Community… and semi-pro?!
Even though I took church music as my career path, there was a fork in the road very early in my life. I was approached by the representative of an acting school who saw me in The Music Man my junior year in high school, and told me I reminded him of Dick Van Dyke. This small town Iowa boy didn’t pay attention to Broadway in 1983, so I had no clue Van Dyke had played Harold Hill for a month in 1980. The most popular movies at the time included Return of the Jedi, Flashdance, Octopussy, and Risky Business to name a few. All I had ever seen was the Dick Van Dyke Show which, to my foolish teenage self, was totally bogus dude.
I smiled, nodded politely, said I would think about it, and never gave it a second thought.
…silly boy…
Since then, I have played Harold Hill twice more, as well as Danny Zuko and Grandpa Vanderhof. The joy of both music and acting is that you can keep doing it, no matter how old you are! So, here I am! I am thrilled to be a part of my local community theater every summer. During the rest of the year, I am more than happy to entertain the idea of working with other local theaters, whether community, semi-pro, or pro! Maybe, some day, I’ll be a big star like Dick Van Dyke!