Proudly Presents

‘The Taffetas’

Sunday, February 24, 200 8 

Ellijay Elementary School Auditorium

Ticket prices - $10 to $20, plus tax.  Tickets go on sale, Friday, November 9 at 9:00 am.

Call 706-635-5605

           It’s a 1950s TV show. No, it’s a pop music variety show. No, it’s an Off-Broadway musical comedy.  In fact, it’s all three.  When The Taffetas, A Musical Journey Through the Fabulous Fifties comes to Ellijay, Georgia on Sunday, February 24, audiences will get a triple dose of Fifties nostalgia – early television, pop music and post-war culture.

            “Oh, no! Not another Fifties show!” If that’s what you’re thinking, you may need to give this fresh new stage hit a second look.

            Remember Elvis, Little Richard, DA haircuts, hotrods, leather jackets, pegged pants, backseat Bingo and the submarine races? Well, that’s not The Taffetas.

This is “the other Fifties,” said Paul Pierce, the Springer Theatricals producer. Springer Theatricals is the national touring company bringing the splashy stage musical to town.

“This was the Fifties where girls admired their mothers, wrote in their diaries, kept autograph dogs and listened to girl acts like the Chiffons, The McGuire Sisters, Connie Francis, Patti Page and The Chordettes on their record players.” said Pierce. “Their favorite look was cashmere and silk – not leather and denim.”

The Taffetas, written by Rick Lewis, revolves around the lovely young Taffeta sisters – Kaye, Donna, Peggy and Cheryl – who are in New York making their national debut on the hit TV show, “Spotlight on Music.”

This is the girls’ big moment because, prior to “Spotlight ,” The Taffetas’ biggest gig was at the Moose Lodge back home in Muncie. They were discovered at the grand opening of the new A&P and made their radio debut on “Rockin’ Ronnie’s Radio Show” in Fort Wayne.

They’ve earned their appearance on “Spotlight” with a mixture of charm, chops and chutzpah. The Taffetas’ professional future hinges upon their “Spotlight” performance; if they ace the gig, Ed Sullivan will be on the horn in a heartbeat and stardom awaits.

Between tight-harmony renditions of songs like “Sh-Boom,” “Mister Sandman,” “I’m Sorry,” “Johnny Angel,” “Little Darlin’,” “Puppy Love” and “Where the Boys Are,” the studio audience is treated to some of those over-the-top early TV commercials for beauty products, automobiles and soap. The girls even field questions from the audience and dispense opinions on their favorite stars, dating and appropriate sweater-and-skirt combinations.

The Taffetas is loaded with comedy and is often downright hilarious. But creator Rick Lewis was careful to avoid satire or judgment.

“The Taffetas is not a spoof,” he said. “The show is real and sincere. It took awhile to get the performers to trust the simplicity of the period and not throw the humor in people’s laps. But of course the humor is there. It’s like watching June Cleaver standing in the kitchen wearing a cocktail dress and pearls washing dishes. You can relate to it or you can think it’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen.”

The Taffetas cast is actually a quartet of talented young actresses from New York – Amber Carson, Bonne Kramer, Maria Maloney and Alison Rose Munn. The show is directed and choreographed by theatre veteran Don Farrell, who is artistic director of the Actors Theatre of Indiana.

The show is produced by Springer Theatricals, the national touring arm of the celebrated Springer Opera House, the 136 year-old National Historic Landmark theatre in Columbus, Ga. The Springer is also the State Theatre of Georgia and produces a year-round schedule of plays, musicals and the top-ranked Springer Theatre Academy. The theatre has one of the nation’s busiest touring schedules, performing in more than 60 cities every year.

Since Reconstruction days, the Springer has been a revered Southern cultural institution with the world’s most celebrated artists making pilgrimages to perform in the Victorian elegance of its famous main stage theatre. From Edwin Booth, Oscar Wilde, Lilly Langtry, George M. Cohan, Ethel Barrymore and Irving Berlin in the old days to more modern appearances by Mary Martin, Truman Capote, Hal Holbrook, Burt Reynolds, Marvin Hamlisch, Branford Marsalis and Garrison Keillor, the Springer Theatre has been a centerpiece for the performing arts in the South since 1871.