Dinner Theatre!

Hello Kaleidoscope Theatre fans!

We have good news for those of you who have contacted us about our Dinner Theatre Murder Mysteries!

On Saturday, June 9, 2007, Kaleidoscope will be presenting our production of Dial M for Matrimony, a comic Italian wedding murder mystery, at The Homestead Gardens in North Smithfield, Rhode Island! This evening of entertainment will include both a murder mystery performance, and a wonderful meal!

The evening's schedule will be as follows:
6:00pm - Cocktail Hour
7:00pm - Wedding begins!
8:00pm - Reception/Dinner

Tickets are only $25.00 per person, and will help to benefit your two favorite not-for-profit organizations: Kaleidoscope Theatre and The Homestead Group!

For tickets or for more information, contact Angela at (401) 309-1882.

Congratulations Jamie!

Jamie Dellorco has been hired by the Merry-Go Round Theater in Auburn NY as part of their Youth tour for the 2007-2008 season. She was offered the job based on an audition tape that she put together with the help of Tommy and Nicki (Thanks Guys!) She then received a call back with the company at the New England Theater Conference (NETC), where she met with Tour director James Cantu. After relocating to New York in September, Jamie will be spending the year performing and running workshops along with 15 other performers at schools in upstate New York area.

This photo is from the 2007 summer production of Cinderella, Too! - a brand new musical that will debut this summer! Jamie is part of the original cast and is pictured here as 'Putricia' (right). The other stepsister, 'Disgustia' (left) is Lisa Hufnagel.

Coloring Book Preview!

As the coloring book project moves forward, we plan to give our fans and members snippets of the finished project. This month, we've released colored versions of Molly's sample drawings. (Check out our Members 'blog for the Little Red Ridinghood sample.)

Stay tuned...in the future we'll preview an actual drawing from the book and a sound bite from the Cinderella CD!

BEST OF RHODE ISLAND 2007

Hello everyone! It's time to vote for all your favorite local businesses! From April 1st through May 15th, you can go online to www.rimonthly.com and vote for everything from "best cheeseburger" to "best customer service". If you'd like to vote for Kaleidoscope, please nominate us in the "Live Music" category and/or write-in to the editors suggesting we receive an Editors' Award (sfrancis@rimonthly.com). In 2005, we were named 'Best Kids Theatre in Rhode Island' (which was an editor's award) and we'd love to have the honor again!

WINNER!

Congratulations Siara! She is the winner of this month's online contest! The contest, which was announced in our April Newsletter, challenged our fans and members to find a hidden trivia question (on our blogs) and then locate the answer (on our website).

The question: "What was Kaleidoscope Theatre's first fairytale musical?"
The Answer: Little Red Ridinghood

Little Red, Mother Goose, and Pinocchio made up Kaleidoscope's first season of fairytale musicals in the summer of 1982. For more on Kaleidoscope's history, check out our website at http://www.kaleidoscopetheatre.com/History.htm

The photo of Siara as 'Ralph Piggy' is from the 2005 Summer production of "The Three Pigs". This year, Siara will be playing 'Ziggy Piggy'.

Tommy’s High-Seas Adventure!

An exciting opportunity has come up for Kaleidoscope Theatre’s own Artistic Director, Tommy Iafrate! In the past, Tommy has worked as a musician for Royal Caribbean, International aboard their cruise ships, where he has played the saxophone, clarinet, and flute. Royal Caribbean recently contacted Tommy in regards to their brand new ship, the Liberty of the Seas, and asked him to be a part of the ship’s premiere company! This ship (along with its sister ship, the Freedom of the Seas) holds the title of world’s largest ship, and boasts such amazing features as an on-board ice-rink, a rock-climbing wall, and the FlowRider. As this is a brand new ship, the employees will be flying out to Finland (where the ship is built) and touring in Europe before heading back to the Caribbean for the busy summer season.

We here at Kaleidoscope could not be happier for Tommy, and feel that this is too wonderful an opportunity for him to pass up. Furthermore, Tommy will be gaining experience and expertise working on Royal Caribbean’s world-class production shows that he can bring back to Kaleidoscope upon his return in the fall. As this would take him away from Kaleidoscope for the summer however, it means that we will need an Acting Artistic Director for the interim while Tommy is gone. Fortunately for us, we have a very talented individual, Frank Galligan, who has worked for us since he was young enough to play a mouse in Cinderella! He will soon be graduating from Assumption College, and has built himself quite an impressive resume over the years. Frank will assume the role of Kaleidoscope’s Acting Artistic Director for the summer of 2007.

We wish Tommy the best of luck on the ship, and look forward to updates from him while he is away!

Coloring Book Preview!

Kaleidoscope Theatre would like to thank Molly Rodman for her wonderful work on the upcoming “Cinderella’s Holiday Ball” coloring book project! The coloring book, along with a corresponding music CD, should be on sale this coming holiday season at the Kaleidoscope Theatre concession stand and CVS stores nation-wide! Between now and then, we plan to release 'sneak peeks' of both the coloring book and the CD here on our blog and on our website. This is a sample of Molly's amazing line-art! Let us know what you think by posting a comment on our blog or by e-mailing us at kaleidoscope@kaleidoscopetheatre.com!

Thank you Russ!

Kaleidoscope would also like to thank Russ Martin from Viscount Studios.
He was instrumental in making the CD recording process go as smoothly as possible. For anyone interested in more information about Viscount Studios, which is based out of Cranston, RI, check out www.viscountrecords.com!

Now Announcing our 2007 Summer Series!

