PioneerValley.org

A R E N A C I V I C T H E A T R E
presents THE New MUSICAL
IN GOOD SPIRITS
Arena Civic Theatre will present a hauntingly funny new musical In Good Spirits, by local author/composer Howard Odentz, at the Shea Theater in Turner's Falls. The score was orchestrated by Emmy Award winning composer Bruce Zimmerman with vocal arrangements by Amy Roberts-Crawford.
Performances will be Fridays and Saturdays, October 17, 18, 24, 25 with matinees Sundays October 19 and 26 at 2 PM.
Tickets can be reserved by calling the Shea Theater, 413-863-2281, ext. 3 or purchased at The World Eye Bookshop in Greenfield, the Jones Library in Amherst, and at the door the day of the performance. Ticket prices are $13 for adults, $11 for seniors and students.
In Good Spirits is a rollicking new musical which tells the story of five mismatched ghosts from various historical times who are stuck in limbo and are doomed to haunt the theater in which, for various reasons, they died. The ghosts include a grouchy Shakespearean actor who was a Civil War era draft dodger (played by Steve Woodard of Leverett); Tequila, a flamboyant drag queen (Dave Peck of Greenfield); 1920s flapper (Dawn Ross of Northampton); two lovebirds trapped in the 1950s (Dom Baird of Greenfield and Sarah Kaczmarek of Sunderland). When a community theater group, The Quabbin Memorial Players, moves in and cannot afford the royalties for their first show, the ghosts have to decide whether to haunt them out or help them. The Quabbin Memorial Players are headed by Summer (Catherine King), Mary-Alice (Su Hoyle), Mortimer (Chris Dunay), Polly (Jerri Higgins), Tom (Jerry Marcanio), and Donna (Martha King-Devine). Also featured in the cast are Dawn Mayo, Alana Martineau as a love-lorn dentist, and 9-year-old Emma Henderson who plays Carol-Ann, the only living person who can see the ghosts. The community theater group members are played by Katie Flavin, Kip Fonsh, Dee Herrera, Sarah Hodge-Wetherbe, Morgan Hoyle-Combs, Louise Krieger, Brooke Martineau, Lynn Omasta, Emmalouise St. Amand, Charlene Scott, and Kathleen Shewman.
The creator of In Good Spirits, Howard Odentz, is a communication consultant at MassMutual in Springfield. The show is directed by Robert DuCharme with Amy Roberts-Crawford as Music Director and Melanie Reneris as Choreographer.