Comedy production opens Friday at Rogers City Theater

by Richard Lamb–Advance Editor
The Carol Burnett Show is coming to Rogers City. Not the actual show, but several clever skits from selected writers of the show, who have made the original scripts available for theater groups to perform. The popular and critically acclaimed show ran from 1967-1978 on CBS.
Directed by Val Schalk and Karen Maher, the cast features Ed Perrault, Denise Perrault, Lucy DeDecker, Theresa Gibson, Robert Starnes III, Robert Starnes IV, Baylee Lijewski, James DeDecker, Pennie Hoeft and Bradley Heidemann.

“We have many skits from the actual Carol Burnett Show. We’ve decided to postpone the sequel to “A Christmas Carol in Da UP, Ya Sure,” for a year because we had issues with a couple of the cast members not being able to do it,” Schalk said.
Board members of the Rogers City Community Theatre decided skits from the Carol Burnett Show would be a great substitute, bringing classic comedy from the popular television show.
“It has been interesting because there are so many things going on. The skits are 8-10 minutes at the longest, so it is really fast and changes. We are doing it with a split set. We have an old folks skit and then a regular skit,” Schalk said.
That setup creates an atmosphere similar to what a studio audience might have experienced during taping of the original Carol Burnett Show.
In addition to several skits, a few famous guests will be dropping in such as Dean Martin, Steve Lawrence, Art Carney, Nanette Fabray and Soupy Sales, as portrayed by the cast.
The local cast recreates the roles made famous by Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner and Tim Conway.
Anne Spens is assistant director with Donna Klein handling sound duties. Riconda Lamb and Mike Marx will be operating the light board.
The show runs for two weekends beginning Friday at 7:30 p.m. at the Rogers City Theater. Show time on Saturday is 7:30 p.m. while the Sunday shows begin at 2 p.m.