It has been two years since singer-actor Joe Lawrence gave his final performance at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre (in Love, Sex and the IRS), but people still ask owners Nick and Sal Sessa to bring him back for more.
From 1999 to 2002, when he was the theater's resident actor, Lawrence became an audience favorite. Among his best performances were those as Rooster in Annie, the king in The King and I, Jud Fry in Oklahoma!, Professor Harold Hill in The Music Man, Georges in the theater's first production of La Cage aux Folles, Miles Gloriosis in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Smudge in Forever Plaid and Billy Bigelow in Carousel.
"When I finished that run at the Show Palace, I had played every role I ever wanted to play," Lawrence said in a telephone interview from Daytona Beach this week.
But one of his favorites (and the audience's) was his Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas in January 2000.
"I had the best time that I have ever had," Lawrence said of that role. "I got the longest laugh I have ever gotten in my life."
I remember the long laugh but had to get Lawrence to do the line for me again - which sent me into gales of laughter all over again. (Hint: It's not suitable for a family newspaper.)
For the past two years, Lawrence has been putting his college degree in business administration to use as an administrative assistant for Pet Supercenter, an exotic pet shop in Daytona Beach, and in developing an online pet gift shop, Constant Companions. He says he needed the break from theater and is enjoying it.
But here's good news for Lawrence fans: He'll be back at the Show Palace from Jan. 7 to Feb. 20 to do the title role in The Will Rogers Follies, a tribute to the late cowboy philosopher Will Rogers.
Lawrence has gotten a rope trick kit and is learning how to twirl a lariat the way Rogers did.
"I will do it," Lawrence says. " And I will look like I have been doing it all my life."
Here's even more good news: He'll be back in September of 2005 to reprise his Sheriff Ed Earl Dodd role when the Show Palace brings back Best Little Whorehouse for a second go-round.
* * *
While most theaters are just now announcing their 2004-05 seasons, the Show Palace has nailed down its 2005-2006 lineup.
Besides the previously announced Will Rogers Follies, Sugar Babies (Feb. 25-April 3) and Red Hot & Cole (April 8-May 15), the theater will do Jerry's Girls (May 20-June 26, 2005), a review of songs by Jerry Herman; the comedy No Sex, Please, We're British (July 8-Aug. 14, 2005); Puttin' on the Ritz, a revue by Joe Camper (Aug. 19-Sept. 25, 2005); Best Little Whorehouse (Sept. 30-Nov. 13, 2005); and John Leggio's Christmas Revue (Nov. 25-Dec. 25, 2005).
The 2006 shows are Cabaret (Jan. 6-Feb. 26, 2006); Brigadoon - my personal favorite - (March 3-April 16, 2006); and Matt McGee and Stan Collins' Viva Vegas! (April 21-May 28, 2006).
For shows playing after May 15, 2005, current season ticket holders can buy tickets from July 19 to Aug. 23. General sales for those shows start Aug. 24.
Of course, tickets for shows through May 15 are on sale now.
* * *
I was delighted to hear that Stage West Community Playhouse's first summer special, the drama/comedy Mrs. Giorgio's Day Off, had sold out all three performances and had a waiting list in case it is brought back.
I got to watch the first act during rehearsals (missed the show itself while on vacation), and it looked intriguing.
Mrs. Giorgio was written by Spring Hill resident Bill Devlin, who truly enjoyed all the accolades he received from show patrons during the play's run, said Betsy Glasson, who was cast in the title role.
* * *
Stage West's second summer special, Fame, the Musical, was scheduled at the last minute for 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday. Produced by the Triple Threat Theatre Troupe, a group of performing arts school students from Tampa, it's about dancer/singer/actors in a New York school. Tickets are $14. Call (352) 683-5113.
