drive.

It is. Yep. And, and, and both and, and we, the great thing is our, both of our communities have, have a big enough talent base mm-hmm. that we can support two theaters, you know? Yeah. That's been proven. Yeah, yeah. You know, that you're able to do that. So, so that's a good thing. So yeah, it is. Two theaters have co-existed for a long time.

Yep. Quite well. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. And it's, um, well Norman came here and said, this is the granddaddy of them all. Cuz it started back into, in the 50, you know, we've been in some form mm-hmm. iteration. We've been around since the, the early fifties. Yeah. So in, uh, when winter even started in the seventies Okay.

Uh, was with Norman. So, but Norman, the first place he came was here when he, when he was thinking about starting a theater, theater here, because. This is, you know, this was where it, it happened there, there was no other community theater in the area, so. Right. Yeah. So, yeah. Well, we hope that the city definitely sees light needs to invest in the community.

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. We obviously, you know, this place means a lot to us. This is where we all met, where our families met. Yeah, sure. We're all super involved because it's such a great place and you know, it's when you find your people, you know? Yeah. And that's what L c t has done for us, um, and our families and hundreds of other families that enjoy it and get to come and Sure.

You know, and enjoy what we do here. Well, yeah, I grew up here. That's awesome. Yeah. There you go. Yeah, I was a kid on this stage. Yeah. And worked with Lakeland little theater and I did the last show that the Lakeland Lith Little Theater did here. It was called Sunday in New York. And Jimmy Dias directed it.

He directed Send Me No Flowers on Broadway. And, uh, and then it just ended, uh, , you know, they've moved to the Yuki, they tried it there, but it was too big. Mm-hmm. . So they came back here and finally, finally it dissolved. Hmm. Um, and then, uh, lake M Players started a little theater in here that, that lasted maybe four years, I think.

Okay. They did a couple shows a year, uh, and then, uh, Rick Oliva got together with some concerned parents like you guys, and they started a children's theater with Pi Piper players. So, and that's what the Lakeland Theater. Oh, so Pi Pipes was a children's theater. Yeah, it was. I didn't children's shows. Yeah.

Yeah. That's awesome. The children's show. So was it a name change to Lakeland Community Theater at Actually, yeah. It, it kind of was, but the board, I, this was the folklore I hear the board couldn't decide on a name, so they just, they just, they, they were incorporated as the lake and little theater. Mm-hmm.

uh, I'm, I'm sorry. Uh, , Lakeland Community Theater. Mm-hmm. is the, is the title doing business as Okay. And they just went to that name instead of Pied Pipes. Mm-hmm. . Gotcha. But, but so they really didn't have to change their name. They were just Right. They just moved it over to that. They just went by that instead.

Yeah, because it became more than just a children's theater then. Sorry. Cuz uh, Paul, um, we, he, uh, the first adult show he did here was the Nerd. Okay. And I was cast in it, but I got a job at Universal working on Parenthood. So Nice. So I very cool. Had to drop out. But, uh, but that, that was the first adult show that Pipe Pipes did, and then they started doing more adult shows and, and more children's shows too.

Yeah. So, but uh, it slowly evolved into what you see now with Three Theater for Youth and six main stages, and then the Edge and all the other stuff that we do. So, yeah. Yeah. Jampacked well, The budgets. I mean, when I got here, what, it's been almost 14 years, um, yeah, our budget was maybe 230,000 and now it's over a half a million.

So you can see we, we grew, we grew pretty, pretty quickly. So, which is good and we keep it lean and mean. We don't have a big staff. Yeah. We kinda, we kinda do everything, you know, and I've got a great staff, so Yeah. Great people. Yeah. Yeah. Lots of volunteers. Lots of sponsors. Lots of volunteers. Lots of sponsors.

