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Written by Erica Schramma
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Friday, 31 August 2007 |
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 The producers of the Denver production of “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” bring, well, unique experience to the quirky show.
It’s not Gary Schnell’s and Alex Ryer’s many years of theatrical experience that make it special.
Nor is it that the composer and lyricist, David Nehls, is conducting the production’s orchestra, although that is a special feature.
It isn’t even that Schnell and Ryer liberated the windows, siding and taillights from Greeley-area mobile homes to add authenticity to their set (don’t worry, it was legal).
OK, the production is beset with features that make it one-of-a-kind, but the most ironic is that Schnell’s and Ryer’s company, Nile Company Inc., is a registered mobile home dealer that has been buying and selling used mobile homes since 2003.
Schnell and Ryer have been trying to bring “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” to Denver after falling in love with it at its premiere at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in 2004.
Their journey to production was accelerated when Ryer was cast in an Arvada Center production of “Souvenir” along with Nehls, who helped them to acquire the rights to put on the show.
“The Great American Trailer Park Musical” opened Aug. 10 at the New Denver Civic Theatre, and Schnell said that the show has gotten rave reviews so far.
Behind the boisterous title is a show that Schnell describes with a half-smile as “kinda naughty.”
“It’s a story about infidelity, hurricanes, and kidnapping, and magic marker sniffing, stripping...” Schnell said. “It addresses all these crazy issues but it’s a very happy show.”
Ryer plays the lead role, an agoraphobic trailer park housewife named Jeannie, accompanied by Schnell’s “dream cast” of all Colorado actors save one, a New York actress who plays the stripper who seduces Jeannie’s toll-collector husband.
The trailer park in which these bizarre characters live is in Starke, Fla., which is the home of the Florida State Prison.
The show is the biggest that Schnell and Ryer have produced, and Schnell, who has been the producer of the Greeley Community Theatre Troupe for about 12 years.
Schnell and Ryer’s recent production of “Pure Piaf” was good preparation for this show, since it utilized space at the New Denver Civic Theatre, where “Trailer Park Musical” is now housed, and set up a production crew network they took advantage of for the new show.
Small-town ties that the show has are special for Schnell and Ryer, who live in Eaton. They employed Roger Sherman, a retired University of Northern Colorado technical director, to build the set. Then there’s the scavenged mobile home parts that came from Greeley and Ault.
Schnell said he and Ryer got into the mobile home dealing because “we were actually just looking for a way to make some money.”
But, Schnell said, “If I could produce and make money at it, I would love to do it for the rest of my life.”
As for Ryer: “She loves it. She’s having a blast,” Schnell said, even though it’s a workout for Ryer both physically and vocally.
For himself, Schnell said, “It’s very satisfying to sit in the back of the theater and watch the audience go nuts.”
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THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL
Showing at the New Denver Civic Theatre, 721 Santa Fe Drive, in Denver.
7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Sept. 23.
Tickets available at King Soopers stores, by calling 866.464.2626, online at www.ticketswest.com, or through the box office at 303.309.3773.
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