Wilkes University students Alex Booth and Marcy Ledvinka portray millionaire playboy Jimmy Winters and bootlegger Billie Bendix in the musical “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” which will be live-streamed free to the public for five performances, from March 11 through March 14.
Submitted photo
Live-streamed performance will be free to the public
Click here to subscribe today or Login.
When you’re putting on a play like “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” which is set in the 1920s and features a trio of bootleggers as major characters, you’ve got to give Prohibition some serious thought.
So when a socially distant reporter shouted a question through her mask — “How many of you are glad not to really be living through Prohibition?” — just before a recent rehearsal, about a dozen young thespians at Wilkes University raised their hands and nodded.
But if anything can make Prohibition seem like fun, it’s this musical that features the music of George and Ira Gerschwin and — get this — calls for one character to swing from a chandelier.
Wilkes student Brianna Rowland said she’s really looking forward to her chance to do that, in her role as as Duchess Estonia Dulworth, a character she explained is based on an actual person from history, the temperance advocate Carrie Nation.
As Duchess Estonia, Rowland also gets to sing a number called “Demon Rum” in which she decries the evils of alcohol, calling it “Devil’s brew” and “Satan’s nectar.”
Other songs from the show, which will be live-streamed for five performances March 11 through March 14, are perhaps more well known. They include “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off and ‘S Wonderful.”
There’s even a touch of “Rhapsody in Blue” that really fits, said music director Kenny McGraw, who provides live piano accompaniment for the show.
As you might suspect, a love story also is entwined in the plot.
Jimmy Winter is “a pretty quirky millionaire playboy who just wants to have fun,” said Alex Booth, who plays that part. “But he has a really good heart and wants to do right by people.”
When we meet Jimmy Winter on stage, one of his first lines is “I’m going to lead a life of wedded bliss. First, I’m going to throw up a little.”
He encounters a streetwise young woman named Billie Bendix who suggests that Jimmy’s upcoming marriage will take place “because you love her.”
But, as Jimmy explains to Billie, his impending nuptials are simply a device “to prove that I am mature and responsible.”
So, what is Billie like?
“She’s a tomboy-esque kind of girl,” said Marcy Ledvinka. “She likes to wear pants rather than skirts or dresses … deep down she is hungry for love.”
Oh, what could possibly keep these two apart? Especially when Billie needs a place to stash some booze and Jimmy has a huge beach house on Long Island that he never uses?
Well, perhaps Jimmy’s fiancee, Eileen Evergreen, could stand in their way.
“She’s ‘the finest interpreter of modern dance in the world’ and I use the term loosely,” said Katelyn Sincavage, who portrays Eileen. “She’s probably the worst dancer around. I have to make up the steps.”
Other members of the ensemble cast have been working hard to master more challenging choreography, said director Jon Liebetrau, who described the musical as an ideal showcase “for a lot of talented singers and dancers.”
Plus, he said, “it’s just fun.”
The cast will perform “Nice Work if You Can Get It” at 8 p.m. March 11, 12 and 13 and at 2 p.m. on March 13 and 14. While a small group of faculty may be watching in person, the performances will be live-streamed and available to the public free of charge. Those who wish to attend can email WUT@wilkes.edu for live-stream access.