Lamain

Opening night began with everyone on stage, standing in a circle for the traditional “break a leg” pep talk. It was something I had learned when I had worked at the Red School House, a school for native Indian students in St. Paul.

I had asked “Why do we gather in a circle for our school meetings?”

Porky, the elder of the tribe told me, “It’s because in a circle we are all equally close to the center.”

I again reminded the cast, as I had done so often during rehearsals, that we were all equally important. By way of example, I reminded them that if the person who opens and closes the curtain fails to do their job at the beginning of the show, there would be no show. We were all stars and our ultimate success depended on each of us giving our very best. I reminded them where we had started from and where we now were that night. We held hands, and for a brief moment said our individual prayers, praying for each other and for ourselves, and then it was show time! We had a story to tell and songs to sing.

Earl Gagnon, the editor of the Daily Mining Gazette, had become my friend. His enthusiasm for our production was infectious. The free publicity that we received from The Gazette was far beyond our expectation. Occasionally, in life, you encounter someone and you instantly bond. Earl and I bonded. One of the things that attracted me to him was his very unique and original style of writing. He was not admired by all. Rumor had it that in some nearby universities, his articles in the Gazette were used by English composition professors as examples of how not to write. They told their students, “Earl can take a five-word sentence and turn it into a 50-word short story”.

His vocabulary was as colorful as it was endless; and when I say that he was the “Yooper Shakespeare,” I mean it in a most loving way.

In tribute, and with a deep sense of love and friendship, the following are some of my late friend’s (he passed in 1981) “Daily Mining Gazette” descriptive commentaries about the show (They are a small sampling from “many long” articles.):

“So complimentary was the entire performance that it would be impossible to currently pick a flaw. That Lamain and company have established a reputation that hardly can be exceeded was attested by the prolonged applause which came at 11 o’clock, the near time the performance ended. So rapid were the scene changes that they were hardly noticeable. Then, as related, when there is musical continuity throughout the entire program with only one intermission is difficult to properly characterize. The audience was so overwhelmed that it left the theatre with awe and inspiration as though leaving a cathedral after a service of prayer.

Paula Gustafson and Kent Carlson are the students who play the leading lady and captain Von Trapp roles. Both have voices related to the screen version leads. Recalled is that the movie production was considered so delightful that it still is running, factually, going forward to heights almost achieved by Gone With The Wind. Paula’s voice is delightfully intriguing and Kent’s voice has all the aspects of the cinema rolist who was the father of these interesting Von Trapp children.

Maria, a would-be beginning nun at the Nunberg Abbey almost was unique in her lead role, the main tuneful exponent in the show. Her youthful emotional and appealing voice is a worthwhile fill in for Julie Andrew’s, who so distinguished herself in the movie rendition.

As one of the spectators said, “Lamain and his entire company truly gave a tremendous and glorious performance.”

Captain George Von Trapp (Carlson) so interpreted his part when he sang “Edelweiss” the tears of emotion flowed through the audience.

All lovers of the cinema version of the Sound of Music will recall the Mother Superior of the convent in which Maria lived for a time. In the Suomi College rendition of the renowned “Sound” it is a Philadelphia girl who plays the part of the Superior. Linda Perry has a delightful voice, one out of Philly, the city of the Quakers.

The children, (the average childless couple well might like to adopt the whole nine) were captivating from the oldest to the youngest.

The Nun’s Chorus was exceptional and there were renditions in both English and Latin. The latter dead language offerings were music much appreciated in that they brought back the early romanticism which characterized the rendition of church Latin until the recent nationalistric tendencies.

The entire performance was an outstanding credit to Director Lamain who is no newcomer to such offerings. Fresh from a series of similar successes in Grand Rapids, MIchigan, the showman wore many hats, professional organist, arranger, scene inspirer and singing maestro. Not once did he go behind the stage to direct. At least, this was what was observed from the packet parquet whose frontal pit witnessed him as the tuneful organist. Ed Golub as the drummer and Judy Riipa as the pianist. It was the latter three piece orchestra which provided the melodious continuity which saw nary an interruption in the entire three hour program.

“SUOMI COLLEGE PRODUCTION IS “EXCEPTIONAL”.

Earl Gagnon, “Daily Mining Gazette”.

Back to the

story at hand

The production received standing ovations after each performance. Everyone in the cast was recognized during numerous curtain calls. We had truly “Climbed the mountain, and had forded every stream,” and together ho we had found “our dream”.

Somehow we all knew that the giants who had gone before were in the audience and had given their approval.

P.S. It was many years later that I had the thrilling privilege of bringing the Woodbury Singers to Mondsee, Austria. We sang a concert, standing on the very steps that Maria, (Julie Andrews), had ascended during the wedding scene in “The Sound of Music” to meet her Captain Von Trapp.

It is a small world after all.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Gerrit Lamain is a former Copper Country resident who served as a music professor at Suomi College. He was also the organist for the Michigan Tech hockey team before moving on to the Minnesota North Stars.