News from the week of November 4, 1999
Broadway - Part IITracy tunes up for 'Music Man,' opening show barely week away
For the second time in less than a year, a Broadway-style musical is being produced in Tracy.
In just over a week, the stage of Tracy Area High School will be transformed into the streets of River City, Iowa for four performances of Meredith Willson's “The Music Man.”
The show follows on the heels of a highly successful community children's choir production last April of “Annie, Jr.” This time, though, it's the adults in the community who are the stars. More than 60 community members from junior high school age through adult will appear on stage. The show's leading man is Jim Miller. Amy Engesser is Marian the Librarian.
• • •
A visit to a rehearsal of “The Music Man” reveals a beehive of activity as show time approaches.
Clusters of cast members await their call. Others rehearse their lines, their music, their dance routines. A buzz of conversation permeates every corner of the gymnasium.
“Wow! The barbershop quartet is really sounding great!”
“Wow! Did you see Eulalie's hat!”
Eulalie, the wife of River City's mayor, is played by Sandy Rettmer. Keith Stanton is Mayor Shinn. Members of the barbershop quartet are Errol Steffen, Steve Jones, Con Rettmer and Richard Brown.
Patterns and fabric and white socks roll out of bags as women put their heads together to discuss costumes.
The antics of Keith Rayman and Greg Frederickson draw a laugh of appreciation as well as the comment, “Wow! Listen to them sing!”
“Everyone is having a really good time,” says Jeff James, co-director of the show along with Ade Miller. “There are so many dynamic people involved.”
Cast member Debbie Miller can hardly contain her enthusiasm. “I've always dreamed of doing something like this. But I was too shy in high school. This is so exciting.”
Mary Zwach has a similar comment. “This is something I've always wanted to do, but I never had the chance until now.”
Others chime in.
“I love to sing and I thought, `What a wonderful opportunity to re-group with some people that I hadn't seen for a while,” offers Carol Flesner. “And I'm having fun meeting new people.”
“I grew up on musicals. My mother had a love for the theater,” notes Val Hayes.
“I've always liked to sing,” shares Jean Hicks. “Music for me is therapeutic.”
Making his musical debut and singing “Gary, Indiana” is seventh grader Kyle Lessman who plays the part of Winthrop Paroo.
“His sister wanted to try out so I suggested that he may as well go along,” says Kyle's mother Patty. "I think he thought he was going to be a stage hand.”
The curtain rises for the first time on Saturday night, Nov. 13.
“Music Man” ticket & show information:
Show time: Saturday., Nov. 13, 8 p.m.; Sunday, Nov. 14, 3 p.m.; Friday, Nov. 19 & Saturday, Nov. 20, 8 p.m.
Tickets: $5 in advance or $7 at the door. Advance tickets available at John's Drug, Food Pride, Tracy Publishing and Tracy Community Education Office. Tickets purchased in advance may be used for any of the four performances. Tickets will also be available for purchase during conferences at Tracy Area High School on Nov. 9 & 16.
Stage veteran couldn't resist lure of Music Man auditionsAnne Algyer didn't need any prompting when it came time to try out for a role in “The Music Man.”
“I was so inspired by “Annie” last spring that when I read about tryouts, I thought, `Oh boy. I'm going to try out for this,'” she explained.
The Tracy woman plays Mrs. Paroo, the mother of Marian the Librarian.
“I'm supposed to speak with a bit of an Irish brogue,” she reveals. Her face lights up and her expressive eyes twinkle as she adds, “And I'm mostly Irish.”
At 79 years of age, Algyer has no problem admitting that she's the senior member of the cast or that her love for drama goes back many years.
Born and raised in New York City, Algyer met her husband Hal (Harold C.) in an evening drama class at New York University.
“Isn't it silly? I can't remember what led me to take that particular class—there were plenty of other opportunities.”
Hal and Anne were married five years later, following WW II. They moved to St. Paul, then back to New York where Hal worked in the advertising field as a writer. They returned to Minnesota after Hal was offered a job at Southwest State University in Marshall. Anne was also employed at the university.
During their tenure at SSU, both Hal and Anne appeared in a number of plays -- “Fiddler on the Roof,” Once In a Lifetime,” “Arsenic and Old Lace,” “Pajama Game,” “Inherit the Wind,” “Guys and Dolls,” and the Madwoman of Chaillot.”
Hal died in 1988, and three years ago Anne had a small stroke.
“My doctor didn't give me a choice. He said I had to move out of my house. I don't take kindly to having someone tell me what to do. But after two days at O'Brien Court, I knew that was the place for me. Now all I have to figure out is what I'm going to do when this is all over.”
Zimansky, Nelson, Carlson, Carpenter, & Lancaster win school board electionTracy Public School voters selected five candidates to serve on the Tracy Board of Education Tuesday.
Dan Zimansky, Mike Carlson, Sandy Carpenter and Randy Lancaster were elected to four-year terms. Eric Nelson was elected to a two-year position.