We have announced our 2007 summer schedule on our website! Check it out, and see if your favorite fairytale is coming to your local theatre!

Kaleidoscope Theatre Birthday Parties!

If you are looking for a creative and fun event to plan for your child's birthday party, then Kaleidoscope Theatre just might be the entertainment you've been looking for!

What could be more exciting to a child than having Cinderella herself stop by to say "Happy Birthday!" and play games with your guests? Or how about having a tea party with Alice and the Mad Hatter? Maybe the handsome knight Prince Stefan can teach your guests about the bravery and chivalry of the code of knighthood!

We have a variety of packages detailed on our website. Take a look, and let Kaleidoscope Theatre help create a birthday party that they'll never forget!

Photo courtesy of Lisa Alves. (Birthday Party on March 3, 2007.)

Congratulations, Rob!

Kaleidoscope Theatre's Technical Director, Rob Ferland, has just received a promotion at Rhode Island College! He is now serving as the Interim Technical Director of the three theatrical spaces at RIC, including Roberts Hall Auditorium (where you might have seen Kaleidoscope Theatre performing our fairytale musicals!), Sapinsley Hall, and the Helen Forman Theatre.

Rob is a hard-working, diligent individual who has come through for us countless times, so none of us here at Kaleidoscope are surprised that his talents and abilities are being recognized at Rhode Island College. Congratulations, Rob - we couldn't be prouder!

Backstage Pass: Recording Session with Fallon Healy!

Kaleidoscope Theatre is currently in the process of recording our version of Cinderella's Christmas. We will be creating a new CD of this show, to be sold in conjunction with a coloring book in the holiday season of 2007.

Fallon Healy, who has appeared in the Kaleidoscope productions of Cinderella (Putricia), Jack & the Beanstalk (Jack's Mom), Mother Goose (Queen of Hearts, pictured left), will be singing the role of "Putricia" on the recording. She took a few moments of her time to write about the experience for the reading enjoyment of all our readers in the blogosphere! Here's what she had to say:

Hey guys!! My name is Fallon Healy, I'm 23 years old and a 2005 musical theatre graduate from Rhode Island College. I have been working on and off with Kaleidoscope Theatre since the winter of 2004. My first show with Kaleidoscope was Cinderella's Christmas where I played the role of Putricia. I don't often get to do as many shows with the company as I would like because I currently live really far away and I have a pretty busy full time job. So that's why when Tommy called and asked me to do the recording of Cinderella's Christmas, I was very excited! At first, I had no idea it would be something that was going to be so widely sold. That was just a major plus of it all!

The whole experience was very different for me, but it was a lot of fun. First, I met with Tommy and we just ran through the music a couple dozen times. The rehearsal process wasn't too bad seeing as I had already been in the show; it had just been a really long time since I had sang and I needed some touch-ups on the harmonies. Then, about a week or so later, we met at the recording studio. I was very excited. I don't know about anybody else who did the recording but this was a first for me! You had to put on these big earphones and stand exactly right on a white taped line on the floor. It was weird because the singer was downstairs and Tommy and everyone else who was listening were upstairs. They communicated to you through the headphones. After the recording, it was very cool to hear everything being played back - my voice sounded so clear and I loved hearing it with the music, as opposed to me hearing everything from onstage.

Another thing that was a little bit different was that in the staged version of Cinderella's Christmas, the stepsisters and sometimes the whole step family sing together, but in the recording studio we all sang separately. As a matter of fact, Debbie (Stepmother) wasn't even there the night Carolyn (Disgustia) and I sang. It was explained to me that we all sang separately so that if someone messed up, one track could be erased or fixed instead of the whole group’s track, which makes sense. If I was asked to do it again, I think I would definitely be a little bit more prepared in terms of all the little nit picky types of things (like cut off times), and for the parts I was self conscious about, I would make sure I had them completely right before I entered the studio.

I am very excited to hear the final product! The whole experience for me was just really awesome. I am so glad I was asked to participate in this project and rejoin the Kaleidoscope family. I hope this helps anyone who has questions about the studio experience!! :)

Open Auditions!

With the wonderful turn out we had at our last set of auditions in January,
we've decided to open our doors again. This time we are looking specifically for men ages 15-30 for Prince roles and ages 20+ for character parts.

There are multiple roles in several shows that are available, so performers of all types, ages, and ethnicities are still strongly encouraged to audition!

Please come prepared to sing a song of your choice (a cappella or with taped accompaniment) and to read from a script. Kaleidoscope Theatre is a professional, non-profit theatre company, and all roles are paid.

Open auditions will be held on Sunday, March 4, 2007 from 2:00pm until 7:00pm at the Meshanticut Park Church, 180 Oaklawn Avenue, Cranston, RI 02920. Please call Nicki at Kaleidoscope Theatre, (401) 942-3637, to set up an appointment.

It's Opening Night!

Hello cyberspace!

Welcome to Kaleidoscope Theatre's first official Online 'Blog!

We here at Kaleidoscope have decided that it's time to catch up to the 21st century, and start a blog so that we can keep our fans informed of all of our exciting news! This is a great opportunity for us to tell you about our upcoming performances, tell you a little about some Kaleidoscope Theatre company members, give you a hint of what's up in the rehearsal studio, discuss the adventures of a day-in-touring, and post any other ramblings from the K.T. H.Q.!

Please stay tuned for more postings in the future from Tommy (Kaleidoscope's Artistic Director), Nicki (our Office and Stage Manager), David (Executive Director), and Rob (Technical Director).

Thanks for your support - we look forward to hearing your comments!