"How To Succeed In Business Without Realy Trying" at Sunset Playhouse

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of taking performance photos for Sunset Playhouse's summer production of the musical "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying".  The musical is perfect for fans of the AMC cable show "Mad Men", since both focus on the world of advertising agencies in the mid-1960's.  "How To Succeed in Business", though, does so with great musical numbers like "Brotherhood of Man" and "The Company Way". 

"How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" is based upon Shepherd Mead's satirical bestseller of the same name.  The musical, which originally starred Robert Morse (aka Bert Cooper of Sterling/Cooper/Draper/Price on "Mad Men")  was written by Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert and opened on Broadway in 1961.  There was also a revival in 1995 which featured Matthew Broderick, and another in 2011 which starred Daniel Radcliff and John Larroquette (one of my favorite actors).  I admit I have not seen any of the previous versions (a film adaptation featured Morse in the role of J. Pierrepont  Finch in 1967), and I believe that is a good thing.  I had no preconceived ideas of how the show should look and feel, and I think the cast and crew did an amazing job!

I have to send out special recognition to Jake Konrath, who played the role of Finch, in this production.  He has a natural charm that is integral to the part, and his singing voice is excellent.  Additional kudos go out to Samantha Paige who vamped her way to perfection as Finch's sexy assistant Hedy LaRue.  I also saw her in Sunset's production of "Lucky Stiff", and I think she has exceptional talent to play any role that comes her way.  And I can't send enough compliments to Mark Neufang, who plays Finch's nemesis Bud Frump, and played the part with just the right mix of animosity and pity.  I had the pleasure of working with Mark at Waukesha Civic Theatre in the early 2000's as Stage Manager of their production of "My Fair Lady" so I was happy to see him in such a great role and handle it amazingly.

Not only was the cast amazing, but the choreography by Reginald Kurschner and the set design by A.J. Simon were some of the best I have ever seen.  I am a huge fan of mid-century design and Simon's design was colorful, dynamic and a perfect example of the times.  The sparse set allowed easy movement of additional set pieces such as stairs, desks and even a 1960's coffee machine.

All in all, Sunset Playhouse's production of "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" is a very fun production that takes you away from your everyday problems.  Come spend an evening with the staff of the World Wide Wicket Company and J. Pierrepont Finch and see how fun the office world can be.  Tickets can be found here.

"How To Succeed In Business" Prop Photos

A few weeks ago, I was asked by Sunset Playhouse in Elm Grove, WI to take headshots of one of the main actors in their summer production of "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" and create mock magazine covers which replicated real covers from the 1960's.  These covers were to be used as props for the show which is set in a 60's advertising agency (a lot like Mad Men except with songs).

I had to do a little research online to find out what Time, Newsweek and Sports Illustrated covers looked like in the mid-1960's, but once I did, I was able to recreate the covers easily in Photoshop.

My personal favorite is the Sports Illustrated one below.  I just watched the musical last night to take performance photos for the show's reviews, and I think my photos turned out great.  They blew up the photos and used them as presentation boards the main character uses in his campaign.

I will post photos from the show in the coming weeks.  What I can tell you is the show is very fun - great acting, catchy songs, and one of the most fabulous scenery I've seen in a stage musical.  For tickets and information, go here.

"The Fox on the Fairway" at Sunset Playhouse

Last night, I took performance photos for Sunset Playhouse's production of the comedy "The Fox on the Fairway".  Anyone who is a fan of golf will love this well-written play about rivalry and romance which reminds me a lot of the 1940's film "His Girl Friday" because of the fast pace and clever dialogue.  The set design is stellar as well, reflecting a real golf club's party room, and the acting is top-notch.  The story revolves around rival golf clubs participating in the main tournament of the year.  When one of the clubs steals the other's main "pro" the other has no choice but to recruit one of their bus boys to take his place.  The rest of the play focuses on romance, family ties and an unlikely tournament winner.

The show runs through June 16.  For tickets and information, please click here.

"Golden Age of Broadway" at Sunset Playhouse

Monday night, I had the opportunity to take archive photos for Sunset Playhouse's concert Golden Age of Broadway.  This concert is part of their "Musical Mainstage" series of shows that they put on throughout the year.  The unique part of this series is that the concerts take place on the set of the current main stage production.  In this case, it was Lucky Stiff, which provided the best backdrop for this type of show, with a fountain, café tables & chairs, and painted greenery. 