Zimansky, an incumbent, led a six-candidate field seeking four, four year-terms with 311 votes. Mike Carlson, appointed to an unexpired term created by the resignation of Paul Gervais, won election to another term with 282 votes. Carpenter (275 votes) and Lancaster (218 votes) claimed the other four-year terms.
Kent Cooreman (185 votes) and Betty Lindstrom (172 votes) completed the field for the four-year terms.
Nelson handily earned reelection to a two-year term with 302 votes. Deb Miller gathered 80 write-in votes. Paul Gervais attracted nine write-ins, with Dan Snobl, Steve Buyck and Romane Dold each garnering one.
Vote totals are unofficial. The Tracy Board of Education is scheduled to certify the voting results at their regular school board meeting Monday, Nov. 8.
Sport season extends into NovemberCross-country, football & volleyball teams advance
It's the first week of November, but practice continues for all three Panther athletic teams.
The Panther cross country team won its second-straight Section 3A championship Saturday. The Tracy-Milroy harriers compete in the state Class A meet at St. Olaf College, Northfield, on Saturday afternoon. Senior Julie Gifford, the No. 1 ranked Class A individual in the state, leads the team. The Panther team has won all but three of its meets this season.
The Panther volleyball team is one of four teams left in the Section 3AA volleyball tournament after dismantling BOLD Saturday. Two more match victories this week would send Tracy-Milroy back to the state volleyball tournament for the first time since 1996. The Panthers face BDRSH Thursday night in a 6 p.m. match at Southwest State University. If T-M wins, the Panthers would face either Jackson or Windom Saturday.
The Tracy-Milroy/Balaton football team squares off against Minnewaska at Glenwood in a 7 p.m. Friday game. If the Panthers win that game, they would advance to state-level football competition for the first time since 1984. Their next game would be at home, on the Tracy field. A victory in that contest would qualify the Panthers for a state semi-final game in the Metrodome Nov. 19.
School budget is on target, but red ink totals $302,000“Amazingly close” were the words used by a school auditor last week to compare projected and actual revenues for Tracy Area Public School's fiscal year that ended June 30.
Budgeted revenues last year were projected to be $4,967,235. Actual revenues were $4,977,673, a positive variance of only $10,438.
But hitting revenue figures on the head did little to erase the blunt reality of the bottom line of the report: expenditures last year exceeded revenues by $302,364, even after belt tightening measures. (Expenditures were $120,612 less than projected.)
A fund balance that stood at $479,464 at the beginning of the fiscal year has dwindled to $177,100. Operating capital has fallen to $49,000, a decline of $116,000, Certified Public Accountant Jim Nester reported.
With expenditures in next year's preliminary budget projected to exceed revenues by $227,475, the district has few options—make further cuts or increase revenues.
Nester presented the audit to Tracy school board members last Monday.
“We've cut expenses about as much as we can,” said Superintendent Rick Clark, referring to roughly $300,000 in cuts made earlier this year for the 1999-2000 budget. "Our focus needs to be on increasing our student base; increasing our enrollment is the only way we have of increasing revenues.”
A positive note for the current school year, said the superintendent, is that enrollment is down by only three students compared to the 20 that were originally projected. The additional 17 students means more revenues for the school district ( about $4,000 per student).
“We need to be doing everything we can to make Tracy Area Schools a place parents choose to send their students,” concluded Dr. Clark.
`It's not always the other guy'Alcohol-related car crashes will impact 50% of us
It's been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. For Tom Brockway and Dick Sarafolean, some pictures are worth even more.
The men were in Tracy last week to talk to students and parents about drinking and driving. Both began their presentations by placing photos in front of their audiences, photos of loved ones who died as a result of alcohol-related car crashes.
Brockway's son Kevin died in a car crash on New Year's Eve, 1997. His blood alcohol level was .22, more than twice the legal limit.
Sarafolean's four-year old sister Lynne was severely injured more than 30 years ago when a drunk driver crashed into the car her brother was driving. She spent the next seven years in a wheel chair before dying. It's one of the reasons Sarafolean serves today as state chairperson for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.
• • •
Brockway and Sarafolean stress these points:
• Impaired driving is 100% preventable. “Never call what happened to Kevin an accident,” Brockway emphasized. “By definition it isn't an accident when someone makes a choice to drink and drive.”
• In 1998, 42% of Minnesota traffic fatalities were alcohol-related—the highest percentage since 1989.
• Nothing kills more young people than cars. “It's not always the other guy. Half of us will be affected by a drunk driver,” said Sarafolean.
• • •
In the months following Kevin's death, his family came up the idea of distributing key chains in memory of Kevin. Printed on the key chains are his name and the words “think of me before you turn the key.” More than 50,000 have been distributed throughout the United States.
“Don't just think of this as another souvenir. Don't throw it in a drawer,” Brockway urged the teens. “Ask your parents tonight how important you are to them. Ask them how they'd feel if they lost you. I bet they'll tell you.”