I mean, we we're really blessed to have like Core Wealth and Regal and Barto Ford and you know, I can go on and on the Holles. Yeah. Uh, yeah. So, yeah, so it's uh, you got plans to do more beyond what we already do, cuz there's so much, but Well, the problem is space. Oh yeah. You know, that's the issue. And there's only so many months in a year.

So we're pretty maxed out on how many Yeah. You went from one show to the next. Yeah. The Right, the only down month that we have, and we usually do the volunteer appreciation during that month is August, and then we go right back into it, so. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Um, you know, cuz you've gotta rehearse, so. Yeah. You know, so everything overlaps.

I mean, I've, I've kind of maxed it out as far as programming goes. Yeah. I mean, we could do stuff outside and we do, we do page to stage. in other things, but, but it's kind of maxed out. Yeah. Uh, you know, it'd be nice to have a bigger facility where we have more kids. Uh, cuz I mean, summer, summer camp last year was crazy.

We, yeah, it was, yeah. , well, you guys know, I mean, it was packed. Yes. It was fun. The kids had a great time. Yeah. It was so much fun. But it was, but it is crazy for the, for the people and outta the box. That's why we have the two, the two sessions, you know, the two shows, uh mm-hmm. , the double cast. Double cast and stuff because uh, it's just so many.

Yeah. That program is so many passive. Yeah. It started with four people and now it's what, a hundred and almost a hundred something. 150 something. Oh my gosh. Yeah. It's crazy. Yeah. So, um, yeah, so we, we. We've grown pretty fast and it's always, that's always a, you know, that can be a problem to grow too fast, too quickly.

Correct. Yep. So I've kind of trying to boil the frog, you know, so it doesn't know it's getting, you know, Never heard of that. You never heard of. Boil the frog. You put a frog in the water. I've, and if you increase the temperature just a little bit. Doesn't know it's being, he doesn't know it's being boiled.

Oh, oh, poor thing. Yeah. Then you can have some frog legs. . No, that's a, that's an old southern frog. That's an old southern expression. It's like, bless your heart, . Oh yeah, yeah. I learned about that real quickly. Moving down here. Exactly. I said, and they were like, can. Yeah. I'm like, what are you talking about?

I don't think it was derogatory, but apparently down here it's got a little bit of a different meeting. It's a little different in New Jersey. It's a little different. Exactly. All these things we learn. Well, I'm from PO County, so I'm, yeah, so boil that Frog And Polk County does not stand for people of Little Knowledge

Please know that. Yes, yes. But we do have some people that are of little knowledge. Yeah, I've met a couple. So ? Just a few ? Just a few. Just a few. But yeah. Oh gosh. That's funny. No, we're really blessed to have a, a theater in our community like this, so. Oh, oh, for sure. And I'm so honored and, uh, humbled that I can be a part of it.

So cuz I got the best job in the world. . Oh, I, I wanna say thank you. And I'm sure you guys feel the same, like, yeah, this place has literally changed my family's lives. Yeah, that's awesome. And it just brings us such joy to be a part of this. So thank you for what you're doing. You know, there's only three things that can change lives.

Hmm. Spirituality. Mm-hmm. education. Mm-hmm. and theater. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. . It's definitely changed ours. Yeah. And we got all three right here. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. , you got spirituality, you go, oh, please God. Let that fly in on time. Don't hit anybody. Don't hit anybody. We say Jesus all the time. cheese and rice. You got a code switch around the kids though.

You That's right. I have a problem with her. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The old man, the old man can't curse around the kids. I can yell, but I can't curse. I know. It's hard. It's just hard. It's real hard. Yeah. My, my, my tongue has been bloodied many times. . Yeah. Bite it up. Well, you know, this and Peter Pan, you know, there's certain shows that you just gotta get through cuz there's kids in them, so I love kids, but.

You know, I already raised my three at a distance. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I know somebody made a comment one time that, you know, if we did all children's shows, we could make a lot more money. I said, well, I wouldn't be here.

