Anything goes: Five Blount performers take part in production

By Melanie Tucker
of The Daily Times Staff

The 33-member cast of Tennessee Valley Players' production "Anything Goes" features five from Blount County. This is a local community theater group proving you don't have to stretch far and wide to uncover remarkable talent.

Tabby Stott, a 2007 graduate of William Blount High School, is making her debut with the company. She plays one of the showgirls in this widely popular Cole Porter musical. Stott acted in productions at William Blount and has continued in the performing arts at the University of Montevallo near Birmingham, Ala. She just completed her freshman year.

She has known about the local theater group for a few years but said this is the first time she has had a schedule that worked out with the company's. Rehearsals have been going full speed ahead since early May.

"Anything Goes is definitely a hand full," this actor said. "It's a Cole Porter masterpiece so it's not going to be simple. There is so much harmony and so much going on with it."

Cole Porter, who died in 1964, was an American composer and songwriter from Indiana. Some of his other works include "Kiss Me, Kate," "Fifty Million Frenchmen" and "Paris."

"Anything Goes" is thought by many to be his greatest score. Written in 1934, its songs include "I Get a Kick out of You," "All Through the Night," "You're the Top" and "It's Delovely."

Practice makes perfect

The only day Stott and the rest of the cast take a break from rehearsing is on Fridays, she said. They are there two to three hours each session.

It was Stott who introduced Tyler Plemons to the Tennessee Valley Players. Plemons, 17, is a freshman at William Blount and is a member of the school chorus. Stott was also during her high school days.

Plemons plays a sailor and an FBI agent in "Anything Goes." He is one of four high school students in the musical, which includes several college students and adults.

He said the summer is definitely flying by because of the time being spent on perfecting this production. The most fun so far has been the dancing, he said. And there is a lot of it.

The others in the play from Blount County include Katy Wagner, Amy McKinney and Tre' Slezak. McKinney has performed with TVP for four years.

Director Edmund Bolt said the TVP has been wanting to perform "Anything Goes" for years.

The problem has been the set design, he explained. This production requires a three-dimensional, two-story set. That wasn't possible in the venues TVP has been using. This time, however, the play will be presented at the University of Tennessee's School of Music in the Music Hall. The group has been using Pellissippi State's facility for its summer musicals.

Curtain call

While no director ever feels completely ready, Bolt is confident in this bundle of talent. He and musical director Dr. Angela Beaty believe it's the best chorus they have seen and heard in the last five years.

Musicals, Bolt said, have become the TVP's niche.

The original Tennessee Valley Players got its start in the 1940s and even included a young Patricia Neal. It disbanded at the start of World War II, but was resurrected in 1981, with the help of Bolt and others.

The group now does three shows each year -- one summer main stage musical and two cabaret-style performances. Bolt said quality actors are certainly present here, although opportunities seem limited at times.

He performed in several productions at the Clarence Brown Theater, located on the campus of UT, starting in 1972. Back then, it was a wonderful community organization that opened itself up to the local acting scene.

"Now, we are one of the few groups that continues to put these on," Bolt said.

Come opening night, this cast will be ready. Stott said she can't wait.

"I have a really good feeling," she said. "Opening night is going to be a blast."

She wasn't even disappointed that her 19th birthday, which was Wednesday, would be spent in rehearsals.

"I get to have a massive dance rehearsal on my birthday," she said. "I honestly couldn't ask for a better way to spend a birthday."