Curtains Up Pagosa
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is already in town getting her engine fine tuned and ready for the upcoming Curtains Up Pagosa (CUP) production of “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” from June 29 through July 2 in the Pagosa Springs High School auditorium.
We are happy to announce that tickets are on sale now at https://our.show/chitty23.
Tickets are $20 for adults, and $10 for students (18 and under). Show tickets will be $5 more at the door.
‘Under the Hood’
tour planned
CUP is also excited to announce that we will be offering a behind-the-scenes look into the show on Saturday, July 1, at 2 p.m.
Come with us “Under the Hood” for a look into the special effects in the show. This backstage tour will be led by our director, Dale Scrivener, and take you for a look into how our flying car works, along with seeing how things get set up backstage and a peek into other special effects in the show.
We are so happy to bring this show to our community. Get your tickets now before they sell out. “Under the Hood” tickets are also available at the link mentioned above as a 2 p.m. performance on July 1. Tickets for this behind-the-scenes look are $10 in advance.
Volunteers of the
pit orchestra
If you’ve ever been to Broadway and seen a musical show, you may have noticed that the instruments were not on the stage or taking up room in the orchestra section of the theater, but they sure were heard.
If you sat in the balcony, you probably saw the “pit”: an area below the stage and the floor of the house, dimly lit by small lights on music stands for individual orchestra musicians. The conductor stands in the center of the pit with the musicians tucked closely together and from there can see both the stage and the players.
The house lights dim, quiet descends on the theater, and wow. The pit orchestra lets you know the show has begun with an overture that will contain musical themes for the entire production.
CUP has a terrific group of local volunteer musicians in our pit orchestra and they’ll be playing for “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.” All of them have supported both the high school and CUP musical productions many times.
Here’s a very typical reason why our local musicians participate in community theater: “I have been playing in Pagosa Springs for both CUP and the high school for around 20 years, even though I don’t live in Pagosa. The main reason I play in community theater is so the singers and actors can have live music. They expend so much effort and so much time preparing for the show that they deserve live music! The second reason I like to play is it is very challenging because it’s totally different from orchestral or band playing. The conductor is concentrating on the stage action, so it is up to the individual musicians to thoroughly know their parts and how they fit in with the rest of the music. And, it is flat-out fun to be a part of these fabulous productions!” — Karen Mesikapp, trumpet.
We’d like to acknowledge all of our pit musicians for “Chitty” and ask that if you know any of them, please thank them for all that they contribute because without their commitment to Pagosa volunteer community theater productions, we would not be able to present first-class entertainment.
They are: violin: Heidi Tanner, viola: Michelle Chapman, cello: Jean Broderick, guitar: James Kiker, clarinet: Erika Sueker, flute: Denise Fisk and Stephanie Cloward, saxophone: Malinda Burnett and John Cloward, trumpet: Karen Mesikapp, French horn: D’Ann Artis, trombone: Rich Carson and Mark Etheridge, piano: Suzanne Hill, and keyboard: Ethan Mazur. The conductor is Dale Scrivener.