Oh, daddy Reynolds wouldn't be here. Your job would change. It'd be from a distance too. Oh, from a distance. I can hear the kids screaming. . Yeah, . No, no, no. We got, we got great, great, great directors that work, work with the children and stuff. Yeah. And I, and, and I love the kids, don't get me wrong. The, and speaking of that, the ensemble in Chi Sheet Bang Bang.

The, the youth ensemble is fantastic. Aw. I mean, thank you. I hate to say this on the podcast, but they kick the adults' ass . Oh they do? When they get up to sing teamwork. Oh my, nice gosh. I can't wait to see and most of 'em don't even have mics. I'm like, holy crap. Yeah, you can hear 'em. They just blow it out.

Wait till you guys see. I know. So all three of our kids are in the show. They haven't had the chance to see them yet. So I'm like, wait till you see your kids out there. Well, par did, uh, so much fun. She FaceTimed me from inside the car. . They were trying to Gabby with the weight they needed the counterweight or something.

So they put her and Gabby in there and she immediately FaceTimed me and I was turning on the lightboard over at theater. Winterhaven getting ready cuz we started a half hour after you guys. Yeah, you do. Yeah. And uh, I was just kind of getting ready and I'm like, why is she FaceTiming me? My kid never calls anybody on the phone.

Like she has a phone. She never uses it as a phone. , you know. Oh no. And phone for phone. Video. The phone's video in the car. The car in the car. Texting and driving. Following me? Yes. Texting and driving. Oh my goodness. You know, she's 14. She's gonna be driving soon. Stop it. She has all the plans. No, I can't go there with that.

I can't believe she's gonna be driving a car next year. I know She's 14. She's 14 and a half. She doesn't look 14. No, no. Well, she's so, which is got its advantages Yeah. In theaters. Absolutely. Yeah. That's good. But she's actually on, uh, we do shot hormone shots for a human growth hormone for her every single day.

What? To help her cuz her, she. She's not growing. She doesn't actually produce any human growth hormone in herself. They did a test and she was like, really close to zero. That's why she's tiny. Yep. So she gets a shot every day. We've been doing, she's like Emmanuel Lewis or something. She's grown like, I mean, what's going on?

Different strokes. A lot. A whole lot. What you talking about? Really? Like that? Yes. . What you talking about? Will I know I said that all the time in the house and she doesn't get the record. No, she doesn't at all. It's, it's an old, it's an older reference. I chuckle in my own head, but whatever. Mr. Drumming.

Yeah. Oh gosh. Yeah. Remember that show? That show Different strokes? That would be, yeah. Different show I grew up on that. I did too. That was great. What, but what grew up on reruns? Um, Manuel Lewis was in the other show with the other, um, yeah. What was, hi. Oh my gosh. Spencer Tech Support. . What was his, what was Emmanuel Lewis in?

I can't, my phone. Oh yeah. But he, but he was with a, an older man as well. Ah, dang it. We're squiring, but we do it all the time. We are squiring, I can't remember the name of it. Stay focused Kathy. God, yeah. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Right. Last weekend. Chitty. Yes. If you wanna see the show come this weekend.

Yes. Cuz you won't be able to see her fly again. No. After Sunday. And you don't wanna miss it. No. You really don't. Definitely don't. I mean, and we spent a lot of money on this show guys. We have spent a lot of money on it, so it's, you know, and we have our auction. Can we talk about That's right. Eating by the lake.

Yes. Yes. There's all kinds of stuff in the lobby. Yes. We've got alcohol in the lobby. You can bid on, you can bid on a beach house, I think. Mm-hmm. . There's a beach house. There's a beach house. There's all kinds of stuff and like experiences. There's like a round of golf, right. Grassland. Mm-hmm. . Um, somebody did some artwork I think.

When was that? Jenna, Snyder that did that artwork? I don't know. I think so. Well, I went to turn the lightboard on. I saw a really cool Nemo painting up there. Yeah. I think that that's it. Is that it? Yes. Yes. I believe so. Um, forgive me if I'm wrong, I'm pretty sure that that. Her that did that. Um, and then you can go online.

