THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 16, 1994 TAG: 9406160456
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940616 LENGTH: ELIZABETH CITY
Once again he dons a sailor suit, once again he mops the deck - well, stage.
{REST} Wells and his wife, Lara, are two of the six performers in ``Dames at Sea,'' the Encore Theater production playing this weekend and next weekend at the Little Theater, Elizabeth City State University.
The title is a give-away. It is an upbeat 1930s-type musical - boop, boop-a-doo - spoofing the musicals of that era.
While the uniform is familiar to Wells, his job is not.
Directing is usually his forte, a task being handled by Encore vet, Janet Gregory.
Wells has a master's in directing from the University of Utah. He was arts education coordinator for Utah's Arts Council, and performed and choreographed professionally in that state.
His wife is also a choreographer, currently working with the Commonwealth Theater in Virginia Beach.
She has worked with Donnie and Marie Osmond. Not to be outdone, her husband was in a national touring company of ``Man of La Mancha.''
The couple and their 2-year-old daughter, Alex, moved from Hampton Roads for the express purpose of buying the Nell Cropsey House, home of the woman who was the victim in the area's most publicized murder.
Other Encore newcomers are Theresa Molten, a Floridian married to a Coast Guardsman and Laura Tanton, a Spanish teacher with the Currituck County school system.
Others in the cast are Ron Russell, manager of Hogan's, the Holiday Inn restaurant, and Jeff Meads, who is familiar to area theatergoers.
The song titles will not sound familiar, but the music will because it is the toe-tapping variety associated with productions such as ``Dames at Sea.''
Since the play takes place in the 1930s you can expect some name-dropping.
``It's You'' drops these names, among many others: Harlow, Garbo, Barrymore, Richard Arlen and Spanky McFarland.
Even the names of the characters will ring a bell to the over-50 audience members.
The heroine is named Ruby - her boyfriend is Dick. That's right - Warner Brothers' musical stars Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell were once husband and wife.
Ruby was portrayed by Bernadette Peters - a natural for a role like that - when ``Dames at Sea'' opened on Broadway in the 1960s.
Gregory wanted to direct the musical because it has fond memories for her.
``I did it in 1984 with Lucy Vaughan,'' she said, referring to the matriarch of Albemarle area theater. ``It was a COA Satyrs production then.''
by CNB