By LOIS KINDLE
lekindle@aol.com
Sumner High School Theatre Arts students, joined by teens from Lennard, Riverview and Newsome high schools, will present A Wop Bop A Loo Bop, a lively 1950s jukebox musical, July 16.
Suitable for audiences of all ages, the musical will be presented at 2 and 7 p.m. at Sumner High School Auditorium, 10650 County Road 672, Riverview. Doors open 30 minutes before each show.
Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at sumnerhstheatre.ludus.com or at the door. Proceeds will help cover production costs, including script rental, costumes, sets and props, and support the high school’s theatre program.
A Wop Bop A Loo Bop A-Wop takes audiences back to the late 1950s, when Rock & Roll was exploding across the airwaves. Teenagers Roberta "Ruby" Lester and her friends have big dreams of breaking into the music business — dreams that hit a snag when the local radio station declares “Rock & Roll has got to go. The kids push back, taking a stand for the music they love.
The two-hour Music Theatre International show by playwrights Mark Brymer and John Jacobson, features lots of memorable hit songs, including “Rock Around The Clock,” “Jailhouse Rock,” “Tutti Frutti,” “Up On the Roof,” “The Loco-Motion, “I’m Sorry” and “Land Of 1000 Dances” — sure to get everyone rockin’ along.
Presentation of the play follows a two week summer camp recently hosted by Sumner Theatre Performing Arts Boosters. Over over eight days and open to Hillsborough County students in grades 8–12, the camp offered training in acting, singing and dancing during daily rehearsals for the Broadway-style
production.
“Our goals were to bring together theatre students from across our district and give our incoming freshmen a boost into Sumner’s Theatre program,” said theatre director Holly Talley, a drama teacher and director for the past 29 years.
“The camp gave them an opportunity to showcase their skills and grow through the production process.
Talley said this is the second year the camp has been offered.
“Last year, our show was Bye Bye Birdie, produced with arrangements from Concord Theatricals,” she said. Around 30 teens from Lennard, Riverview and Newsome high schools joined Sumner students and participated each year. As the director, one of my favorite aspects of the camp is watching the camaraderie created among students from multiple theatre programs.”
For more information on Sumner High School Theatre, visit https://www.facebook.com/SumnerHSTheatre or email holly.talley@hcps.net/.