Lina won't mind me saying that these online, so I'm Okay. Auction too. So yeah, there's a bunch of stuff. All kinds of stuff online. Nice. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's fun stuff. So, so, and it's, we only do it once a year, so, and you can fund a need too, so. Mm-hmm. , you can send a kid to camp. Mm-hmm. , that's a fun, fun to need.

If you don't need any of the stuff, you know, change somebody's life by sending them to summer theater camp or mm-hmm. send the page to stage group to a title one school and they can perform for kids that don't get to go to the theater. So there's all kinds of fun stuff. The great cause. It is, yeah. So it's a great cause if you, you can, everybody can participate in, in and fund something.

And that's really the good thing about theater too, is that, you know, kids like, like to do extracurricular, extracurricular and things, and there's a lot of cost to most things, but to be in the theater, to come. Like, it doesn't cost any in this theater. Yeah. That's what I'm saying. In this theater. One in theater, which is great.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can come and be in a show and audition and do all that, and it costs you nothing. Doesn't cost a penny. Yeah. We used to have participation fees years ago. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. And I got rid of them because it shouldn't, well, God bless you. It shouldn't cost you anything. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Yeah. So, and we, we, we can afford it.

So, yeah. Well, it can be a barrier to, you know, a entry for some kids to, or adults. And we did have 'em, we did have things that, that we would do to mitigate if there was a financial issue, we, we would Yeah. The scholarship or, yeah. Yeah. But still, it just didn't, it didn't sit right with me. So we mm-hmm. , we got rid of the participation fees, so.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's great. Yeah. It's a wonderful thing. Yeah. We love it. Yep. So come see Ci Chitty Bank. See the car Friday, this Friday, seven 30. Saturday, seven 30 and 2:00 PM on Sunday. All right. Let's your last chance to see it. Very cool. See your fly in float. Yeah. Yes. And just have fun. Mm-hmm. . Yeah.

It's a, it's a heartwarming little show. Yeah. Good, clean, fun. Yeah, it is. It is very good for the whole family. Yep. Mm-hmm. teach the kids manners. Say please if they wanna go somewhere. Yep. If they want the cart, if they want the car to start, they gotta say please. You gotta say please gotta say please.

That's right. That's kinda like me. You gotta say please, if you want me to start , crank up, crank me up. Shit. Oh man.

bang, bang. We talked about that cause you, I think we were like, how did it get its name? Yes. And I said that's cuz it's after the, what it sounds like when they first get in it. Okay. Yeah. You'll see they, they talk about that there's, yeah, the whole song is about that. It's Megan chit, bang, bang, chit titties, bang, bang.

Yeah. Yep. . Nice, fun. Fun, fun, fun. You know, it's all good stuff. All good. Well thank you so much. Thank you for having us. You a podcast. Want you to come back and tell us. We will, I'll tell you, I have all need. We need story time. I got story time. I got all kinds of stories. I was uh, 25 years in the film industry, so Oh wow.

I got all kinds of, didn't hear about that. I got how all kinds of stories. I love story time with Uncle Buck. I do too. , buck story time. I like it. Oh man. We should have a little jingle to that . We'll have to find something. Yeah, we'll figure that out. Say we could get Chad, but he still owes us another table, so we'll have to see how that goes.

Chads busy. Chad could do a jingle. I know. He's supposed to do us a jingle actually. Well, and now I think he's in an ote. He just, he keeps staying in programs and stuff. He's staying busy. Yeah, he is. Well he's just doing that to keep from doing, you know. It might be, I think, I think we figured Chads a lot easier.

Yeah, I think we figured, figured. That's right. Jingle quick. Thank you so much. Well thank you. Thank you guys. Thank you all all. Have a good one. Byebye. Bye.