On the first day of rehearsal, Toby Orenstein, director and owner of Toby?s Dinner Theatres, gathered her cast together and announced, “I think the country needs a show like this.”
The show is “George M!,” a musical about the extraordinary father of Broadway, George M. Cohan, now playing at Toby?s in Columbia.
“I have a strong sense of national pride which we seem to have lost over the years since Sept. 11, 2001,” said Orenstein, who has directed hundreds of plays. “It?s time to bring that pride back.”
“George M!” chronicles the life of Cohan from the late 1880s until 1937 in song and dance, focusing on his early days in vaudeville with his parents and sister, and then his later success as a Broadway singer, dancer, composer, lyricist, theatre director and producer.
Actor Jeffrey Shankle takes on the demanding role of the inexhaustible Cohan.
“I get a lot of song and dance roles,” said the actor, who sings tenor. “But this show is a great stretch and a new acting challenge.”
Shankle, who has always played ingénue roles, finds himself challenged by his first character role.
“I never take my tap shoes off, and I never leave the stage,” he said. “That?s very challenging, but I knew what I was in for when I accepted the role.”
Cohan sold his first songs to a national publisher in 1893; Shankle sells them each night to the audience.
These songs, such as “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “The Yankee Doodle Boy,” and “You?re a Grand Old Flag,” are the backbone of Broadway legend and represent Cohan?s American dream.
An excellent supporting cast that includes Jamie Eaker, Darren McDonnell, Trish Watkins and Deb Bounacorsi, backs Shankle.
John Kenrick, in his biography of Cohan, described him as “the stuff theatrical legends are made of.”
Jeffrey Shankle agrees.
“It?s time to introduce him to the younger audiences,” he said.
If you go
“George M!”
» Venue: Toby?s Dinner Theatre of Columbia, 5900 Symphony Woods Road, Columbia
» Dates: Through June 10
» More info: 410-730-8311
