At the Gaslight Theater, it’s no surprise that the audience is part of the family and part of the show. For decades, families have celebrated special occasions there. Everyone cheers when the Celebrator is introduced. Tissues often fill entire sections of the table. Laughter and good spirits have been his good business for 45 years.
We recently had 65 members of the Gold Star family in Cochise County (people who lost family members in the military) and a happy lady surrounded by family and guests at her 100th birthday party. As the host recognized her nearly ten birthday and anniversary celebraters, the audience cheered and caused current or former military members or law enforcement to stand and recognize them.
In recent years, the Gaslight Theater has hosted “Space Wars,” “Wizards of the Rings,” “Henry Porter,” “The Revengers,” “Ghostblasters,” and “Elf’d.” ” and “Two Amigos”. The Gaslight Theater’s current show, The Ballad of Two Gun McGraw, reflects the beginnings of the cowboy soap opera.
From nearly every dusty mining town in TV and movie westerns, you’ll find the architecture of the Gaslight Theater to be the silver screen archetype of Old West theaters and dance halls.
Gaslight’s own era began in 1977 when a few crazy kids from the University of Arizona escaped to Skagway, Alaska and started the Mighty Moose Melodrama Theater. They described their play as “Gold Fever! or Perils of Bonanza Creek. Howard Allen wrote the play. Tom Benson designed and painted the set. Tony Terry produced.
Their first cold summer dampened their enthusiasm. Even the fun wasn’t enough to keep the ambitious desert rats from returning to Tucson. I installed it in the old red barn of the containment. This barn has already been a popular attraction for him for 17 years. By 1980, Sabino Canyon and Tank He persuaded investors to help him build a 223-seat theater on the corner of Verde Road. Ten years later, they purchased the old Jerry Lewis Theater in its current location. They refurbished it with a Gaslight-era vibe and added a 50’s-themed Little Anthony Diner.
In 2016, they expanded to the 220-seat Gaslight Music Hall in Oro Valley. The hall not only offers entertainment unique to the area, but also provides another outlet for Gaslight’s stable of actors, musicians and variety his acts. Continuity and job security, not to mention camaraderie, have influenced the loyalty that keeps the best talent.
For example, Tom Benson still does sets and scenery. Current lighting designer and electrical engineer David Darland joined in his 1977. “The Ballad of Two Gun McGraw” is one of his wide repertoire written and rewritten for the company by Peter Van Sreich from the 70’s. An in-demand vocalist in several genres, Kathryn Byrne returned to Gaslight in 2013 after being signed as a child actor and following an international singing career. She is now the company’s choreographer, director and co-writer.
The leading role of “The Ballad of Tugan McGraw” is also a veteran. Heather Stricker is living her best life as Miss Melody in ‘The Ballad of Two Gun McGraw’ and as Theater Manager, Media/PR Her Director and Booker on the Monday Night Family Concert Series . She has a graduate degree in vocal music from her UA and has toured with the USO, Barry Manilow and Camelot productions on Broadway. But the Gaslight Theater was her first love.
“I grew up in Tucson and grew up coming to the Gaslight Theater,” she said. At age 8, she became one of the hundreds of Tucson girls who make Gaslight a part of her birthday celebrations.
Already a precocious flutist, she came up with singing much later. “She didn’t start singing until her senior year of high school,” she said. “But I was already in a band and an orchestra with a flute.” Not one to dare resist, she auditioned for a role in the school’s production of No, No, Nanette. No one was more surprised than she was when she took the lead.
The next step was UA School of Music, where she majored in both flute and vocal music. Concerned that her flute playing would adversely affect her breathing, Stricker’s voice teacher fought to get a full scholarship to study opera if she would give up the flute. After her graduation, she went to New York for her big career.
Still, she said, “I never dreamed I would be in the Gaslight Theatre.” But when she returned to graduate school, she auditioned and was hired to open some shows.She joined the company full-time in 2013
David Fanning, Stricker’s fellow principal in “The Ballad of Two Gun McGraw,” came to Gaslight in a very different way.
“I went to Pima (university) and got two degrees in the draft,” he said. “Then I worked for Hughes Aircraft for a year and it was really miserable.
“So I went to the University of Arizona, went through the enrollment process, and went past the drama department,” he said. he signed up. “I wanted to do something fun.” It lasted 18 months. Karaoke was what he had in mind.
Fanning spent the next two years living with his aunt in Chicago, doing karaoke and working as a security guard for the Chicago Cubs. After he returned to Tucson, a friend of his asked him to come along to provide moral support for an audition, a Christmas play at the Gaslight Theater.
On a whim, he brought along the only sheet music he had, Elvis Presley’s “Blue Christmas.” He also auditioned, channeled Elvis, and won the part.
Fanning has been a regular performer since 1993. Now he lives in upstate New York, but he comes back to Gaslight at least once a year.
In his portrayal of Too Gunn McGraw, he revived a hint of Elvis’ movement. His nemesis, the mercenary Laredo, is played with such charisma that it can be difficult to “boo”. But the cast is always very clear about whether and when the audience should boo or cheer.
The professionalism of their work is such that the audience loves it when the actors screw it up. Stricker said the part would stay in the show even if the audience laughed.
“We depend on[the audience’s]reaction,” she said. “That’s why we always make sure we’re rooting for the good guys and booing the bad guys.
“We really try to get people to interact, because the more they interact, the more we break that fourth wall and see you actually playing with them. because it will be
if you go
“The Ballad of Tugan McGraw”
Date: Held at any time until March 26 (Sun)
Location: Gaslight Theater, 7010 E. Broadway Boulevard, Tucson
Cost: See website for pricing
Information: 520-886-9428, thegaslight theatre.com
