In his roles at Fremont Opera House (FOH), Doyle Schwaninger typically plays a good guy.
That will change when the local man portrays a bad guy in the FOH production of the melodrama “True Blue and Trusted.” Show times are 4 and 7 p.m., Saturday, July 15, in the opera house, 541 N. Broad St., in downtown Fremont. Cost for the 90-minute show is $5 per person at the door.
Schwaninger describes his role in this old-fashioned-type show.
“I’m the villain,” he said. “I want to marry this girl and I try to do away with her suitor, so I can have her all to myself.”
Schwaninger said the melodrama will be interactive. Audience members will be able to boo at the villain and cheer for the hero. They can throw popcorn at the villain.
“It is so fun and funny,” he said.
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The show is taking place in conjunction with the John C. Fremont Days festival. While many JCF Days events take place outside, the melodrama will be staged inside the opera house.
Schwaninger and Lee Meyer, FOH executive director, said the show will offer attendees a chance to escape hot summer temperatures.
“If people are out in the heat and just want to come and have a good time in air conditioning for an hour and a half or if they want to have a good, old, hearty laugh and a great time to forget all their woes, they need to come,” Meyer said.
Meyer is directing the family friendly show, which also includes music.
“It’s going to be really fun,” Schwaninger said. “The cast is fun and Lee always does a great job of directing.”
All cast members are residents of Fremont or the surrounding area.
Besides Schwaninger, a retired Fremont Public Schools teacher, the show includes FPS art teacher Geoffrey Semrad, who plays the hero.
The rest of the cast members are:
- Janet Larsen as the mother;
- Jessica Palmquist (who had the title role in Midland University’s “Diary of Anne Franke”) as Lily Lackamoney;
- Diana Paseka – Grandmama;
- Maddie Scheuth – Maxine Mascara;
- Dustin Everitt – Col. John Beauregard;
- Jackson Bishop – the Reverend and MC;
- Christian Madora – sound effects;
- Gillian Semrad – sign girl;
- Cindi Lamprecht, Julie Reickens and Jack Larsen, musical guests, the “2 Twitties and a Toad”;
- Lu Anne Ehmcke – Ms. Piano.
Schwaninger, who played a detective and shoe salesman in “A 1940s Christmas Carol,” and Dan Rowan in “Laugh-In,” believes the melodrama will be popular as well.
“I think the audience will really enjoy the production,” he said.
More information about this and other FOH shows is available at: fremontoperahouse.org.