Jacksonville 2000! A Celebration of Jacksonville's 175th Birthday
2000 · Sophie Leschin Auditorium, Jacksonville Developmental Center
Jacksonville 2000! was Ken Bradbury and Dr. Robert Crowe's gleefully irreverent valentine to their hometown, mounted by the Jacksonville Theatre Guild to mark the 175th anniversary of Jacksonville, Illinois. Rather than a solemn pageant of dates and founders, the writers reached for the form Bradbury loved best — vaudeville — and turned the city's history into "cannon fire," a wham-bang revue of comics, song-and-dance teams, and full-throated audience participation. As Bradbury put it to his cast, the goal was for the audience to look at their watches at the end and say, "Whoa! Where'd the time go?"
The story frames its history through a trunk in a Jacksonville attic. Two curious children, Hannah and Richard, defy their Uncle Mortimer's warning and conjure Mauvaisterri — "Maury," the Jacksonville Genie — from an old trunk that once belonged to the Strawn Opera House, the town's vaudeville palace on the square. Maury and Mortimer, would-be song-and-dance partners, sweep the children (and the audience) into a high-speed montage of the town's colorful past, from its 1825 founding through its many discarded names, the rivalry between the colleges, the coming of the railroad, William Jennings Bryan's repeated runs for president, the Big Eli Ferris wheel, and the rock-and-roll years — all delivered with a wink and a pratfall.
The Theatre Guild assembled an enormous cast drawn from across the region for the show — billed in the program as "a Cast of Thousands!" and "a slightly irreverent telling of Jacksonville's history." Bradbury and Crowe developed it over the winter and spring of 2000 in a back-and-forth of late-night emails, with Bradbury wrestling the script from an earnest historical play into "a full-blown Vaudeville show" — at one point holding "a small funeral for the bodies littering my delete file" as he cut the framing characters, only to find his way back to the attic and the genie.
Musical Numbers
The show opened with the song "That's Entertainment" and wove original and period material throughout, including:
- "My Jacksonville Home" / "My Prairie-Town Home" — an original Bradbury ballad to the town
- A run of 1950s and 1960s standards used in the rock-and-roll montage, among them "All Shook Up," "Wake Up Little Susie," "Teen Angel," "Runaway," "Blue Moon," "Big Girls Don't Cry," "Peppermint Twist," "Soldier Boy," "My Boyfriend's Back," "I Will Follow Him," "Oh, Pretty Woman," "Chapel of Love," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter," "I Got You Babe," "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," "Wild Thing," "Joy to the World," and "American Pie"
- Irish songs and other "town songs" developed with Dr. Crowe
Cast
- Mort — Chuck Nash
- McGuire — Jeff Westerfield
Featuring a Cast of Thousands!
Janet Auld, Mandy Bergschneider, Valerie Bicknell, Katie Brawner, Bob Chipman, Janet Chipman, Jackie Clinton, Kristin Clinton, Stacey Clinton, Luke Crawford, Jessica Deaver, Travis Deaver, Becky Easley, Lamar Eason, Grant Estes, Nicole Glover, Teresa Goetten, Sarah Heideman, Sadie Johnson, Terri Kimler, Joshua Kirbach, Susie Kording, Blake Kruthaupt, Chris Lukeman, Harvey Mack, Laura Mattes, Michael McEvers, Elisabeth McGinnis, CJ Merriman, Joe Schenck, Jeremy Sipes, Charlie Smerz, Matt Snodgrass, Peter Spalding, Scott Stanberry, Eric A Thomas, Dane Vincent
And a bevy of cunningly precocious children
Amy Carls, Ryan Harris, Kristin Hill, Sydney Hodel, Vie Hodel, Carly Joehl, Logan Joehl, Grace Johnson, Taeler Kaufmann, Sherie Kording, Jared Lotz (as Bobby), Jessica Lotz, Jacob Mattes, Allison McMinn, Isaac Nicholson, Laura Roth, Maria Roth, Page Roth, Rachel Schone, Lauren Shouse, Sarah Strader, Madeline Walker
Special Guest Performances by Anna-Belle Blue, Ed McPike, Rob Nicholson, and Stephanie Smith-Jarratt
Production Staff
Written by Ken Bradbury and Dr. Robert Crowe of Jacksonville. Ken served as Director, Music Director, and Choreographer, and also played keyboard in the show's "Dah Band."
- Director, Music Director and Choreographer — Ken Bradbury
- Production Coordinators — Linda Van Aken and Brenda Joehl
- Rehearsal Pianist — Stephanie Solterman
- Dah Band — Ken Bradbury (keyboard); Jon Carls (synthesizer/guitar); Jerry Kirnach (bass); Doc Heller (drums)
- Audition Choreographer — Tammy Zink
- Costumes — Patty Clinton, Janet Long, Gerri Ryan, and Linda Strader
- Swing Choreography — Joe Schenck
- Set Design — Chuck West and Peter Spalding
- Set Construction — Chuck West, Peter Spalding, Bruce West, David West, Ronnie West, and Karol Hill
- Lighting Design — Chuck West Lighting
- Lighting Operators — Trenton Carls, David Meyer, and Granger Snodgrass
- Props — Eric A Thomas and Peter Spalding
- Stage Manager / Slide Projectionist — Meredith Monroe
- Historical Slides — Jack Barwick
- House Manager — K-Lou Ashmore
- Publicity — Brad Barnes, Ken Bradbury, and Linda Van Aken
- Programs — Eric A Thomas
- Tickets — Janet Long and Patty Clinton
- Deaf Interpreter — Nancy Scott
(Program courtesy of Mary Lotz.)
Production Notes
The production was presented by the Jacksonville Theatre Guild at the Sophie Leschin Auditorium on the grounds of the Jacksonville Developmental Center, July 27–30 and August 1–6, 2000, with evening performances at 8 p.m. and 2 p.m. matinees on July 30 and August 6.
The show featured a large children's chorus that appeared near the finale, and built much of its energy on nightly audience participation, so that "every night the show will be slightly different." Bradbury kept a running journal of the writing and rehearsal process and produced a steady stream of comic cast newsletters ("J-2 Cable") to keep the sprawling company laughing through a punishing summer rehearsal schedule.
From the director's program note:
"Our marvelous town's 175th birthday is occasion for laughter and joy. This most wonderful of casts intend to bring that to you tonight."
See the full production record at JTG Memories.