William Koseluk’s history with one musical brings back Santa Barbara memories

Lea Schultz and David Gaertig
Lea Schultz and David Gaertig

When William Koseluk walked into the Village Country Club in Lompoc eight years ago, he immediately had a thought.

“I Do! I Do! This needs to be done in this space.”

This year, the musical director gets his wish, as 1966’s “I Do! I Do!” comes to Lompoc Civic Theatre, the city’s first musical in town since 2012’s “Tick, Tick . . . BOOM!” Directed by Marian C. Stave and Patricia Roby, the play stars Lea Schultz and David Gaertig as a married couple who evolve over time, from wedding night to growing old and moving on. Written by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones, the creators behind the hit “The Fantasticks,” it features charming songs like “My Cup Runneth Over with Love,” “The Father of the Bride” and the title song.

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Why hearing a Buster Keaton silent is just as important as seeing it

 Rick Benjamin, far right, brings the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra to the Granada Theatre. Courtesy photo

Rick Benjamin, far right, brings the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra to the Granada Theatre.
Courtesy photo

When Rick Benjamin and his Paragon Ragtime Orchestra play music in front of classic silent films, like they will do on Monday night when they accompany a screening of Buster Keaton’s “Steamboat Bill, Jr.,” audiences not get something to listen to, but a re-creation of a time and place, a look into a sound industry that was disrupted by new technology like ours is now, and a rediscovery of early 20th-century composers whose fame and popularity dissipated when the sound era erupted.

In 1985, Mr. Benjamin discovered a treasure trove of lost scores, music written for the silent movie era that was thought to have been gone. It wasn’t like modern scores in the sense of a singular work for a film. It was closer to scores for soap operas, where cue sheets outlined the emotional outline of a film, sending a conductor to that cinema’s library to put together a score. “Like Legos,” says Mr. Benjamin.

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Sojourner Kincaid Rolle to be 2015’s City Poet Laureate

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle
Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

The Santa Barbara Arts Council will celebrate the announcement of Sojourner Kincaid Rolle as this year’s Poet Laureate with a special ceremony this afternoon during the City Council meeting at city hall. Coinciding with National Poetry Month, the award will kick off a full two years of special events and commissioned writing for Ms. Rolle, who has long been a part of the Santa Barbara poetry community, and has been one of the important players in the creation of the Laureate title through the Arts Commission. April will be the busiest month for the poet, with a full schedule of events and appearances.

Previous Poets Laureate include Barry Spacks, Perie Longo, David Starkey, Paul Willis and Chryss Yost.

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Longtime poet gets her wreath: Sojourner Kincaid Rolle to be 2015’s City Poet Laureate

Sojourner Kincaid Rolle

The Santa Barbara Arts Council will celebrate the announcement of Sojourner Kincaid Rolle as this year’s Poet Laureate with a special ceremony this afternoon during the City Council meeting at city hall. Coinciding with National Poetry Month, the award will kick off a full two years of special events and commissioned writing for Ms. Rolle, who has long been a part of the Santa Barbara poetry community, and has been one of the important players in the creation of the Laureate title through the Arts Commission. April will be the busiest month for the poet, with a full schedule of events and appearances.

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Out of the Box invites audiences to ‘The Wild Party’

 The production of "The Wild Party," adapted from a once-banned poem, will be turned into an actual party for the audience. Kim Reierson

The production of “The Wild Party,” adapted from a once-banned poem, will be turned into an actual party for the audience.
Kim Reierson

When Out of the Box’s Samantha Eve put out the call for actors for “The Wild Party,” Andrew Lippa’s musical based on Joseph Moncure March’s Prohibition Era poem of the same title, she got a surprise.

“We had responses from people all over the place. I had someone write me from Florida (who wanted to audition).” Turns out that “The Wild Party” is on many musical actors’ to-do lists, with its wealth of meaty roles and its smart lyrics. Everybody wants to get invited; it’s that kind of party. It’s also an Out of the Box production in which a majority of the cast members are new to the company.”

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Broadway star continues her record-breaking run in ‘Chicago: The Musical’

Roz Ryan stars as Matron "Mama" Morton in the Tony Award-winning hit musical "Chicago." Jeremy Daniel
Roz Ryan stars as Matron “Mama” Morton in the Tony Award-winning hit musical “Chicago.”
Jeremy Daniel

When “Chicago” comes to the Granada this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, it brings along actress, singer, comedian and voice actor Roz Ryan , who in 2013 broke the late Marcia Lewis’ record of 223 weeks playing the essential role of Matron “Mama” Morton. She’s now in that show’s 19th year. When asked if she remembers the day they told her she’d broken the record, she says, “I can’t remember the day they called and told me, but I was on Broadway when it happened.” (The date was Oct. 21, 2013, in case somebody wants to check.)

Bolstered by Tony Awards and then Oscars, this Bob Fosse, Fred Ebb and John Kander musical continues to grow in popularity. Based on two real-life murderesses from the Roaring ’20s, the musical equates vaudeville with the media circus that pops up around salacious murder trials. It is smart, cynical, sexy and sad, and always helped by a saucy poster campaign filled with leggy stars wearing fishnet stockings. The production coming this week also stars Dylis Croman as Roxie Hart, Terra C. MacLeod as Velma Kelly and Jacob Keith Watson as Amos Hart.

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What Mama Morton wants, Roz Ryan gets: Broadway star continues her record-breaking run in ‘Chicago: The Musical’

Roz Ryan stars as Matron "Mama" Morton in the Tony Award-winning hit musical "Chicago."
Roz Ryan stars as Matron “Mama” Morton in the Tony Award-winning hit musical “Chicago.”

When “Chicago” comes to the Granada this coming Tuesday and Wednesday, it brings along actress, singer, comedian and voice actor Roz Ryan , who in 2013 broke the late Marcia Lewis’ record of 223 weeks playing the essential role of Matron “Mama” Morton. She’s now in that show’s 19th year. When asked if she remembers the day they told her she’d broken the record, she says, “I can’t remember the day they called and told me, but I was on Broadway when it happened.” (The date was Oct. 21, 2013, in case somebody wants to check.)

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