Did I tell you about our DREAM CAST. Now that rehearsals are underway, there is some absolutely glorious singing and acting going on. And every character is spot on. Johnny Menard the 1880s pop idol is being played by Johnny Rodgers (the album cover of his "Let's Make a Date" with Liza Minnelli is SO "Johnny Menard"). His younger brother Gabe Menard is being played by Sean Effinger-Dean who looks like he could be Rodgers' real brother and has a voice to match. Ann McMann as Marie Fournier the innkeeper has us in stitches with a mere roll of the eye. And Sean Harris is sounding love-sick and ever so ready to be saved by an Angel (or Angèle played by Cory Goodrich). And just to prove there is no such thing as a "small" role, our Colette may have few lines but a great talent. Annie Yokom was this year's first place winner in Michael Feinstein's American songbook high school competition.

The fundraising should have two thermometers -- the tax-deductible and offline contributions now stand at $3615! We are well on our way to reaching our budget of $6500. So much so that we hope to raise another $2500 to record the whole show after the readings are finished. (We can't record the readings themselves. An in-studio recording will allow us to get the better mix.)

I've posted pages from our Titles and Images worksheet. During the reading to set the scene and essential stage directions, we'll project Title Cards (shown in blue background) and images from Renoir's milieu. It's been a lot of fun finding the "perfect" image -- and how much fun to know that "Lydia" was truly one of Renoir's models as well as the name of a young woman sung about in Fauré's song.

We're raising monies in three ways. In addition to Kickstarter, whose results you see on this page, so far we've received an additional $1340 from folks who are using the option to make larger tax-deductible donations via our fiscal agent Stage 773 at the Theatre Building or, responding to our mailings, are sending offline donations to our PO Box.

Our total goal remains $6500. So we'll keep on asking.

One of our Kickstarter donors wrote, "Claudia, will the show go on whether or not you receive the full funding you are seeking through Kickstarter? We certainly hope so…"

The answer is YES! THE SHOW MUST GO ON! For two reasons:

1) There are so many people invested in the process -- 13 cast members who are learning their songs, directors and arrangers and designers working away and
2) I'm confident we will raise the funds because the enthusiasm is there and the need is modest. Just think what $10 can buy!

As the same fan says, "Looking forward to having Fauré and Renoir give Sondheim and Seurat a run for their money!" I couldn't agree more!