Center Stage at SCC to Hold Open Auditions for Long Island Premiere of Cole Porter's Fifty Million Frenchmen

Center Stage at Southampton Cultural Center to Hold Open Auditions for Long Island Premiere of Cole Porter’s Fifty Million Frenchmen
Center Stage at the Southampton Cultural Center will hold open auditions for 8 staged concert performances of Cole Porter’s Fifty Million Frenchmen on Monday, September 13 at 6:00 PM in Southampton Cultural Center's Levitas Center. Auditions begin promptly at these times. Late arrivals will be seen at the discretion of the director(s).
Performances will begin on October 14, 2010 and run through October 24, 2010.
Lee Davis directs and narrates, Michael Disher choreographs and Robert Peterson musically directs.

81 years after its Broadway debut, Cole Porter’s Fifty Million Frenchmen will finally make its Long Island debut at Southampton Cultural Center in the Levitas Center for the Arts.
A lesser known Porter musical with a well-known score, Fifty Million Frenchmen will be presented in a staged concert format, hosted and narrated by Lee Davis, Long Island’s theatre aficionado and encyclopedia of theatre knowledge.

Fifty Million Frenchmen is a musical comedy with a book by Herbert Fields and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. It opened on Broadway in 1929 and was adapted for film two years later. The title is a reference to the hit 1927 song "Fifty Million Frenchmen Can't Be Wrong" by Willie Raskin, Billy Rose, and Fred Fisher, which compared free attitudes in 1920s Paris with censorship and prohibition in the United States. The musical's plot is consistent with the standard boy-meets-girl plots of musical comedies of the first half of the twentieth century.

Fifty Million Frenchmen premiered on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre on November 27, 1929 and closed on July 5, 1930 after 254 performances. The opening was a month after the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Directed by Monty Woolley with choreography by Larry Ceballos and scenic design by Norman Bel Geddes, the cast featured William Gaxton, Genevieve Tobin, Betty Compton and Lester Crawford.

A concert version was staged in 1991 with the book adapted by Tommy Krasker. A studio cast recording was made with the cast members of this concert.

The plot is simple: Peter Forbes, a young American millionaire, journeys to Paris and bets his friends Billy Baxter and Michael Cummins that he can live without his money for a month and, while doing so, endear and engage himself to Looloo Caroll, a young woman he adores. She is in Paris with her parents and her best friend Joyce. The catch is that Peter has one month, until July 4, to announce their engagement at the Chateau Madrid.

The score includes: Paree, What You Do to Me, You Do Something to Me, Let's Step Out, The Tale of the Oyster, You've Got That Thing, Find Me a Primitive Man, The Boyfriend Back Home, I'm in Love, I'm Unlucky at Gambling and You Don't Know Paree.

Roles in 50 Million Frenchmen include:

Peter Forbes (20 – 24), Naïve, enthusiastic, idealistic, sweet, very much in love with Looloo

Billy Baxter (20 – 24), Live wire, practical joker, self confidant but romantic

Michael Cummins (20 – 24), Self confidant, a ladies’ man, likes good times

Looloo Carroll (20 – 24), Pretty, bright, vulnerable, adorable despite her name

Joyce (20 – 24), Wisecracking, been around, friend of Looloo

Mr. Carroll (50s), Totally unsophisticated, home loving Midwest businessman, protective of
Looloo

Mrs.Carroll (50s), Midwestern, provincial, bridge playing matron

May DeVere (20 – 24), Ambitious, always the bridesmaid, but still trying – not a shrinking violet

Louis Pernasse (40s), Stock French Maitre’d

Waiter (any age), speaks Fench

Violet Hildegarde (30-40), Not a shrinking violet either, down and dirty, looking for excitement,
been around several blocks

6 – 10 chorus members (various vocal ranges, types and dance abilities)

Those auditioning should have 16 measures of a Cole Porter tune prepared. Please come with sheet music in your key. Readings from the script will occur and a brief dance combination will be taught. Please note the audition is one night only, Monday, September 13 at 6:00. Arrive by 5:30 if you need to stretch or vocalize.

Please email Michael Disher at dishermichael@hotmail.com for an audition form. Fill in the form and bring it with you to the audition.

Performance dates are October 14 – October 24.
For further information, call Southampton Cultural Center at (631) 287-4377 or e-mail Michael Disher directly at dishermichael@hotmail.com.