MOONLIGHT STAGE PRODUCTIONS

PRESENTS SAN DIEGO PREMIERE OF

“SWINGTIME CANTEEN”

January 28-February 21 at the AVO Playhouse  

VISTA , CA – Moonlight Stage Productions invites audiences to forget their woes, pack up their troubles and check their hats at the San Diego premiere of the rip-roaring canteen musical, SWINGTIME CANTEEN. Opening Thursday, January 28 at the AVO Playhouse, this star-spangled musical hit plays through Sunday, February 21 as part of Moonlight Stage Productions’ 2009/10 Winter Season.

Audiences will travel back in time to 1944. It’s World War II and the glamorous Hollywood star Marian Ames hears the patriotic call to help out during America ’s greatest hour of need when everyone has to do their part for the war effort. Marian gathers up her “gal pals” from the Hollywood Canteen to head overseas to London to entertain the troops and prove their mettle by singing more than 20 musical hits heard during the Great War. SWINGTIME CANTEEN is a celebration of the spirit and hope of the war time effort with laughter, tears, and emotional fireworks brought to the stage.

Songs include: Don’t Fence Me In, I’ll be Seeing You, Sing Sing Sing, How High the Moon, I Don’t Want to Walk Without You, A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square, Sentimental Journey, Apple Blossom Time, and a fast-paced, 12-song Andrews Sister medley.

With a book by Linda Thorsen Bond, William Repicci, and Charles Busch, SWINGTIME CANTEEN ran Off-Broadway for more than 300 performances before opening productions in London and elsewhere throughout the United States . Directing and choreographing SWINGTIME CANTEEN for Moonlight Stage Productions is Don Ward with musical direction by Dr. Terry O’Donnell, set design by N. Dixon Fish, costume design by Renetta Lloyd with Roslyn Lehman, lighting design by Paul A. Canaletti, Jr., sound design by Peter Hashagen, and stage management by Brooke Baldwin.

Featured as Marian Ames is Jessica Couto of San Diego . Playing Marian’s niece Katie Gammersflugel is Chelsey Moore of Irvine . Marian’s good friend Jo Sterling is portrayed by Rae Henderson of Oceanside . The sultry pin-up girl Lilly McBain is played by Oceanside ’s Alexis Grenier. The show’s piano player and band leader, Topeka Abotelli, will be portrayed by Musical Director Dr. Terry O’Donnell of San Diego .   

Tickets for SWINGTIME CANTEEN are on sale now and range in price from $21-$29 and can be purchased by phone at (760) 724-2110 and online at www.vistixonline.com. Performances are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 7:30 pm; and Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 pm. The AVO Playhouse is located in the heart of the Vista Village at 303 Main Street .

   The 2009/10 Winter Season at the AVO Playhouse is produced by Moonlight Stage Productions, a program of the City of Vista . Additional funding is made possible by the Moonlight Cultural Foundation, a non-profit organization that benefits the performing arts in North County . For more information about the Foundation, call (760) 630-7650.

PRODUCTION BIOGRAPHIES

JESSICA COUTO – MARIAN AMES, a native of Charleston , S.C. , has a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.  Her recent performances include Godspell, Lamb’s Players Theatre; Fiddler on the Roof, Sierra Repertory Theatre; Jerry Springer, The Opera, Hollywood Theatre; Jubilee!, Bally’s Casino, Las Vegas; Christmas from the Heart and The Pajama Game, Dutch Apple Theatre; Into the Woods, Fulton Opera House; Beauty and the Beast, Broadway Palm Theatre; Fiddler on the Roof and Young Abe Lincoln, Lincoln Amphitheatre; Sunday in the Park with George, Strollers Theatre; and Sound of Music, Oregon Straw Hat Players.  

RAE HENDERSON – JO STERLING is making her Moonlight debut; Rae grew up watching Moonlight productions and is honored to now be a part of one!  Recent credits include Big River at Candlelight Pavilion and Sweeney Todd at Rancho Cucamonga 's Broadway at the Gardens.  

