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Cultural Park's 'The Big One-Oh!' a triumphant musical for everyone

Cast of "The Big One Oh" strikes a pose during rehearsal.
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
/
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
In this coming-of-age story, Charley Maplewood discovers the importance of friendship, family, and embracing the joy of childhood.

“The Big One-Oh!” is a triumphant new musical for the whole family based on the book written by Academy Award-winner Dean Pitchford. It opens September 20 at Cultural Park Theatre in Cape Coral.

Charley Maplewood is the new kid in town. He doesn’t know a soul in his neighborhood and the kids at his new school avoid him like the plague. But no worries. He has plenty of his own friends.

  • When I get home at the end of the day,
  • They’re happy to see me and ready to play.

Being imaginary, they jump off the pages of his favorite comic books.
 

  • Monsters and maniacs.
  • Monsters and maniacs.
  • Monsters and maniacs.

 “It is about Charley Maplewood’s 10th birthday,” said Cultural Park Marketing Director Shaelynn Crabtree, providing context. “He doesn’t really have a lot of friends. He has imaginary monsters, and those are his companions, and it kind of tells the story of how these younger kids struggle to make friends…. It has a really, like, powerful story while being super lighthearted and entertaining.”

Scene during rehearsal of "The Big One-Oh!"
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
/
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
Penelope Romersburger plays Charley Maplewood, the new kid in town whose only friends are imaginary monsters and maniacs.

To tell Charley Maplewood’s story, Cultural Park has assembled a cast of 35, with the youngest being just 7 years old. But the size of the cast wasn’t the biggest challenge when it came to choreographing the show’s upbeat musical numbers.

“Choreographing monsters is much different from choreographing normal people,” Crabtree observed. “So it was different for them to get used to acting like monsters and getting out of their shell and getting that weird, but the choreo flows really, really well with the music.”

The inclusion of monsters, maniacs, demons and zombies did give Cultural Park’s creatives fun opportunities when it came to costumes and set.

“We actually made human shelves for the kids, so they’ll be climbing around these giant bookcases and shelves for the audience, kind of like a little monster display case,” said Crabtree. “So that will be something interesting for the audience to see.”

Cast rehearses "The Big One-Oh!" at Cultural Park Theatre.
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
/
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
Charley Maplewood's imaginary monsters climb giant bookcases during "The Big One-Oh!"

It's the music that audiences will appreciate most.

“It’s based off of like a comic book is the vibe of all of it, so I think it’s super exciting and upbeat, and the audience will love it,” said Crabtree.

“The Big One Oh!” plays at Cultural Park Theatre in Cape Coral September 20 to 29.

 

Scene from "The Big One-Oh!" during rehearsal.
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
/
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
Charley Maplewood, played by Penelope Romersburger, decides to throw a house-of-horrors-themed party for himself to celebrate his 10th birthday.

THE BACKGROUND:

In this coming-of-age story, Charley Maplewood discovers the importance of friendship, family, and embracing the joy of childhood.

In addition to the book, Dean Pitchford wrote the lyrics for this adaptation of his book. Pitchford wrote the screenplay for the film "Footloose" and co-wrote three of the songs in the movie “Fame” (the title song, “Fame,” plus “Red Light” and “I Sing The Body Electric”).

Doug Besterman wrote the score.

The cast of "The Big One-Oh!" strike a pose during rehearsal.
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
/
WGCU Arts Reporter Tom Hall
"The Big One-Oh!" promises to be big ... really BIG!

To read more stories about the arts in Southwest Florida visit Tom Hall's website: SWFL Art in the News.