THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 24, 1994 TAG: 9411230241
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI LEWIS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 97 lines
DURING THE Depression, Alice Wamsley and her sister re-created the Grimm's Fairy Tales in the attic of their family home in Lawrence, Mass.
``Our favorite was `Rapunzel,' '' Wamsley said. ``We made long braids out of yellow cloth.''
Admission to the performances was a penny apiece.
``Children and their parents would come,'' she said. ``They would sit in the sweltering heat during the summer and the cold during the winter.''
Now, years later, Wamsley is still putting on shows.
Wamsley is the co-founder, along with Anne Walsh, of the Norfolk Musical Theater, which is in its 12th season.
Their first production was the ``Gift of Song'' in 1983 at Miles Memorial United Methodist Church.
Wamsley had founded the Ocean View Civic Chorale in 1978 and tried to keep both groups going but decided to put all of her energies into the Norfolk Musical Theater in 1989.
As artistic director, Wamsley selects the productions the group performs.
``I have one criteria,'' she said. ``It has to be very well-written.''
She also tends to select productions with family oriented themes.
The group has performed early French and German operettas, which, she said, ``the senior citizens in the audience enjoy so much.''
Older adults, she said, make up about half of the group's loyal audience.
``We have a good number, at least 200, who see everything we do,'' she said.
At any one time, there are about 40 to 50 members active in the group. There are 48 people involved in the group's next production, ``The Sound of Music,'' which the group first performed in 1989.
``We now have people from all over - as far away as Williamsburg,'' Wamsley said.
``The Sound of Music'' will play at the Kempsville Playhouse in Virginia Beach at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Sunday, and at Chrysler Museum at 8 p.m. Dec. 2, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Dec. 3, and at 2 p.m. on Dec. 4.
In ``The Sound of Music,'' Michael Kaiser will play Capt. Von Trapp. Karen Shillito will play Maria. Both are Norfolk residents.
The children in the play ``are extremely talented and easy to work with. Sometimes even easier to work with than adults,'' she said. ``What I try to do is showcase local talent. We're basically a good training ground.''
That includes training in performing, costuming and set design. In fact, Wamsley has taught classes in theater and scene building.
``One thing is different about our theater,'' she said. ``We don't have that Broadway sound - it's hard on the voice and does nothing for the show. We have a classical sound.''
After a childhood of entertaining her friends and neighbors, Wamsley was awarded a full scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. But her parents wouldn't let her attend.
``They didn't think a woman needed a college degree,'' she said. ``I had to turn it down, but I always thought about it.''
Even though she had to turn down the scholarship, she said, ``I had to do something positive with my life. I knew there was nothing for me in Lawrence, Mass.''
So in 1943, she left Lawrence and joined the Navy.
``My parents didn't like it,'' she said, ``but I had all this ambition. My dream was always to be a concert singer.''
While she was stationed in Washington, D.C., with the Navy she found Maestro Arturo Papalardo's name in the phone book. From Papalardo, she said, she learned ``bel canto'' singing and received ``a solid training'' in 16th, 17th and 18th century Italian music.
She gave her first concert in 1948 in Washington.
She then went on to study at the Phil Saltman School of Modern Music in Boston, and with Myron Whitney, whom she called one of the country's best oratorio singers during his time.
Then came marriage and seven children.
She had met her husband, Russell, while she was in the Navy, and they moved to Norfolk in 1952.
``I taught voice and sang at weddings and funerals, but I couldn't concentrate on performing,'' she said of the years her children were youngsters.
But in 1972, she decided to do what she had been denied years earlier - get a college degree. In 1972, she started taking classes at Old Dominion University and in 1976 earned an undergraduate degree in music with a concentration in voice performance. She then went on to earn her master's of music there. She also started work on a doctorate.
Shortly afterward, she started the Ocean View Civic Chorale, which would put on two musical performances a year. Then came the Norfolk Musical Theater.
Now she's looking into finishing her work at the New England conservatory.
``That's been my life's dream. And, at least, I'm going to try.'' MEMO: If you know someone deserving of a Thumbs Up! feature, call Vicki Lewis
at 446-2286.
ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by JIM WALKER
Alice Wamsley co-founded the Norfolk Musical Theater 12 years ago
and is now the group's artistic director.
by CNB