When Molly Hall was seven, she remembers listening to "Dancing Queen" and thinking, “I can’t wait until I’m 17! Then I’ll really be the dancing queen!” She grew up listening to ABBA, often performing lip-sync concerts in the living room with her younger sister, Wendy, to songs like "Honey, Honey" and "Nina, Pretty Ballerina". Little did she know that she’d grow up to become an actor and choreographer, and that someday ABBA’s iconic songs would be made into a musical. So it’s not an exaggeration to say that she’s been waiting her whole life to be a part of this show.

Molly and her family (husband, Jason Gingold, and kids Sadie and Charlie) have been involved with Kitsap Forest Theater for six seasons. She played Lowbutt in HONK! (opposite fellow Dynamo, Jenny Dreessen), several roles in Annie, and Eulalie Shinn in The Music Man. As a choreographer she created the dances for Shrek, The Little Mermaid, Tarzan, and Tuck Everlasting. Molly has also acted and choreographed with many theatres around the Seattle area.

“I was hired to choreograph Mamma Mia! over a year ago, which was already a dream come true,” says Hall. “But I hesitated about auditioning. I thought it might be too complicated to choreograph and act in it. But then around January I realized… What am I, crazy? This is Mamma Mia!!! OF COURSE I’M GOING TO AUDITION!” Her dream was almost thwarted when she got terribly ill in the days before the callbacks. But thanks to the help of some trusted colleagues, she was able to show up to run dance callbacks and read/sing for several roles. She was thrilled to be cast in the role of Tanya, Donna’s longtime friend and back-up singer. “I used to dance to "Does Your Mother Know" as a kid, and I’d do this little step we called Kick/Open/Side-to-side. I played it on our turntable over and over again and tried to set a record for how long I could do that little step. So of course I HAD to put that into the dance. It’s such a joyful, flirty, high energy song, I love performing it.”

Being a part of this production team has also been a joy for Molly. “I love working with Paul and Ben. Paul and I have worked together on many shows and he directed me in two of my favorite roles of all time: Lotty in Enchanted April (alongside fellow Dynamo Beaven Walters), and M’Lynn in Steel Magnolias. We also had the chance to work together on Tuck Everlasting last summer, which was like being inside a myth or a storybook, a really special experience for the whole company. And Ben is just a firecracker and a musical genius. We really see eye to eye about the intersection of voice, dance, music, acting, and storytelling. When we give the cast notes sometimes the other person’s words just dovetail perfectly with what we’re trying to express. We’re a really good team.”

Trying to choreograph and act in the show hasn’t been without its challenges. “I have many days when I think, this is basically impossible,” says Hall with a laugh. When she’s not on stage, she is dashing out front to watch dances and takes notes. Then she scrambles back stage to make it in time for her own scenes and songs. “I definitely couldn’t do it without the help of Kayla Rose, our incredible Assistant Choreographer. She steps out of dances all the time to watch and give notes. She is a calm, wonderful presence and she helps to keep the dances in good shape especially when I’m running around with a tambourine and a boa, singing "Dancing Queen".”  

Best of all, says Hall, is the chance to be a part of this show with her two real-life good friends, Jenny Dreessen and Beaven Walters. “For the three of us to be cast in these roles, after all these years of friendship and working together… it’s just a dream come true. We love each other so much, and we trust each other. We all have different strengths and we balance each other really well. Best of all, the depth of friendship and chemistry between Donna, Tanya, and Rosie is just palpable and very real. Then, on top of all that, we get to wear sparkles and dance and sing harmony! I just don’t think it gets any better than this.”

When asked what her favorite part of working on Mamma Mia! is, Molly is at a loss. “All of it. Every minute of working on it. Every night of rehearsal. I could name some sweet, one-of-a-kind moments: the first harmony section of "Chiquitita". The first chorus of "Dancing Queen". The first time we all nailed the "Super Trouper" moves. All the times Reed Viydo (Pepper) has cracked me up in our scenes. The dance break of "Does Your Mother Know". There have also been some dances that were unexpectedly thrilling to create – "Under Attack" being a particular highlight. But I just have to say all of it. And doing the show along with my husband and two kids. This is truly living the dream. I’m grateful every day.”  

MICHAEL C. MOORE·MONDAY, MAY 27, 2019

The Mountaineers Players leave no stone unturned and deliver a striking production of the inspiring Disney musical

BREMERTON — A note to local theater companies who have productions of "Newsies" either in the works (Paradise Theatre opens theirs in Port Orchard June 14, and CSTOCK just announced the show as their season opener this coming fall), or on the drawing board:

The bar, my friends, is set high.

