As it looks ahead to its 100th anniversary next year, MunOpCo Music Theatre is holding an original music revue to raise funds and awareness for the historic nonprofit company.<\/p>\n
MunOpCo premieres \u201cA Day In The Life: the Ultimate Beatles Soundtrack Concert,\u201d 7 p.m. April 11 and 2 p.m. April 12 in the Emmaus Theater, Emmaus.<\/p>\n
\u201cA Day in the Life\u201d is a new work written and directed by Jillian Rossi, a Lehigh Valley vocalist who is founder and lead singer of The SwingTime Dolls.<\/p>\n
The Munopco show follows \u201cTree of Lights,\u201d a contemporary Christian cantata compiled and directed by Terri Williams, who with her late husband Larry Williams, were leaders of MunOpCo for 22 years.<\/p>\n
Munopco, Allentown\u2019s longest-running community theater, was on hiatus since it staged \u201cRock of Ages\u201d in September 2024. MunOpCo postponed its production of \u201cUrinetown, The Musical,\u201d scheduled for February 2025, because of \u201cfinancial impacts and timing considerations,\u201d according to its board of directors.<\/p>\n
Rossi, who says she has been involved with MunOpCo for 20 years, wanted to help the company. She says she decided to write the show, her first, to save money. One of the biggest costs for theater groups is production rights, which include licensing fees, royalties and material rentals, which can total $1,000 or more, plus 8 percent to 12 percent of ticket sales.<\/p>\n
Rossi says she decided to write a show based on the music of the Beatles and weaves together characters mentioned in Beatles\u2019 songs such as Jude (Moriah Faith), Desmond (Ryan Doncsecz), Molly (Catherine Logan Blanar), Eleanor (Geri Kery and Rossi) and Maxwell (Kerry McGuire) into a storyline, in which the characters meet in a hospital waiting room.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a storyline about love, hope and meeting people,\u201d Rossi says. \u201cAnd there is a twist at the end. There are 72 Beatles songs intertwined with the characters\u2019 stories.\u201d<\/p>\n
She says that the songs, many of which are in medleys, include favorites as well as less frequently heard songs, such as \u201cLet It Be,\u201d \u201cOctopus\u2019 Garden,\u201d \u201cHere Comes The Sun,\u201d \u201cYesterday.\u201d \u201cLady Madonna,\u201d \u201cIn My Life,\u201d \u201cSgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band\u201d and \u201cAll You Need Is Love.\u201d<\/p>\n
The show will have a set and costumes. Rossi, who choreographed the show, says there will be lots of dancing.<\/p>\n
The cast includes Ryan Zickafoose, Johnny Bertone, Sherilyn Glose, Micah Henning, Darice Hoffman, Jim Hoffman, Brenda McGuire, Rebecca Pieper, Daimon Price, Lissa Scearce, Lori Sivick, Lisa Suppan, Phillip Wallens and Colleen Zajacik.<\/p>\n
The chorus includes Patricia Kery-Donchez, Aaron Falkenstein, Bob Falkenstein, Deb Jacoby, Arianna Jones. Dave Scarlatella and Linda Sherer.<\/p>\n
Rossi says that the MunOpCo board, which includes Daniel Petrovich, president; Cheryl Dreas, vice president, and Darice Hoffman, secretary, are considering shows to celebrate the company\u2019s 100th anniversary in 2027.<\/p>\n
She says that one idea is a revue that would include songs from the many shows MunOpCo has produced over the years.<\/p>\n
MunOpCo, established in 1927, is believed to be the sixth-oldest municipal opera company in the United States, and the oldest linked to a recreation commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to keep MunOpCo\u2019s name out there,\u201d Rossi says. \u201cWe want to keep the company alive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cA Day in the Life,\u201d 7 p.m. April 11; 2 p.m. April 12, MunOpCo Music Theatre at Emmaus Theater, 19 S. Fourth St., Emmaus. Tickets: at the door; https:\/\/our.show\/63su993im6<\/p>\n
\u201cCurtain Rises\u201d is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com<\/p>\n
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOJillian Rossi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As it looks ahead to its 100th anniversary next year, MunOpCo Music Theatre is holding an original music…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-162124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}