FST gets inspired to create 'Lunacy'

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Getting laughs can be hard work for the cast of Florida Studio Theatre's "Inspired Lunacy," an exploration of the meaning of life with a comical bent.

Just ask actress Kathy Halenda, who starred in an earlier version of the show at FST's Cabaret in 1998.

Kathy Halenda in "inspired Lunacy" at Florida Studio Theatre. Photo by Matthew Holler.

Kathy Halenda in "inspired Lunacy" at Florida Studio Theatre. Photo by Matthew Holler.

"Seventeen years later it's a lot harder. I'm used to being a lead and standing there and letting everyone else dance all around me," she joked, while raising her arms, imitating a star pose. "Now, I'm in the ensemble and I'm really working my sweet patootie off."

But she's having a great time and a lot of laughs in rehearsals with director Richard Hopkins, choreographer Christine O'Grady and four other cast members who are helping to develop and shape the show as they go along.

Hopkins created the original show with Rebecca Hopkins and musical arranger and pianist Jim Prosser. They have been adding material to include more songs while making other adjustments for the larger cast (the original had just three performers) and changing times.

The cast features Don Farrell, one of Halenda's original co-stars who has since founded his own theater company in Indiana; Gil Brady, who has been seen in FST's "Spamalot," "The Underpants" and "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change"; Dane Becker, last seen as Link Larkin in the winter hit "Hairspray"; and FST newcomer Dennis Kenney.

Dane Becker in "Inspired Lunacy" at Florida Studio Theatre. Photo by Matthew Holler

Dane Becker in "Inspired Lunacy" at Florida Studio Theatre. Photo by Matthew Holler

The show is built around songs that take a skewed look at life by such artists as Ira Gerswhin, Kander and Ebb, Tom Lehrer, Bobby Darin, Allan Sherman and Shel Silverstein. There also are songs written by Sylvia Fine Kaye for her husband, Danny Kaye.

"The first song says it all, 'Make 'Em Laugh,'" Hopkins said.

That's the show's goal, but there's also a serious aspect to it.

"There's something in these songs that really deals with the human condition and we come away from it a little bigger as a result," he said. "It makes you laugh and it's enjoyable but there's something in it that gives you a view, an angle, of looking at life and your life that makes you glad to be alive and not to take it all quite so seriously."

Like the last time, Halenda said the cast members have been "cracking ourselves up a lot in rehearsals. They are so insane. The songs are so quirky and odd. We're constantly putting on new characters with dialects and props and costumes."

Brady said the show is constantly moving.

"One of the most obvious challenges is that we're in so much of it. It's not like you do a song and you leave and three scenes go by and you come back. It's just us. No special effects, just fun props, with a little transition between the songs. In one song I'm a gospel preacher and all of a sudden I'm playing a woman who is 90 years old."

Don Farrell, Dennis Kenney, and Kathy Halenda in "Inspired Lunacy" at Florida Studio Theatre. Photo by Matthew Holler.

Don Farrell, Dennis Kenney, and Kathy Halenda in "Inspired Lunacy" at Florida Studio Theatre. Photo by Matthew Holler.

And the cast is kept busy by O'Grady, who is creating what Kenney describes as "some intricate numbers, including a tap number that we've been working for a while."

Kenney, who has toured in "Mamma Mia!" "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and "West Side Story," said he felt he had to audition for the show because "I've always loved the comical novelty songs. I've always loved Danny Kaye. We're just playing now and there's improv involved, so you're building on an idea and going in different directions and seeing what works."

Moving and expanding the show from a cabaret setting to the Gompertz Theatre stage required some adjustments, Hopkins said.

"A cabaret is more informal and a legit theater show is a little more upright, has a little more spine to it," he said.

Prosser also gets some help with a four-member band to join him in accompanying the actors.

Along the way they'll be performing such songs as "Ring Them Bells," Kaye's "Tchaikovsky," "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" and more.

Kenney said he was looking forward to trying out the show for some test audiences a couple of weeks before Friday's opening. "That rarely happens before an opening. We can see if this is falling flat or where we have to make adjustments. We're going to have a sense of rhythm and growth. I can't believe I have this on my lap. It's like I'm sitting at the table eating filet mignon. This theater sets itself apart at bringing in a show that's at that level."

The theater started setting up test audiences for new plays and found it "so successful and so revealing for the actors," Richard Hopkins said. "We'll do three test audiences prior to going into tech and just see how they respond. We'll probably do some talkbacks to see what they're thinking. The big thing is to test our structure."

THEATER PREVIEW
INSPIRED LUNACY. Previews at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and opens at 8 p.m. Friday, continuing through June 21 in the Gompertz Theatre, 1247 First St., Sarasota. For ticket information: 366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org

THEATER PREVIEW
INSPIRED LUNACY. Previews at 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday and opens at 8 p.m. Friday, continuing through June 21 in the Gompertz Theatre, 1247 First St., Sarasota. For ticket information: 366-9000; floridastudiotheatre.org
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Jay Handelman

Jay Handelman is the theater and television critic for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, where he has worked since 1984. He also is President of the Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association and a two-time past chairman of the association's executive committee. He can be reached by email or call (941) 361-4931. Follow him at @jayhandelman on Twitter. Make sure to "Like" Arts Sarasota on Facebook for news and reviews of the arts.
Last modified: May 29, 2015
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