Chaps

by: Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner ... The Jewel Kingdom

(Hint : Click actors names at bottom for picture and what they wanted to say in the program!)

It's 1944, and we're at the BBC radio station in London. Tex Riley and his Radio Round-up are overdue to perform a live radio cast to entertain the troops. We have 15 minutes to airtime, but no Tex and no cowboys. The tour manager, Mabel, finally arrives with the musicians, costumes, and scripts, but still no actors. They took different trains. Mabel and the musicians got lost, but figured she'd meet them at the station. What to do? Panic!
Miles, the asthmatic producer of the radio show, coerces Leslie Briggs-Stratton, the voice of the BBC ("stuffed shirt"); Archie Leitch, the sound engineer; and Clive, the Salty's Fish and Chips ad man, to fill in for the cowboys. Stan, the visually impaired sound-effects man, is game as well. With Mabel filling in the roles of the sweethearts of the Rodeo (twins Polly and Molly), they decide to fill in in the "show must go on" tradition. The Chaps filling the chaps of the cowboys, as it were.
From the premise, Chaps! unfolds. The "new" cowboys discover many things about each other and themselves in the course of this fun musical. They discover that neither a bomb nor the ultimate arrival of the "real" cowboys can stop them.
You'll hear wonderful, old-time western classics written by Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and other favorite composers. Songs like "Cool Water", "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds", "Sioux City Sue", and "Cattle Call" are sung by a very strong cast. The cast members are Beth Anderson as Mabel; Rick Landrum as Miles the producer; Dan Wright as Archie; Nigel Aves as Leslie Briggs-Stratton; Will Wakefield as Clive Cooper and Bek Aves as Stan, the sound-effects man.

Director : Liana Huey

Producer : Karen D'Ambrosio

Music Director : Susan Nace

Note from Nigel. Susan also accompanied us as part of the show with her wonderful piano playing. It was joy working with Susan and she fine tuned the songs and even harder, taught us how to sing them!