Performances will be world premier of “Sex Please, We’re Sixty” musical
By Kellen Olshefski
Editor
The Lakeland Players are gearing up for their upcoming performance of “Sex Please, We’re Sixty,” the musical, which will serve not only as the group’s season opener, but a world premier of the musical as well.
The show opens Friday, Oct. 10, at the Walworth County Performing Arts Center, 15 W. Walworth St,Elkhorn, and runs until Oct. 19. Show times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Linda Kouzes, who is co-directing the show with David Whitney of Lake Geneva, said “Sex Please, We’re Sixty,” is a British show that has recently been adapted into a musical.
Kouzes said being a personal friend of the playwright, they were given the opportunity to be the first group to perform the brand new musical.
“So, we are the first company in the world to ever do it,” she said. “Being on a name-to-name basis with the playwright, he keeps calling me, or emailing me, and we keep him updated, sending pictures or whatever.”
Kouzes said the musical is so new it’s still a work in progress and rewrites are still occurring with the script. Because the script isn’t a final cut yet, she said they’ve had the opportunity to play with the script a little bit, changing as need be to fit the company’s needs or to throw in an extra laugh.
“Ever page of the script says for revision,” she said. “It’s really kind of interesting.”
Being a fall show and having everyone busy getting back into the swing of school, Kouzes said needing a small cast, only six, was incredibly helpful.
“We just laugh every time we go to rehearsal,” she said. “It’s like a piece of cake with only six people in it.”
However, Kouzes said over the course of the show, there are 113 entrances and exits by the cast.
“So, it’s busy, it’s really busy,” she said.
Kouzes said the group of six, which includes two married couples, has been rehearsing four times a week and have been doing very well, having memorized most of the songs and their lines already.
“It’s getting close, it’s getting down to the nitty-gritty,” she said, noting they were running through act two with notebooks Monday night.
Kouzes said she’s absolutely thrilled with the cast and it has been one of the best she has ever worked with.
“I have not worked with a better cast,” she said. “I’ve worked with really good casts, but this cast is awesome.
“They work together and it’s so much fun to work with people who can communicate with each other on stage and off.”
Kouzes said despite what the title might suggest, the show contains no nudity or foul language, though it is still intended for audience members older than 16.
“It’s just a cute, cute musical, for people, you know, of a certain age,” she said. “It’s just a really fun show…it’s the title that gets people.”
Kouzes said the show only has one set, focusing around Mrs. Standcliffe’s Rose Cottage Bed and Breakfast. The bed and breakfast has been successful for many years and Mrs. Standcliffe’s guests, nearly all women, return year after year.
Her next door neighbor, the elderly, silver-tongued, “Bud the Stud” Davis believes they come to spend time with him in romantic liaisons, and Mrs. Standcliffe reluctantly accepts the fact that “Bud The Stud” in fact is good for business.
Add to the guest list three older women, and a retired chemist who has developed a blue pill called “Venusia” after Venus, the goddess of love, to increase the libido of menopausal women. The pill has not been tested. When Bud gets his hands on some of the Venusia pills, the fun begins, as he attempts to entertain all three women.
“If you need a rollicking good time filled with laughter, this is a ‘must see’ play,” Kouzes said.
Kouzes said the group had received one call about the title on the marquee being offensive, however, she said they have to advertise the show title as is, otherwise they can be fined or not be allowed to perform the play at all. She added that this show is actually in a sense less offensive than some of the other shows they’ve produced, such as “Oliver,” which includes stealing and prostitution.
“And that’s supposed to be a children’s show,” she said.
Being intended for a mature audience, Kouzes said it might be a hard show to sell, but she hopes the audiences turn out because it’s such a fun show.
On a side note, Kouzes said this show would be her “last swan song” as the director, though she admits she’s said that before. Kouzes said they asked her to direct the show because she’s been through everything that’s in the show.
“I don’t know how many ‘swan songs’ I’ve had, but this is the last one,” she said.
Kouzes, one of the co-founders of the Lakeland Players, said she’s not walking away from the company however.
“It’s my love,” she said. “I’m not walking away yet.
“I can’t get anyone to do this publicity so I suppose I’m stuck with it until I have one foot in the grave and the other dragging behind me,” she added with a chuckle. “It’s my baby, let’s put it that way.”
For more information, visit lakeland-players.org.
