This month, it will be 45 years since the Class of 1970 performed “Hello Dolly.” (It was scheduled on April 27, 28 and May 1 and 2.) The movie with Barbra Streisand had just come out the year before in 1969, and it was very timely of us to perform this show. It was fantastic!
During one of the scenes, Mark Ashley recalls the following:
“Patty Nerka and I, who had supporting roles, were sitting on a bench. I can’t remember if it was supposed to be on a porch or a park bench, something like that. However, the bench was constructed of cardboard and Elmer’s glue (no, it was plywood) but kind of rickety. Anyway, while we were sitting on the bench together, it started to feel like it was going to give way and come crashing down under us. So I started to shift my weight to my legs and pretended to be sitting. This was not working well.”
“To make matters worse, I had a line of dialog coming up. But I was so focused on the impending doom with the rickety bench; the line was not going to happen. JoAnn Manning, who played Dolly was really on top of everything going on. She thought I had forgotten my line and was trying to remind me under her breath. With the bench about to let go, we abruptly stood up. JoAnn expertly went on with the scene and made it look like nothing unplanned had happened. She was the real star of the show. And hats off to everyone involved. It was so much fun.”
Do you have any recollections about the musical? Share them with us below!
Cyclones-Class of 1970 
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