The Young Ambassadors of Brigham Young University took the Promised Valley Playhouse by storm last summer with their high-energy performance of Michael McLean's "Celebrating the Light."
When it was extended one week, all of the tickets for the additional dates were sold out the morning they went on sale.So, for the summer of 1990, the Playhouse is not taking any chances. The old "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" advice applies to the world of theater as much as it does to mechanics.
With a little fine-tuning and an almost new troupe (four of last season's performers are back), the Young Ambassadors will revive "Celebrating the Light" beginning Thursday, June 21, and continuing through Sept. 1.
But - be forewarned - there's no room on the Young Ambassadors' schedule this year to allow being held over. The week after "Celebrating the Light" closes in Salt Lake City, the troupe will be brushing up on the routines from its just-completed Scandinavian tour for a performance of that show in the de Jong Concert Hall at BYU, followed by a brief regional tour.
The box office for "Celebrating the Light" will open Monday, June 11. All seats ($5 each) are reserved. Group discounts also are available. For reservations, call 364-5696. Box office hours, beginning Monday, will be 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily except Sunday.
The show will play Tuesdays through Saturdays, June 21-Aug. 31, at 7:30 p.m. The final performance is a 2 p.m. matinee on Saturday, Sept. 1.
The show will not be presented July 20-21 when the playhouse is being used for the fourth annual International Vocal School performances of opera excerpts.
Of the 16 performers in director Janielle Christensen's Young Ambassadors ensemble, 10 are newcomers for the company's 1990 season. Of the six returning cast members, four were in last year's show and the other two came from previous ensembles.
Jill Crowther, of Mesquite, Nev., spent last summer performing at Opryland in Nashville, Tenn., and Kevin J. Giddins, of Matawan, N.J., recently returned from an LDS Church mission in San Antonio, Texas.
Returning from last summer's show are Lita Little, Rialto, Calif.; Romy Fuller, Salt Lake City; Jason Rasmussen, Rexburg, Idaho; and Laurie Mohlman, Federal Way, Wash.
New members of the company are Bryce Cropper, Salt Lake City; Randall Porter, Orem; David Tinney, Elliott City, Md.; Devin Toma, Sparks, Nev.; Brad Winn, Mountain Green; Laurie Behunin, Eagle, Idaho; Heather Brockbank, Orem; Nicole Campbell, Great Falls, Va.; Larene Lewis, Elk Grove, Calif., and Linda Pendleton, Thayne, Wyo.
Auditions for the company are held each December. Performers from previous ensembles also have to audition, and a new troupe is assembled from scratch each year.
"The standard and level of talent is just incredible," said Christensen about the audition process. Usually, several hundred prospective performers turn out for the tryouts, but Christensen said it really gets tough when they are pared down to about 30.
"We can only choose 16, but there are at least twice as many more who are usually just as good. We could easily cast two or three Young Ambassadors companies," she said.
Once the cast is selected, the dancers and singers spend winter quarter (January-April) learning and rehearsing the latest touring show. During this time the students also keep up a fairly heavy BYU class schedule.
These kids don't just sing and dance their way through school. While some of them are majoring in music, dance and theater, others are involved in a variety of studies. Little is pursuing a double major of socio-cultural anthropology and psychology; Pendleton is majoring in English; Winn is working on his master's degree in public administration, and Toma is majoring in Japanese/Asian studies.
One of the requirements for being a member of the Young Ambassadors (in addition to having an endless supply of energy) is maintaining a consistently high grade-point average.
The Young Ambassadors troupe is not for students who are sluffing their way through school.
There isn't room here to list the various scholastic and civic accomplishments of the 16 cast members, but many of them have been on honor rolls in a number of schools, several are attending BYU with scholarships and many have also received awards for service they've rendered in several areas.
After rehearsing the touring show during winter quarter, Christensen takes it on the road during the spring quarter. The Scandinavian tour began April 28 in Copenhagen. The group toured Denmark, Norway and Sweden, closing the end of May in Finland.
Compared to the 1989 tour through the islands of the Caribbean, Christensen said the standard of living in the Scandinavian countries was astonishing. "They are leaders in design and architecture. The shopping malls we performed in were larger and more sophisticated than those we've sung in here."
After the company returned to Provo on May 28, they unpacked their bags, rested for a couple of days and then were back in the rehearsal hall four days later, dancing and singing up a storm and mounting "Celebrating the Light" for PVP.
The summer stint at Promised Valley Playhouse is an internship for the troupe, and the students receive some credit. Christensen said performing the same show all summer long gives them a good insight into what "theater" is all about.
Come fall, the Young Ambassadors will take their Scandinavian/spring-quarter show back on the road regionally for 10 days. The troupe usually travels to California, Texas or western Canada.
For this summer's presentation of "Celebrating the Light," a cassette tape of the show (actually a recording of last year's cast) will be available. Songs in the show were adapted by composer/writer McLean from several previously available on five other tapes, but the 12 songs _ as arranged especially for the show _ will be packaged together this year on a cassette titled "Celebrating the Light: The Musical."
Mark Huffman is choreographer, Randy Boothe is musical director, Ron Simpson is in charge of music production, and orchestrations are by Sam Cardon. Vocal arrangements are by Boothe and Simpson.
Also assisting with the production are Seven Nielsen, set design; John Moran, lighting; Jannette Lusk, costumes, and Brooke Anderson, sound.
Sequences aboard Noah's Ark, in which some of the Young Ambassadors travel in time back to Noah's period, were adapted from Kevin Kelly and Michael McLean's musical "The Ark."