Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 13, 1994 TAG: 9405170020
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By ROB LANDRY SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The road to reality for his vision, though, has been better than he imagined. His play is a musical comedy loosely based on the old Bing Crosby and Bob Hope road shows.
"Several of the people in the cast are better than the characters I envisioned in my head when I originally wrote the play," said Brown. "I love seeing the improvements they make to the script when they're on stage."
The play is set in California some years ago and features the trails of Cap Willis (Bing) and Horace Leslie (Bob) as they struggle to find a gold mine, avoid the bad guys, get the girl and hit the big time in show business.
A tall order, but par for the plot of the typical road show picture. Heroes get in hot water - hijinks ensue - and all's well that ends well.
"The plot is like a peg on which to hang the sight gags, one-liners and quips that make the play funny, and hopefully memorable," Brown stated.
He got the idea for the play five years ago while working with a production company in Joshua Tree, Calif., that was reworking old movie musicals for the stage. The adventures of Abbott and Costello, as well as Laurel and Hardy, were among the shows featured on the Joshua Tree stage.
Brown decided Crosby and Hope were worthy of an homage as well. "Bing and Bob made seven road show pictures between 1940 and 1962. I was a big fan and didn't want that type of comedy to die out."
Brown began writing "Road to Paradise" in 1989 while in Joshua Tree and continued to make revisions after moving to the New River Valley. While pursuing his dream, he has been active on the local stage, playing leading roles in "Rehearsal for Murder, "Jury Room" and last year's New River Arts Council production of "Oklahoma!" in which he played villain Judd Frye.
His thirst for theater dates back to high school. "I played mediocre football for two years before I realized that interior linemen don't often get to date the homecoming queen," says the stocky Brown. "So I tried out for the school play, got the lead and discovered I liked to act."
Brown's love of acting followed him wherever he went during a more than 20-year career in the U.S. Navy "I immediately took up with a local theatre group. It's a great way to meet people."
He said that extensive onstage experience served him well as he crafted the script for "Road to Paradise." Sometimes he's even surprised at how much he's learned about comic timing.
"We performed an excerpt of the play a short time ago at the Fine Arts Center of the New River Valley in Pulaski," said Brown. "They found laughs in the script that I didn't realize were there, so I guess that bodes well."
With less than two weeks to go until opening night, Brown's script was still very much a work in progress. One revision has been made in response to national events.
"Just a few days before opening night, we decided to take out a joke referring to Richard Nixon. Since he recently passed away, we thought it probably wouldn't get the laughs it would have otherwise."
The script includes sight gags and a sometimes physical brand of humor. But rehearsing a scene involving bunk beds, pratfalls and lots of bruises has left leads John Lawson (Cap and Bing) and Ken Marshall (Horace and Bob) none the worse for wear. "We were wondering for a while whether we'd make it to opening night," quipped Marshall, who aims to try his luck as an actor in New York City theater this summer.
"It's exciting to see how well the cast has come together during the course of the rehearsals," he said.
Lawson seconded that remark, adding that he's more comfortable as a player on Brown's stage than he is in real life.
Brown is grateful for the effort the entire case has given toward setting his dream in motion, and he uses an example from one of the rehearsals to illustrate just how grateful.
"One of our leading ladies was having a hard time singing one of the songs, so I told the musicians to lower the pitch without telling her what I'd done. She sang the piece flawlessly, incredulous that her voice hadn't cracked, and when I finally did tell her I'd changed the key, she gave me a huge hug and said 'Thank you, I owe you one.'"
"I realized that as grateful as she was to me for doing what I did, I'm much more grateful to them for what they are doing for me. They don't owe me. I owe them ... big time."
by CNB