It\u2019s no secret that Hollywood has a way of influencing television and plays. To cite one example, without 1973\u2019s “American Graffiti,” neither the TV sitcom “Happy Days” nor 1978\u2019s “Grease” might have surfaced. Today, few could have predicted the renewed interest in bluegrass and Americana spurred on by the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou?” The revival has seen growth in both music and stage, notably in productions like the “Hankerin\u2019 Hillbillies,” currently being readied for local audiences at Westminster Theatre. Written by prolific playwrights Pat Cook (book), who has more than 125 productions to his credit and Bill Francoeur (music), who has more than 75, the “Hankerin\u2019 Hillbillies” tells the tale of four daughters hankerin\u2019 to get married \u2014 one smitten with a big-city guv\u2019ment man \u2014 in the midst of an Ozark mountain-family feud between the Herefords and the Gurensey\u2019s. The entire story is wrapped around a dozen bluegrass songs. The play features more than two dozen actors, with Deborah Ford and William Cobb as Ma and Pa Hereford. Director Lesley Pearson, who has worked on nearly a dozen plays for Westminster Prebyterian Church\u2019s Vanguard Theatre, notes that a musical presents different challenges to a standard stage production. “With a nonmusical, you\u2019re not dealing with choreography or blending voices,” Pearson said. “You have to put voice to movement and musicians are involved, so there are more players all around. It becomes more of a challenge to coordinate all these things. ” Featuring live bluegrass music from a house band, the soundtrack involves a wild mix of instruments from banjo to washboard. “With all the different things being played, it\u2019s a lot of family-friendly fun, especially the jug band instruments like the wash bass drum and spoons.” Ironically, while there are musicians in the cast itself, they only act. The actors portraying musicians are learning on the job, so to speak. “We just sort of taught the actors to play their instruments as we went along,” Pearson said. “They are really just accompanying the band, but it\u2019s been fun for them to learn an instrument as we work on the play.” Pearson notes there is audience participation during the play, though she\u2019s keeping the exact details a surprise. “The audience will have a chance to play along,” Pearson said. “The songs are so much fun you want to be involved. This is the sort of music that makes you happy, where you can\u2019t resist nodding your head or tapping your toes. It\u2019s full of energy.” With prices for tickets ranging between $10 and $15, “Hankerin\u2019 Hillbillies” is a bargain for theatergoers. Pearson points out this is a full production \u2014 with no holds barred. “At a recent rehearsal, I stopped the cast after the first number, a real show-stopper,” Pearson said. “I just had to tell them that song alone was worth the price of admission.” Pearson said “Hankerin\u2019 Hillbillies” saw the introduction of youth production interns to the Vanguard, dubbed “yippies.” “We have a range of people involved from novices to professionals,” Pearson said. “We even have children\u2019s workshops. So, as the kids get older, they get more involved with more responsibilities.” The Westminster Theater, 3598 Talbot Street. Info: www.vanguardsd.org or 619-224-6263. “HANKERIN\u2019HILLBILLIES”<\/b> Show times:<\/b> \u2022 Friday, July 16, 8 p.m. \u2022 Saturday, July 17, 8 p.m. \u2022 Sunday, July 18, 7 p.m. \u2022 Friday, July 23, 8 p.m. \u2022 Saturday, July 24, 8 p.m. \u2022 Sunday, July 25, 7 p.m. \u2022 Friday, July 30, 8 p.m. \u2022 Saturday, July 31, 8 p.m. \u2022 Sunday, Aug. 1, 7 p.m. Ticket prices:<\/b> Adults, $13; seniors\/military\/students, $13; children 12 and under, $10 Ubicaci\u00f3n:<\/b> Westminster Presbyterian Church\u2019s Westminster Theater, 3598 Talbot St. Information\/reservations:<\/b> (619) 224-6263, www.vanguardsd.org<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s no secret that Hollywood has a way of influencing television and plays. To cite one example, without 1973\u2019s “American Graffiti,” neither the TV sitcom “Happy Days” nor 1978\u2019s “Grease” might have surfaced. Today, few could have predicted the renewed interest in bluegrass and Americana spurred on by the movie “O Brother Where Art Thou?” […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"\u2018Hankerin\u2019 Hillbillies:\u2019 Good ol\u2019 mountain music","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11593,11561,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-298418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-no-images","category-peninsula-beacon","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=298418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/298418\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=298418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=298418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=298418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}