I Love A Piano celebrates the music of Irving Berlin, The story follows the journey of a single piano as it moves in and out of American lives from the turn of the Century to the present. Along the way, the story comes to vibrant life with over sixty of Irving Berlin’s most beloved songs, including “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “Blue Skies,” “Easter Parade,” “White Christmas,” “Puttin’ On The Ritz,” “Always,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “God Bless America,” and many more. Composer George Gershwin once said, “Irving Berlin is the greatest songwriter that has ever lived.”
The production centers around the journey of a single piano as it moves in and out of American lives from the turn of the Century to the present. Along the way, the story comes to vibrant life with over sixty of Irving Berlin’s most beloved songs, including “Alexander’s Ragtime Band,” “Blue Skies,” “Easter Parade,” “White Christmas,” “Puttin’ On The Ritz,” “Always,” “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “God Bless America,” and many more. Composer George Gershwin once said, “Irving Berlin is the greatest songwriter that has ever lived.”
Leading the six-person cast are Broadway veterans, Jonathan Rayson from Little Shop of Horrors and A Year with Frog and Toad as Alex and Jane Labanz, from the Tony Award winning revival of Anything Goes, as Sadie.
Local favorites returning to the Totem Pole stage are Taylor Whidden Knapp as Ginger, most recently seen as Jan in Grease, and Shawn Martin as George, last seen here in South Pacific.
Rounding out the cast are University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music student Emily Celeste Fink as Eileen, and CCM graduate Dane Becker as Jim, who also appeared in Grease: Liveon the Fox Network. CCM is the oldest musical theatre training program in the country and was the first of its kind; it consistently ranks as one of the top university programs in the country.
Serving as Director is David Hemsley Caldwell for his 18th season at Totem Pole, having recently directed last season’s A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Darren Server, who recently starred in Totem Pole’s critically acclaimed production of The Drowsy Chaperone, will conduct the on-stage eight piece Dixieland jazz band and share musical direction with Steven Zumbrun.
Tickets for all regular performances are priced at $50.00 and can be purchased by calling the Totem Pole box office at (888) 805-7056 or on-line at https://totempoleplayhouse.org.