That's because the Mountaineers Players' first-in-the-area production at the Kitsap Forest Theater not only scooped the competition, but gets the story bracingly, delightfully right.

"Newsies," the Disney screen-to-stage adaptation about the New York Newsboys Strike of 1899, is a musical I was seeing for the first time. And it's a credit to director Craig Schieber and his massive cast and crew that I could — despite the distractions that are part of any experience at the rustic amphitheater — retire on this one, perfectly satisfied that if I never got to see another production of it, this one would always supply a positive memory.

Fortunately, I don't have to. I look forward to seeing how other companies handle the memorable Alan Menken-Jack Feldman songs and the snappy Harvey Fierstein book; how they stage the production numbers; how they manage to portray turn-of-the-century New York City in confines very different from those in which the Mountaineers are bringing it to life.

But I'll remember the Mountaineers' joyous run-through for the strength of its performances — dramatic, vocal, instrumental and dance — the thoroughness of its presentation (Schieber's crew and production staff easily outnumber the cast of 52, and the manpower brought to bear shows) and its overall power.

For starters, the show itself is tremendous, based on and totally respectful of historic events (filtered through the 1992 movie screenplay by Noni White and Bob Tzudiker), but still eager to please and entertain.

And Schieber, with able assists from musical director Amy Beth Nolte and bandleader Elizabeth Rainey, set designer Chris Stanley and — perhaps most notable of all — choreographer Guy Caridi, finds all the drama and fun and presents it in oft-thrilling fashion.

The story centers around Stanley’s monolithic brownstone construction, which allows Schieber's actors and Caridi's dancers to cavort on three levels — ground, fire-escape and rooftop.

Jack (Trevor Burden, left) and Crutchie (Oliver Girouard) dream of a future somewhere other than the streets of New York.

It's the rooftop where Jack (a terrific Trevor Burden) dreams of escaping his NYC existence, even as he inspires his oppressed fellow newsboys to organize against publishers like tyrannical Joseph Pulitzer (who's no prize, let me tell you).

Down below, the Newsies strike, attracting the attention of ambitious reporter Katherine (Katie Dreessen, Burden's equal in the "terrific" department, particularly dealing with the rollercoaster lyrics of “Watch What Happens”), who then, inevitably in a show needing a romantic subplot, attracts the attention of Jack.

Those two are the rocks of Schieber's cast, but they're far from alone. Oliver Girouard is an effectively sympathetic Crutchie, and Zach Edson and Andrew Kruse both shine as fledgling newsies, the elder taking up Jack's call to action while the younger seems destined to make his fortune on the streets. Meagan Castillo (as their ally) and Jeff Pettiross (as the enemy, Pulitzer himself) both add considerably.

But Schieber and Caridi find ways to let dozens of their supporting players and hoofers contribute, and they all do. The dancing, in particular, is breathtaking.

Newsies dancing L-R: (Alexandra Kunin, Stefanie Van Rafelghem, Olivia Ingram, Anna Vizzare)

The singing is almost uniformly tremendous, and Rainey's five-piece band supplies distinguished accompaniment.

There were sound foibles during the well-attended May 26 (opening day) performance I attended, but this venue is always going to have sound foibles — especially with a big, complex show like this, that literally surrounds the gallery with singers, from all directions and altitudes. But you won't miss anything; I heard every line and lyric, just not always through the intended microphone or at the intended volume.

And you won't miss anything, either, because you'll be hanging on every word of this "Newsies." It's a no-stone-unturned effort that deserves to be front-page news among local theater enthusiasts.

REVIEW ‘Newsies’

Who: Mountaineers Players

What: Musical by Alan Menken, Jack Feldman and Harvey Fierstein, based on the movie screenplay by Bob Tzudiker and None White

Where: Kitsap Forest Theater, 3000 Seabeck Hwy. NW, Bremerton

When: Through June 16; 2 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Memorial Day; gate opens at 1 p.m.

Tickets: $18-$10 advance, $20-$12 gate

Information: 800-573-8484 (tickets), 206-542-7815 (information), foresttheater.com

PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALFONSO BARRERA / MOUNTAINEERS PLAYERS

Top: Jack (Trevor Burden, middle) tells Davey (Zach Edson, right) that his kid brother Les (Andrew Kruse) is a born newsie.

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