Golden Age of Broadway was full of familiar show tunes from musicals that were popular from the 1930's to the early 1960's.  There were songs from Oklahoma, Show Boat, Gypsy, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music, just to name a few.

The main cast consisted of five singers, but even the hosts (below) got into the act, singing "Do You Love Me?" from one of my favorite musicals, Fiddler On The Roof.

 

Golden Age of Broadway was Sunset Playhouse's last "Musical Mainstage" show for the season, but next season will provide more concerts such as One Singular Sensation: A Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch, Broadway's Best Star Turns, and Time Capsule: The Sixties, Part II.  Information and tickets can be found here.

 

On a side note, if you read my blog post for Lucky Stiff, I mentioned that when I took the publicity photos for the show the set had not yet been completed.  Below is what the finished set looks like, and I think the scenery designer did a fantastic job. 

 



Super! - Children's Theatre at Sunset Playhouse

Yesterday, I had a lot of fun taking performance photos for Sunset Playhouse's production of Super!  Super! is part of the community theatre's series of shows for children, and they put on 4 different shows during the regular season.  Before I talk about the show, on a side note, one of the performers in the show, Andrea Moser (top photo, left) and I went to college together at UW-Whitewater.  I hadn't seen her in over 15 years, but it was great to see her still acting and doing as good a job as ever.

 

The plot of Super! revolves around a teenage girl with the power of invisibility (her name is Izzy as well) who lives in a superhero town and has a superhero mom who can travel around the world at the speed of light.  She is being bullied in school by a fellow student with powers of her own, and she must find a way to stand up for herself and keep her confidence.  The lesson is a good one with school bullying even affecting elementary school students in this day and age.

 

Super! has one more performance, tomorrow, May 4 at 2:30.  Tickets can be purchased here.

 



 

"Lucky Stiff" at Sunset Playhouse

Just last week, I had the privilege of taking publicity/archive photos for Sunset Playhouse's production of "Lucky Stiff."  The writers of this musical comedy went on to write the multi-Tony award winning musical "Ragtime" in 1998.  It's a fun show about a shoe salesman who stands to inherit $6 million dollars from his long-lost uncle if he takes his corpse on a whirlwind tour of his favorite city, Monte Carlo.  If he fails to do everything his uncle provised in his will, the money goes to the Brooklyn Home for Dogs. 

The challenge with photographing this musical at Sunset Playhouse (which is located in Elm Gove, Wisconsin), is that the set was not finished.  In the scenic designer's defense, it was an ambitious undertaking complete with a fountain, a multi-leveled hotel set, and the most beautiful three-sided flats I have ever seen.  The solution was found in knowing Photoshop.

I work with Photoshop Elements 11 which is basically all I need to create the photos I want to use for my projects.  The main problem with the set was that they were using PVC pipes to make the fountain which had printing on them and had not been painted yet.  I thought about using the blur filter to correct the problem, but, when I did, the effect was too obvious.  So instead, I decided to clone stamp the parts of the pipes that did not have printing on them onto the parts that did.  What happened was the printing on the pipes did not disappear completely, but the cloning did create a marbling effect, which was good enough.

 

 

The good news is, as with all of the photo shoots I've done at Sunset Playhouse, the lighting was top notch.  The lighting designer on "Lucky Stiff" really knows her craft.  As well, the costume designer worked well with the lighting and set designer to create a cohesive look to the show.  I did see the whole show, and it was a fun experience.

The show runs for two more weekends, through May 12.  For tickets, you can go to Sunset Playhouse's website at http://www.sunsetplayhouse.com.

Waukesha Floral Blog Post: The Language of Flowers

About a month ago, I was very fortunate to take a class at Art's Camera Plus in Waukesha, Wisconsin all about macro photography, specifically with flowers.  We "students" then went to Waukesha Floral & Greenhouse to get more practice, and then we were able to submit up to 5 photographs for possible use by the shop.

Well, the shop chose 4 of my photos to use and, in return, I received a $5.00 gift card.  Today, I was on Facebook, and since I follow Waukesha Floral, saw that they used one of my photos (the one above) on their blog to publicize Vanessa Diffenbaugh's novel "The Language of Flowers".  To say I was flattered would be an understatement, and I am very grateful to Waukesha Floral for how supportive they are to local photographers.

To see the blog post, please click here.