Playbills

We are slowly going through all the stuff we have stored in our basement, in an attempt to downsize. Some things are easy to go through and get rid of, other stuff… not so much. I find it easier if I can go through boxes while sitting outside on our deck. The weather was conducive for that when going through my playbill box several weeks ago.

The contents of my playbill box.

I have collected playbills over the years. After each performance, when I stashed a playbill into the designated box I kept downstairs, I thought to myself, it will be fun to go through these someday. Well, that “someday” has arrived. And it was a lot of fun!

This is one of my all time favorite plays/shows. We also saw this play in London, in 2003. I didn’t find the playbill from that performance.

I have saved a lot of playbills. Although I tried, I can’t say I’ve saved one from every play or concert I’ve been to, but there were hundreds, a box full, dating back many years…into the late 70’s. I found it interesting that some playbills did not have the year on the program. Really?! And one or two didn’t even have the name of the theatre.

Miscellaneous playbills.

I have always liked going to plays and concerts and had fun looking at the many different playbills from those I’ve attended. I looked over each one of them. 

When we lived in Ohio for two years, I auditioned to dance in this traveling show.

The most memorable was from 1979,  The Red Glove Review in Sidney, Ohio because I danced in that performance. It was a community event I auditioned for, was selected, attended rehearsals, and danced in the production. I enjoyed that a lot.

I went to see A Year with Frog and Toad with a coworker, as a retirement celebration.
We saw this play at the Historic State Theatre and two other times: at The Chanhassen Dinner Theater and at the Northfield Arts Guild (NAG).
The Nutcracker Ballet.
Our one time at the Grand Ole Opry, in Nashville, TN in 1984.

I separated the playbills into various piles. There was a large pile from St. Olaf (with a few from Carleton). Other venues included: Northfield High School – band concerts and plays,

The NAG – Northfield Arts Guild (our community theater), various church programs, our boy’s recitals and science fair programs, the Merlin Players in Faribault and the Paradise Center for the Arts, Eisenhower Community Theatre (Hopkins), Commonweal Theatre, Old Log Theater (it has recently closed),

Northrup Auditorium, Children’s Theater, The Ordway, Orchestra Hall,

Concerts at Orchestra Hall, including from summer Pops Concerts in the 80’s.

Taylor University, Calvin College, Chanhassen Dinner Theatre,

Playbills from the Chanhassen Dinner Theater.

Sight & Sound Theatre in Pennsylvania and Missouri,

I’m missing a couple of productions playbills that we have seen at Sight & Sound.

Rock & Roll Revival and Over & Back venues in Northfield.

I also have playbills from a concerts/plays we attended in Vienna and London.

A fun concert we went to in Vienna, Austria.
We saw The Mousetrap in London (2019) and came home and it was put on by St. Olaf students a few weeks later. We also saw the plays My Fair Lady and The Lion King in London.

My favorite all-time story is The Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. I watch a DVD every Christmas season and have attended many plays in different venues over the years.

This is one of my favorite playbills because it’s The Christmas Carol, and it’s sponsored by Dayton’s Department Store.
We went to a twist on The Christmas Carol a few times. The Gospel According to Scrooge was performed at a local church.

I will continue to go to The Christmas Carol productions when the opportunity presents itself.

The playbill for the opera.

Another event was my first and only opera; La Finta Giardiniera…an Opera Buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was held at my favorite venue on St. Olaf’s campus, Urness Recital Hall in 2006, and performed by St. Olaf students. The definition of Opera Buffa is: “a lighthearted and often very funny form of opera that typically depicts everyday characters dealing with everyday problems”. I don’t remember the plot of this opera buffa. I do remember thinking it will be the last opera I attend. Ha!

These days, the new mode of operation for some venues is to recycle the programs to reuse for other performances. From now on I will try (old habits die hard) to leave my playbill behind, as I will no longer be collecting them.

This is my oldest playbill…no date (!) but it might be from the 60’s, and it was held outdoors in South Dakota. I went with my parents.

I believe going through this box is one of several trips down memory lane in store for me.

8 thoughts on “Playbills”

  1. Wow! You have had a full life in plays alone. What a blessing to review your life in playbills. I’m jealous.

    1. It was so fun to look through the playbills. I want to keep them, and keep adding to the collection, but alas, we’re trying to downsize.

    1. Did you notice the one photo from Orchestra Hall?
      Remember the pop concerts we’d go to occassionally?
      Memories!

  4. That’s a lot of playbills, Valerie! Some of those playbills are art, pure art. Love the red gloves one! I hope you find a home for these whether at an art center, a vintage/antiques shop, with an artist who can incorporate them into his/her art… So many could be repurposed or framed. I know. You’re downsizing and I get that.

    We have been purging the past two weeks also following the mouse issue. With everything pulled out of the under eaves storage, I sorted and tossed and, yes, occasionally reminisced. I threw away boxes of newspaper clippings from the stories I wrote and saved from multiple newspapers. That was hard. But my kids won’t care. And even I don’t care about some school board meeting I covered in 1978.

    Yesterday was dropping stuff off around town that can be reused rather than trashed. In the end, we still have a lot of stuff, but got rid of a lot of stuff, too. You are making progress.

    1. Wow, good for you Audrey. I guess something helpful came out of your our mouse escapades!

      I’m sure it’s really hard to purge your writing. That is so personal.

      I will try to find a home for the playbills… when I find some extra energy. I’ll start with the vintage store in Faribo.

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