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'That girl' is back, and pregnant, in Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming Fun and Song
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Published: November 1, 2009
By now, any of the trilogy of Smoke on the Mountain plays sparks hit fever at Twin City Stage.
Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming, the third of the good-feeling plays about a Southern family who sings gospel, will open Friday night. Twin City has added an extra week of performances to accommodate the crowds they expect to show up.
Attracting audiences should be as easy as saying, "smoke," or asking, "Who was that girl who signs and mimics a baby lamb?"
Such was the popularity of the original bluegrass-gospel musical, Smoke on the Mountain, which ran in 2007. People literally called the theater to ask if "that girl" was going to be in other plays.
In the first play, actor Sarah Barnhardt played June Sanders, who signs while the rest of her family sings. When she mimed the "baby lamb" in the hymn, "Are You Washed in the Blood," audiences fell apart. She became "that girl" for Twin City audiences.
Then, just as audiences had hoped, Barnhardt returned in her role as June in last year's second show, Sanders Family Christmas. Now in this third show, June is not only married to the local preacher but also very, very pregnant.
"June is very excited about being pregnant, but I personally have been doing a lot of research on what it's like to be pregnant," Barnhardt said, tongue in cheek.
To get the full effect of signing as a pregnant woman, she said she has been practicing with some weights and a pillow.
"The challenge is signing with a belly. It throws off my back." Other cast members, who were gathered for the conversation, exploded in laughter.
One can only imagine what Barnhardt will do with a full belly, swayed back and her own finely tuned sense of comedy.
Director Bobby Bodford said that most of the cast members have appeared in the two preceding shows, which frees them to explore new comedic touches.
Justin Fain returns as Pastor Oglethorpe, June's husband.
Nonetheless, Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming throws some kinks into activities at the little church in a small town in North Carolina.
All of the shows revolve around the Sanderses who come to their local Mount Pleasant Baptist Church just west of Hickory for an evening of song in the late 1930s and early1940s. In this show, some characters are beginning to go their separate ways. Set in 1945, Denise, a twin, has gotten married and is expecting twins of her own, and Vera and Burl have sold their filling station and bought a farm.
Local audiences can easily recognize the down-home humor of the characters, which accounts for much of the show's popularity. These are people who entertain their friends in the congregation with a lot of heart and a string of gospel songs, all of which are presented by on-stage musicians and singers.
"It's the only trilogy I've ever done, and by now, you know this family so well, it's like spending another day with them," Bodford said.
Connie Ray and Alan Bailey wrote the Sanders family musicals, which are set to end with this one.
Twin City Stage will present
Smoke on the Mountain Homecoming
at 8 p.m. Friday-next Sunday, Nov. 12-14 and 19-22; and at 2 p.m. next Sunday and Nov. 15 and 22. Tickets are $22, $20 for seniors and $18 for students. Twin City Stage at the Arts Council Theatre, 610 Coliseum Drive. Call 725-4001.
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