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Killer of a musical
By EPHRATA REVIEW
Ephrata Review
Published: Apr 30, 2008 12:59 PM EST
EPHRATA - Last season, Kevin Ditzler co-starred in an unsung little musical called
"Dirty Blonde" that wound up in the winner's circle at
Ephrata Performing Arts Center.
Fortunately, that show had a famous
focal character to attract the audience, film icon Mae West.
This
season, Ditzler is back in unknown territory as a director, charting his
way through "No Way to Treat A Lady," a deliriously quirky
musical thriller about a serial killer who manipulates a frazzled detective
to grab the headlines that eluded him as an actor.
Both killer and
cop have something in common. Each is plagued by a domineering mother. The
murderer's mom is dead but still haunting her disturbed kid. The
detective's mother is very much alive and so influential that she has
come between him and every woman who ever caught his eye. The sexy
socialite he meets on the serial killer case just may be the exception - if
she can survive long enough.
"When I heard the music to this
show about five years ago, I immediately fell in love with it," said
Ditzler, whose latest EPAC directing credit was the commercial pop
phenomenon, "High School Musical," an EPAC record
breaker.
"The characters sounded so complex but silly. It was
as if they had taken genre stereotypes and turned them on their ear,"
he added. "The quirky story of a mamma's boy cop chasing a
mamma's boy serial killer was fun enough, but when I found myself
repeatedly laughing at the lyrics, I was even more intrigued. Eventually it
became like the movie, with the surprise ending that nobody else had seen.
You wanted to talk about it, but nobody else had seen or heard it.
"What better place to introduce this wonderfully witty hidden treasure
than at EPAC?" Ditzler said.
The roles played on film by Rod
Steiger (the killer); George Segal (the cop) and Lee Remick (the love
interest) will be played at EPAC by Brian McCreary, Tim Spiese and Kathy
Robb, respectively.
The movie also featured Eileen Heckert as the
cop's quintessential Jewish mother. On the Ephrata stage, Tricia
Corcoran will play the mothers of the killer and the cop - as well as all
of the victims!
Gary Peters is musical director, with Joan Adams as
stage manager. Costumes and sound design are by Matt Good.
EPAC will
continue its tradition of a Pay-
What-You-Can Performance for the
May 10 Saturday matinee performance of "No Way To Treat A Lady."
All tickets not sold by 1:45 p.m. will go on sale at a pay-what-you-can
price. Pay-what-you-can tickets can only be purchased at the Box Office on
day of performance.
"No Way To Treat A Lady" will be
performed at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, May 1-3, and Wednesday-Friday May
7-9 and two shows on Saturday, April 10, a matinee at 2 p.m. and an evening
at 8 p.m. Tickets are $22-$24. Rated PG-13 for adult situation and comic
violence. EPAC is located in the Tom Grater Memorial Park, between
Ephrata's American Legion post and the community swimming pool. For
reservations, visit www.ephrataperformingartscenter.com
or call 733-7966.
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