OXFORD – “The Last Doll: A Children’s Christmas Musical” hits the Oxford High School stage Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Co-authored by the late Fred Dankert and Diane Thorne, the play was the first ever to be performed by the Oxford Civic Theatre Group, back in 2008. Before Dankert passed away last February, he had invited Gail Murphy from Norwich into the Oxford fold, to take his place as director during the last play he was involved in when he fell ill. Subsequently when the theater group was contemplating its next production, they settled on one of Dankert’s plays, as a tribute to their beloved friend and founder.
“We chose ‘The Last Doll’ over Fred’s other plays for a number of reasons,” said cowriter and Oxford Civic Theatre Group president Diane Thorne. “For starters, it was the first play he and I wrote together, as well as the first play the Oxford group performed.”
“After four years we also have a fresh group of people for the casting,” added assistant director and cast member Diane Lewis.
Murphy is a regular feature of the Norwich theater scene and helped bring members of the Norwich theater’s pool of talent into the production. “I personally got interested in ‘The Last Doll’ after having heard a lot of people talking about the first production,” said Murphy. “When I did finally read it, I loved the first act, but felt that the second act needed some tweaking.”
When Murphy was brought on as director, she did so under the stipulation that she would be able to make some changes to the play. Murphy made a few rewrites, added music, choreography and dance. “Diane Thorne is a wonderful musician and she really created a thing of beauty,” said Murphy. Audience members who saw the first performance can expect to see much of the original while still being entertained with new and fresh aspects, she said.
“I like to write specifically for the individual cast members in a way which honors Fred by utilizing the fantastic talent we have, just as he would have done,” said Murphy.
Casting for this weekend’s performance began in late September and about 85 percent of the cast are new to the play, adding to the production’s fresh sense.
“We added more music for Kaitlyn Jackson’s character Eugenia Standish, because we really wanted showcase her talent, and take advantage of involvement of such a gifted singer,” said Murphy.
During rehearsals though, the cast and crew ran into a few difficulties, but took them in stride.
“At one point Gail got pneumonia during production and we didn’t know what to do,” said Lewis. “We ended up just singing the songs while she was out,” she laughed.
“Amy (Branham) and Kaitlyn are in just about every scene, so it has been crucial for rehearsals that they were always both on set,” explained Murphy. One day though during production Jackson was unable to attend. The crew thought they would have to scratch much of the day’s rehearsal. “But Amy knew both of their lines so well, she was able preform both parts! She would say her own lines, then jump over to where Kaitlyn was supposed to be and say her lines! We were all laughing so hard,” she said.
The props for the play came from Calico Corner and Nostalchic Booths. Kathy Bullis, who hand-made the costumes for the first performance, has donated them for this weekend’s show, along with a life-sized mummy.
“The production has been awesome and Gail is amazing,” said cast member Mary Branham. “It’s a fantastic revival which has been taken to a whole new level with more music, dancing and amazing talents.”
“It’s a great Christmas story. I love the fact that it is for families, and it is full of holiday spirit, mystery, magic, humor, and is just a wonderful piece over all,” said Murphy.
The show will be preformed both Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., with adult tickets prices set at $10 and students/seniors are $7.