A young actress, Holly Longmore, born and raised in Parker Colorado just opened in "The Producers" in the leading female role of Ulla at Mesa State College in Grand Junction Colorado.
(Ulla is played by Uma Therman in the film version).
Holly began singing, acting and dancing from the crib and has participated in many of the children's theater opportunities that Parker has to offer including church productions at the Parker United Methodist Church, The Missoula Children's Theater productions, dancing at the Miller Dance Studio and Parker Dance, singing in church choirs, Sunshine Generation Show Choir and the Douglas County Children's Chorale, created and directed by Kurt Stroman. Holly began studying acting more formally at Sagewood Middle School and Ponderosa High School and then her senior year putting herself on the map (in Parker at least) with her locally famous portrayal of Madame Thénardier in Ponderosa High School's Les Misérables directed by Kim Moore.
Mesa State College has one of the top musical theater programs in the state of Colorado, and Holly chose it because of this and the smaller classroom size. Miss Longmore is a junior and this year has landed leading roles in all three Mainstage productions including: An Absolute Turkey and a breakout performance as Riff Raff in the Rocky Horror Show.
So much is reported about the trouble with kids today, here is a young lady that has grabbed hold of a dream and is working hard to achieve it. She carries a 3.9 GPA with a class load of 18-21 hours per semester along with helping run concessions for any shows she's not in and volunteering both on the stage and behind the scene for the fundraising project V-Day. V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls using the comedy/drama presentation of the "The Vagina Monologues".
Miss Longmore will sing and dance her way into your heart in the production as the sweet Swedish girl Ulla who comes to audition for the famous producers Max Bialystock (Jeremy R. Franklin, a teacher at Mesa State) and Leo Bloom played by Nate Klein-Deters (A Senior Vocal Performance Major.) The entire cast and crew do a wonderful job with people overheard during intermissions saying "I've seen this on Broadway, and this show rivals that!". Kudos also goes to the costumes for Miss Longmore. She got to dress in several period costumes throughout the show along with a spectacular beaded winged butterfly gown during "opening night" in the show Springtime for Hitler.
An outstanding performance was delivered by Jeremy Franklin, one of Longmore's favorite teachers and Matt Smith was simply hysterical as both Carmen Ghia & Frankz Liebkin.
The Producers is a double cast production and theater goers can catch Holly again on Friday March 5th at 7:00 p.m. at the Moss Performing Arts Center on the Mesa State College campus.
What: The Producers
When: March 5 7:00 p.m.
Where: Moss Performing Arts Center
100 North Avenue
Grand Junction, CO 81501
(970) 248-1604 MAP
Cast:
Max Bialystock: Jeremy R. Franklin (pictured)
Leo Bloom: Nate Klein-Deters (pictured)
Ulla: Holly Longmore (pictured)
Roger DeBris: Tad Kincade
Carmen Ghia: Matt Corbett
Frankz Liebkind: Matt Smith
Female Ensemble:
Sue Bell
Stephanie Hesse
Kaitlyn Althoff
Kelly Dwyer
Audra Atkinson
Kaleigh Guseman
Taylor Young (Highlands Ranch Colorado)
Sarah Sheehan
Rachel Weichert
Alena Ruiz
Sage Buchalter
Mary Compton
Jasmin Burgon
Jenna Miles
Male Ensemble:
Brad Wagner
Scott Cahoon (pictured)
Alex Tait
Peter Marullo
Adam Houghton (pictured)
Josh Benkis
Lane Heinz
Kyle Reed Evans
Ben Carlson
Cody Jones
Director: Richard R Cowden
Costume Designer: Heather Waggoner
Choreographer Melonie Buchanan Murray
Music Director: Chris McKim .
Follow Holly Longmore on Twitter
Photo's © Christine Morin
Chrissy Morin is the Douglas County Colorado Examiner. This County includes the towns of: Castle Rock, Parker, Lone Tree, Highlands Ranch, Sedalia, Castle Pines, Franktown and Larkspur. For more info on the area, check out her home page. Follow Chrissy on Twitter for Douglas County Colorado eXaminer and Parker CO and become a fan of the Douglas County Examiner page on Facebook!
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Comments
Where do you get a sequin dress like that?
What a remarkable young lady. We need more like this in our world.
What a beautiful young woman. Wish I could have seen it, she looks like she has a ton of spunk!
That's really cool. Good for her.
Great show!
Cool!
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