Town Square Players to Take You "Around the World in 80... Minutes!"

The performers who make up the Town Square Players are hard at work putting the final touches on their upcoming show, “Around the World in 80... Minutes!” -- a musical comedy Broadway revue.

The show will debut at 8pm on Friday, Aug. 5 at the in Nazareth.

Laurel Wenson, the show’s music director, said doors open at 7pm for a cocktail hour and hors d’oeuvres. Dessert will follow the performance.

According to Wenson, some adult humor is included in the show, so children should stay home while parents enjoy a nice night out.

The Town Square Players will also perform the show on Aug. 6 and Aug. 13 with cocktail hour starting at 7pm, and on Aug. 7 and Aug. 14 with cocktail hour starting at 5pm. Each show starts one hour after cocktail hour begins.

Tickets are $28 and can be purchased by calling (610) 746-9988 or at the door.

“A couple of shows sold out last year, so I encourage people to get their tickets ahead of time,” Wenson said, adding that the Holy Family Club seats about 130 people, so space is limited.

Founded in 2010, the Town Square Players is a community theater group that offers opportunities for those living in the Lehigh Valley to nurture their passion for the arts, according to the group's Facebook page.

In July 2010, the group's inaugural performance was a Broadway revue titled “Way Out, Way Off." A year later, the group will perform a musical comedy Broadway revue written by one of the group's founding members, Jim Vivian.

“Around the World in 80... Minutes!” will feature songs from Broadway shows set in countries around the world, according to Wenson. The show starts off in Germany, then jets off to Spain, England and Egypt. The show wraps up in the good ol’ U.S.

“When we do a Broadway review, we tell the story through music,” Wenson explained.

Although some of the songs are straight from their Broadway shows, others are parodies rewritten by members of the Town Square Players.

“The crowd does love the parodies,” Wenson added.

One such parody is called "Match.com." To the tune of “Matchmaker” from the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” the women performers will sing about wanting to use Match.com to find themselves a date instead of going to the town’s matchmaker. The matchmaker, played by Wenson, is -- at best -- a lackluster matchmaker.

This year’s 28-member cast consists of performers in eighth grade through high school and adults.

“It’s a lot of work, but it’s a lot of fun,” said Barbara Appnel, a Town Square Players veteran.

In the show, Appnel plays the part of Glinda from the musical “Wicked” and also sings Eliza Doolittle’s “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” from the musical “My Fair Lady.”

Appnel's favorite sections of the show are the Cabaret numbers because of the dancing.

“Sue [Raesley is] a great choreographer,” Appnel said. “She’s making us look good.”

Raesley and Catherine Little are co-directers of the show, and the costumes were handled by Frank Yandrisovitz, another founding member of the Town Square Players.

For more information on the Town Square Players, visit townsquareplayers.org.

The Cast:

Andrea Cameline
Andy Borglesani
Annalyse Little
Barbara Appnel
Dana Pardini
Emily Nichols
Frank Yandrisovitz
James Egbert
James Vivian
Jessie Minor
Joe Fink
Kanyi Creppy
Kylie Dunne
Laura Craig
Laurel Wenson
Mary Cate Carr
Michael Weinhofer
Monique Haney
Nicole Brousseau
Veronica Philip
Vince Rostkowski
Eliana Longacre
Sara Viteri

Board Members:
Sue Raesly
Catherine Little
James Vivian
Frank Yandrisovitz
Laurel Wenson