The Great American Melodrama was buzzing on Oct. 3, for the first of three Octoberfest events at the Oceano theater, with an hour of live music, beer from the keg, and a German dinner before the night’s production began. As Trio Internationale performed German drinking songs and polkas, attendees crowded into the concessions area line, where, in the true Octoberfest fashion, Firestone Brewery was front and center with a keg, pouring beers for those waiting for a veritable feast of German-style cuisine.
Staffing the concessions stand, as is the longtime tradition at The Great American Melodrama, were the costume-and-apron-clad actors who would be on stage performing in less than an hour. The air of excitement and celebration during the event was as palpable as Firestone’s Oaktoberfest brew, but with a down-home comfort mirrored by the sausages and warm potato salad that was served up. The cast was already in performance mode, shouting coded orders and singing songs anytime a tip was dropped in the jar.
The look of joy on the faces of audience members filing through the line tells the story of why The Great American Melodrama is celebrating its 40th anniversary season this year. Former PCPA actor and Ernest Righetti High School drama teacher John Schlenker founded the theater company with fellow theater arts educator Anet Gillespie in 1975. The two found themselves having to play more than just on-stage roles to keep the lights on at the former Rexall Drugstore turned theater. Even then, the melodrama depended on the hands-on teamwork of the ensemble actors and their collected ability to keep an audience entertained, though the players may change from season to season.
The theater’s current production, Scary Poppins, is a perfect example of why locals and tourists alike have been supporting The Great American Melodrama for so long. The classic melodramatic style requires big, loud, and bold characters who are fueled by more than just their good or evil machinations, but also by the energetic cheers and boos of the audience, who is welcomed to participate in the creative endeavor of storytelling. With the familiar fanfare chords from the classic, saloon-style piano, actor Alex Sheets took to the stage to introduce the theater and the show.
For those who have seen Great American Melodrama productions across several seasons, the jokes and jibes of introduction are warmly familiar, and one can recall the variety of actors who have given the script voice across the years, as their photos line the walls. Sheets himself, who plays a hilariously spoiled child, Jack, in Scary Poppins, is a return actor to the Melodrama, along with Katie Worley, who plays Jack’s sister, Jill. The two shared the stage a season or more ago, but own the stage wonderfully, as if they’d never left.
This is part of the magic of The Great American Melodrama. Actors, no matter how far they journey or the level of theater they enter, can always find a home in Oceano—where they can act, sing, dance, and make audiences cheer, boo, and laugh. Another returning actor is Eleise Moore, who has acted locally for both the melodrama and PCPA, and gives hilarious life to the wickedly funny title character of Scary Poppins.
These three share the stage with Philip David Black and Noah Kaplan, both of whom were fixtures in the melodrama’s last season, and newcomers Meggie Siegrist and Cody Jolly. Whether well acquainted with The Great American Melodrama or new to the stage, the seven are all equally talented in forging characters, and together make a story as colorful as the parody Scary Poppins come to life. With the swift-fingered pianist and music director Kevin Lawson at their side, the whole becomes much greater than the parts, and the magic sweeps across the audience.
The second Octoberfest event will include all of the entertainment and cuisine of the first, but will also be an informal reunion for many former Great American Melodrama players. The entire fall production also includes a celebration of the theater with its 40th Anniversary Vaudeville Review, which follows out each evening’s performance of Scary Poppins.
The 40th Anniversary Vaudeville Review illustrates plain and simple that The Great American Melodrama’s mission has always been to share talent. The cast—which has been performing, serving, and singing all night—still has the energy to amaze with complicated tap dancing, fantastic musicianship, impromptu comedy, and other feats of talent. Having that amount of energy for one night is astonishing enough, but to deliver the same across four decades at 50 weeks per year, shows why Oceano’s little theater earns the distinction of greatness.
Arts Editor Joe Payne boos and cheers at all the right spots. Contact him at [email protected].
