Published: October 09, 2009 01:54 pm      

Spirited production

'Ghosts: The Musical' will be staged at Cresson playhouse

BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

An area theater’s upcoming production can be called spirited.

“Ghosts: The Musical” will be presented through Oct. 25 at Cresson Lake Playhouse, 279 Shapiro Road, Loretto.

Show times are 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and Oct. 22-24 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 25.

The show is the story of the aging Ravenwood Theatre and a real estate tycoon’s efforts to have it torn down to build a mini mall.

As the tycoon and her assistant leave the theater, ghosts of the performers who have appeared there begin to materialize.

The ghosts include an Edwardian-era stage actress, Shakespearean actor from the late-1800s, a vaudeville comedian, an Elvis-style singer from the ‘50s and an opera singer complete with horns.

William Allen Jones of Altoona, playwright and director, believes Cresson Lake’s barn theater is the perfect spot to stage his play.

“It raises awareness of the theater,” Jones said. “I’m excited to see it at the barn and see how it will play. I’ve seen it on huge stages, so for the audience to be that close to the ghosts will be something.”

While this will be the first time the play has been performed at the barn theater, it already has its own following, Jones said.

“It made its debut in October 2006 for the 100-year anniversary of the Mishler Theater in Altoona,” Jones said. “It was an instant hit. It sold out.”

“Ghosts” also was performed for the closing of Roosevelt Junior High School, Altoona, in 2007.

“We had an average of 1,000 a night,” Jones said. “I think it has a cult following.”

Jones believes his play is so popular because it speaks to the audience on many different levels.

“For kids, it’s funny and spooky, and for older people, it shows how fast life passes by,” he said. “There are generational issues, even a generational love story. It’s not a boy-girl love story but an ancestral love story between a parent and a child.”

Characters will wear white makeup and tattered period costumes.

The ghosts will be played by Rachel Volpe, Sam Wagner and Kelly Hartman, all of Altoona; Dale Buschey of Tyrone; and Daniel Orr of Ebensburg.

The cast will be rounded out by Allyssa Baker, Megan Marcaurelle, Cody Jones, Jon Preston and Emily Volpe, all of Altoona; and Michael Luther of Hollidaysburg.

Jones said emotions will run from laughter to tears.

“I’ve seen four-year-olds who didn’t move for 45 minutes, and I’ve seen the grandparents with tears running down their faces.”

Jones said “Ghosts” is a feel-good fun show with a moral that he has tried not to make too heavy-handed.

“The moral is to appreciate things because everything is temporary,” Jones said. “There are things beyond this life.”

His first unconscious memory of an idea for the play came with a picture of a Vaudeville comedian ghost performing “Boogie Woogie Ghost,” which Jones also wrote.

One thing Jones wanted to instill into his play was the idea of historical preservation.

“I’m a Civil War buff, and I find the idea of historical landmarks being torn down and battlefields being plowed under distasteful,” Jones said.

“We have to stop ripping everything down because we can’t get it back again.”

What: "Ghosts: The Musical."

Where: Cresson Lake Playhouse, 279 Shapiro Road, Loretto.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and Oct. 22-24 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 25.

Tickets: $17 for adults and $10 for children younger than 12 years old.

Information: 472-4333.