THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 25, 1995 TAG: 9507250038
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. LENGTH: Long : 124 lines
MY WIFE, GAIL, won me over by calling it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Go to Florida with the Hurrah Players, perhaps the finest community theater group in Hampton Roads, to watch our two daughters perform at Disney World, she said.
Sounded great. Spending a week with the kids and Mickey, Goofy and Donald. Wrenching our guts out on Space Mountain and The Tower of Terror. Yep, a fine time.
Yet one hour and 15 minutes into the trip, I was under suspicion by Baltimore Airport officials for attempted kidnapping.
We had just disembarked from an early-morning flight from Norfolk and were awaiting our connection to Orlando when one of the ``Hurrah Moms,'' as mothers of young actors and actresses are called, asked me if I would watch her 6-year-old boy for a few minutes.
``Sure,'' I said, and off she went to buy some breakfast.
The boy's name was Christopher, though I didn't know who the heck he was. We talked briefly, then I went back to reading my Tom Clancy novel. After a few minutes, I noticed he had wandered off about 50 yards down the terminal. I sprinted to catch up with him and got there just as he was telling an airport employee that he had gotten separated from his mommy.
``Don't worry,'' I said, gasping for breath, ``the boy is with me.''
``Do you know his name?'' a US AIR employee asked me suspiciously.
``No, but he's with me,'' I said. ``I swear he is.''
``You don't know his name?'' he said, putting his arm around Christopher protectively.
``Do you know this man?'' he asked Christopher, who answered, ``No. Today is the first time I've seen him.''
``Well, we'll just page his mother,'' the man said, now sure as beans he was talking to a pervert. Dozens of people waiting for connections looked at me in disgust as we awaited the arrival of his mom.
Thankfully, I was rescued by my wife and Jill Jones, Christopher's mother, who assured everyone that I wasn't dangerous, just a poor excuse for a baby sitter.
Fortunately, most of the rest of the trip went without catastrophe. We arrived on a Sunday, and after two days of doing every ride and waiting in every line possible at Epcot and The Magic Kingdom, prepared for Tuesday's performance.
It began with an early-morning back-stage tour of the Magic Kingdom. It turned out to be one part tour and 20 parts lecture on how Disney characters should perform. The 81 Hurrah members would, for one evening, be Disney performers, and the kids were lectured nicely but seriously about smiling and proper stage conduct.
Our host for this lecture/pep talk was Antoinette Meringolo, a Long Island native who came to Disney after graduating with a music degree from Ithaca College. She hosts more than 200 groups per year invited by Disney to perform there, including some from Europe.
Disney invites only the best, and the Hurrah Players might indeed be the performance group of its kind in Hampton Roads. Hurrah alumni have advanced to Broadway and Hollywood. One is a Mousketeer. Their performances in Hampton Roads routinely sell out, and the competition for parts in their plays is fierce.
Most of the Hurrah Players begin taking acting, singing and dancing classes shortly after shedding their training pants, and thus most of Antoinette's lecture was a rehash of lessons they'd learned long ago.
But we were all enlightened when Antoinette took us for a walk down Main Street USA, the famed entrance to The Magic Kingdom. Designed to look like a turn-of-the century small town, it is one of the most beautiful places in Disney's 44-square-mile development.
Then Antoinette opened a door and allowed us to walk behind Main Street - into a huge, drab parking lot, replete with trash bins and oil stains.
``Hey, we have to drive to work, too,'' Antoinette said sheepishly.
Later, with our illusions about Main Street USA shattered forever, we ate lunch and then did some rides. Some were so crowded that we had to wait more than an hour in line in 97-degree heat. I was feeling mighty poorly when I turned to Art Chambers, a Hurrah parent who was standing next to me, as we waited to board Splash Mountain.
``What do you do for a living?'' I groaned.
``Emergency room physician,'' he said with a grimace.
``Thank God,'' I said, feeling somewhat better.
At 6 p.m., after a brief rehearsal, we arrived at Disney Village, a vast shopping complex on Disney grounds, where the group would perform. It had rained much of the afternoon and had it been raining at showtime, 7:30 p.m., the performance would have been canceled.
But the sun came out, and by showtime, more than 500 people had gathered. The stunning voices and precise dance routines had attracted more than 1,000 midway through the show.
The 30-minute show had a few glitches. Disney had promised cordless microphones, but all four had cords. Some of the kids were forced to improvise and some of the dance routines just couldn't be carried out. Neal Shrader's rendition of ``Singin' in the Rain,'' appropriate given the weather, was toned down so he wouldn't rip the cord out of its socket.
But most of the songs and dances went off flawlessly, in spite of the searing Orlando heat. Some of the older onlookers dabbed at tears as they watched the youngsters perform.
Best of all, my daughters, Ginny (15) and Amy (9), managed to remember their dance routines and songs, which ranged from country to Broadway to modern.
Antoinette was impressed. ``This group is very, very good, among the best we've had here,'' she said.
That's a tribute to Hugh Copeland, an Old Dominion University theater professor, who began the Hurrah Players as part of a magnet school at Booker T. Washington in the 1970s. When the program was axed 13 years ago, Copeland went private.
It's now a family theater group - some adults performed at Disney - and a well-traveled one at that. The Hurrah Players have performed in London, Richmond and Washington. They've been to Nashville and Orlando twice each.
The trips are demanding on the kids, on Copeland and the Hurrah Parents. Yet, Copeland said, they are worth the effort.
``The kids come together on these trips,'' Hugh said. ``They enjoy the camaraderie and it gives them a chance to perform outside of the Norfolk area.''
And to know each other. By the end of the trip, Christopher finally had learned who I was. ``Look at my Mickey Mouse hat, Mr. Harry,'' he said as he headed toward his plane at the Orlando International Airport.
Which is great if I have to watch him again on the next trip. ILLUSTRATION: PERFORMANCES
The Hurrah Players will perform six times in August at the 24th
Street Stage in Virginia Beach, each night at 7. On Aug. 1, 8 and
15, the group will perform ``Starmites.'' On Aug. 4, 11 and 18, they
will present a musical review. For information, call 627-KIDS.
by CNB