DLOC Stages ‘Will Rogers Follies’

“Will Rogers Follies,” the winner of six Tony Awards, opens August 29 for 18 performances continuing through September 27 at the Lesher Center for the Arts.

“With a top star and cast, along with colorful costumes, fast-paced dancing and exciting songs, the musical is just the thing to stir up our patriotic emotions during this election year,” said Daren A. C. Carollo, Diablo Light Opera Company’s artistic director. “It’s also another great send off to DLOC’s 50th anniversary celebration that began in June and ends in the fall of 2009.”

Featuring a cast of 33 and a 16-piece orchestra conducted by music director Cheryl Yee Glass, the show stars Shane Partlow in the title role—one for whch he is no stranger. An accomplished roper, he has performed in 22 separate productions of the show, once before in the title role, over the years. He recently starred in the national tour of “The Queen of Bingo,” an Off-Broadway comedy.

A resident of Los Angeles, Partlow’s television work includes appearances on the hit series “Will & Grace” and “ Gilmore Girls.”

Co-starring as Betty, Rogers’ wife, is Christina Martin, who also appeared in productions of the show by the Riverside Civic Light Opera and Candlelight Pavilion Dinner Theater in Claremont. Local performances include “Kiss Me Kate” with the Alameda Civic Light Opera.

Also in the cast are Ron Pickett (Clem), who recently played Charlie Dalrymple in DLOC’s “Brigadoon,” and Amy Nielson as “Ziegfeld’s Favorite. “ She recently appeared in “Cinderella” at the Lesher Center. Rounding out the cast are a bevy of Ziegfeld Girls, singing and dancing cowboys, and charming Rogers children.

The show’s lively score includes “Never Met a Man I Didn’t Like,” “Give a Man Enough Rope,” and the show-stopping “Our Favorite Son.”

The musical will be directed by Gloria Trombley and produced by Ellen Smith, a veteran member of DLOC’s artistic staff who produced the company’s recent production of “Peter Pan.” Trombley is a former president and show director at DLOC. She now lives in New Jersey, where she teaches courses on the theater and directs shows at a college. The choreographer is the award-winning Sheri Stockdale.

Rogers is variously labeled as a humorist, trick roper, Ziegfeld Follies star, radio commentator, star of 71 movies, syndicated columnist, author, philosopher and philanthropist and all of the above.

He died tragically on an around-the-world trip with aviator Wiley Post when their small airplane crashed in Barrow, Alaska Territory in 1935. -- www.dloc.org