CHELSEY MOORE – KATIE GAMMERSFLUGEL is returning to Moonlight Stage Productions again after appearing as Phyllis Dale in 42nd Street this past summer, and previously as a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz when she was 8. She is currently a theatre student at UC Irvine where she recently originated the role of Allie in Aging Out: A New Musical. She has performed in over 20 stage productions in San Diego , at such venues as the Welk Theatre and Legoland.  

ALEXIS GRENIER – LILLY is a recent graduate from Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio . Having received both her Bachelors and Masters degrees, she moved home to her native San Diego . Recent opera credits:  L’elisir d’amore (Adina), The Old Maid and the Thief (Laetitia), and Dialogues des Carmelites (Mere Marie). Besides winning the La Jolla Young Artist Competition in ’07, Alexis also placed in the Carmel Music Society’s bi-annual vocal competition. She is currently studying acting, as well as singing in three San Diego bands.  

TERRY O’DONNELL - MUSICAL DIRECTOR AND TOPEKA ABOTELLI has served as musical director/conductor for Moonlight ’s Joseph…Dreamcoat, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Me And My Girl and Little Shop Of Horrors. He has appeared as Musical Director/Conductor or pianist for a number of San Diego regional theatres including The Old Globe, Starlight Musical Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Theatre in Old Town and the Welk Theatre. He was musical director/onstage pianist for 1,926 performances of the “historic-record-breaking-run” of Forever Plaid. Dr. O’Donnell is Emeritus Professor in the Schools of Music and Theatre at San Diego State University . He is a founding faculty member of their MFA degree program—one of only four specialized Master of Fine Arts musical-theatre graduate programs in the nation. He is Board of Trustees President of Young Audiences of San Diego—part of a national network that brings quality Arts Education programs to schools.  

DON WARD – DIRECTOR AND CHOREOGRAPHER - Don's directing and choreographic experience spans more years than he cares to count at theatrical institutions from coast-to-coast, as well as Japan. His last project at the lovely AVO Playhouse was I Do! I Do!. As a professional dance team with his wife, Bonnie, he worked with the late Gower Campion who greatly influenced his career in musical theatre - a lifelong passion. Because Don grew up loving the 1940s music and dance styles, this production reminds him of a different time, when music was a unifying medium for the average person, and when everyone needed to feel they were contributing to a better world "after the war." Don and Bonnie Ward are the proud recipients of the 2004 Craig Noel Lifetime Achievement Award (from the San Diego Theatre Critics Circle), and the 2007 Patté Lifetime Achievement Award.  

CALENDAR INFORMATION

Swingtime Canteen

Book by Linda Thorsen Bond, William Repicci, and Charles Busch

Orchestrations and Vocal Arrangements by Bob McDowell

Presented by Moonlight Stage Productions

January 28-February 21

Thursdays through Saturdays at 7:30 pm

Saturdays and Sundays at 2:00 pm

AVO Playhouse

303 Main Street , Vista

Ticket price range: $21-$29

Tickets/information: (760) 724-2110

website: www.moonlightstage.com

HISTORICAL NOTE

The City of Vista ’s AVO Playhouse originally opened as the AVO Theater in December 1948, three years after the ending of World War II. After serving as a movie theater for decades, the AVO sat nearly dormant until the City of Vista purchased the building renovating it for use by Moonlight Stage Productions for its winter season home as well as for use as a rental venue by other theatre companies. The AVO reopened in September 1995 under the auspices of the City of Vista ’s cultural arts program. SWINGTIME CANTEEN is based upon a real USO show that took place in London on Christmas Eve, 1942, and was broadcast via radio throughout Europe . It seems appropriate to note these historical dates since the AVO originally opened so soon after the USO show SWINGTIME CANTEEN is based upon.  

Photo by Ken Jacques

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