[aesop_image force_fullwidth=”off” lightbox=”off” captionposition=”left” caption=”Bill Koch as The Fiddler – Photo courtesy of Music Theatre of Wichita” captionsrc=”custom” align=”center” imgwidth=”100%” img=”https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/kochbill\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/215\/2020\/11\/FIDDLER-WICHITA-closeup.jpg” panorama=”off”]\n
Thanks to reviews \u2014 media and personal \u2014 I was invited to recreate my concept for THE DESERT SONG (originally SD&C\u2019d for Village Light Opera Group, NYC) with Music Theatre of Wichita, KS \u2014 and also offered to choreograph FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. I happily accepted!<\/span><\/p>\n I arrived in Wichita to discover my apartment had no air conditioner in a low-hundreds heat wave! Thus, by invitation, I spent several nights along with techies and some cast sleeping in the air conditioned fabulous scene shop. PS\u2014it was there I was introduced to the delights of \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show\u201d \u2014complete with groupies!<\/i><\/p>\n THE DESERT SONG<\/b> I directed and choreographed with Ron Raines, Sara Ann Noll and Robert Lydiard, along with a great cast and crew with the exotic scenery of the brilliant designer John Scheffler (now world-acclaimed and a lifelong friend since college.) Romberg\u2019s music and Hammerstein\u2019s excellent book & lyrics provide a feast to work with \u2014 and we had one!<\/p>\n During rehearsals, I learned that Bobby had been the voice of Pha (a dolphin) in \u201cDay Of The Dolphins\u201d<\/em> (which I loved cause I love animals!) so he would try to friendly-manipulate me as director sometimes by pulling out his dolphin voice \u201cPha loves Pa\u201d<\/i> (a line in the film)!<\/p>\n LITTLE ME<\/b> came next and an actor couldn\u2019t make it so I happily accepted the on-spot offer to play Benny Buchsbaum, a Hollywood producer, who is the twin brother of Bernie (played hilariously by Bobby Lydiard) \u2014 Bobby is around 5\u20196\u201d and I was 6\u2019 at that time so we had matching makeup, costumes and bald pates but were forerunners of Arnold Schwarzenegger & Danny DeVito in the film TWINS! Some days Bobby & I would walk into rehearsal and the great director Johnny Sharp would hold up his hands at us \u201cOkay, you two \u2014no more new bits!\u201d<\/i> It was a really fun production for all!<\/p>\n One joy of this job was getting to lead some classes with the eager, budding apprentices. It\u2019s always fun to pass it forward!<\/p>\n FIDDLER ON THE ROOF<\/b>\u2014always an incredible show to choreograph\u2014and, as usual, most answered question to audience members: \u201cYes, the dancers were really balancing the bottles on their hats!\u201d<\/i> Luckily, the director asked me to be the Fiddler and used me a lot as Tevye\u2019s shadow\u2014and the first violinist, when he found out I played contrabass with the Hempstead High School Orchestra, taught me all the correct fingering so most people thought I was really emanating fiddle sounds from my fishing-wire-stringed violin (which is still one of my favorite souvenirs.)<\/p>\n A summer of delightful shows and people!<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [aesop_image force_fullwidth=”off” lightbox=”off” captionposition=”left” caption=”Bill Koch as The Fiddler – Photo courtesy of Music Theatre of Wichita” captionsrc=”custom” align=”center” imgwidth=”100%” img=”https:\/\/performingartslegacy.org\/kochbill\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/215\/2020\/11\/FIDDLER-WICHITA-closeup.jpg” panorama=”off”] Thanks to reviews \u2014 media and personal \u2014 I was invited to recreate my concept for THE DESERT SONG (originally SD&C\u2019d for Village Light Opera Group, NYC) with Music Theatre of Wichita, KS […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":227,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-highlight"],"metadata":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n