Macon Little Theatre to celebrate July 4, return to in-person shows

Fourth of July celebrations abound this weekend with most Middle Georgia communities celebrating in some way but one event has gotten less attention: Macon Little Theatre’s patriotic musical presentation Saturday and Sunday featuring young people who’ve performed on the community theater’s stage in years past.

MLT is celebrating the nation’s birth and freedoms, of course, but the concert also celebrates the fact that in July, MLT and three other Macon-Bibb and Houston County community theater groups have presentations marking returns to live, in-person and mostly full-capacity seating at performances.

“For years, Macon Little Theatre has had a concert this time of year celebrating the Fourth and offering sneak peeks at summer musicals and vocalists and shows ahead,” said JP Haynie, MLT’s producing director. “This year, this is also our first chance at a full-capacity, in-house presentation July 3 and 4 and we decided to give the stage to younger performances who’ve graced our stage through the years.”

Haynie said performers were at least child actors when they appeared on the MLT stage and that ages range now from 10 to 22. The oldest is Brent Jones who first appeared at MLT at 6 or 7 years old and is now an actor in New York. At least he lived there prior to COVID-19. He’s temporarily returned to Macon until things crank back up in the Big Apple.

“The concert is always a good mix of patriotic and other songs and there are plenty of patriotic tunes celebrating America that have become Broadway classics,” Haynie said. “We also like to acknowledge former and active service members and are especially pleased one of the pieces this year is the “Marine Hymn” in honor of the father and brother of a couple of our performers. We’ll have a live quartet providing music and several performers accompany themselves on guitar.”

With the easing of COVID restrictions and the CDC opening up more and more liberties for those who’ve been vaccinated, Haynie said whether the shows sell out or not remains to be seen – ticket sales are going well – but all seats are available. Those vaccinated are not required to wear masks and those not are at least encouraged to.

Haynie said everyone is encouraged to use common sense and to stay reasonably socially distanced as much as possible.

He said the show combines patriotic elements of the Fourth of July with themes of enjoying the season as family.

“I think this year the show is also a big ‘welcome back’ to our patrons and the community as well as performers who’ve really missed the chance to use their talents and be together,” he said.

All the area theater groups and performers are fairly ecstatic about the month’s more sure-footed return to live performances. Most have been edging back toward live showings of some sort the last month or two and most have experimented or even become expert at alternative ways of presenting productions through live streams online. For instance, MLT had an outdoor presentation near the end of 2020 in conjunction with its Forsyth Road neighbor, the Museum of Arts and Sciences, and recently had successful live performances of “The Wizard of Oz” concluding its kid’s summer theater camp – but that was in the open space of the Stratford Academy gym.

Happy the theater company has thus far survived COVID with the help of patrons, donors and grants, Haynie said there is the nagging question of whether or not the community will truly rally back into theaters.

“Live local theater,” he said, “requires an adequate live audience.”

But he said for those who do come this Fourth of July weekend, there will be grand entertainment and noticeable upgrades to the theater’s facility, stage, sound, lighting and other tech made possible by pre-COVID gifts.

MLT is located at 4220 Forsyth Rd. Tickets are $6 for children and $12 for adults and available along with further MLT information at maconlittletheatre.org.

As far as other theater group’s July activities, Theater Macon’s medieval musical farce “Something Rotten!” is July 16-25 with theatremacon.com showing it as strictly a live event. Richard Frazier and the Theatre Macon team quickly became experts at online, virtual presentations during COVID and featured many productions and community events. Though the group has already dipped its toe in limited capacity live theatre, “Something Rotten” is the first full-fledged, in-house show.

Theater Macon is at 438 Cherry St. with ticketing and information at theatremacon.com and (478) 746-9485.

The Perry Players Community Theatre presents “Ghosts: The Musical” beginning next Thursday, July 8. It’s based on the popular motion picture, “Ghosts,” and there will be 12 showings through July 25. Justin Carr, a Perry Players board member, said the production is the group’s first “100 percent capacity show since COVID.” Regular adult admission is $22 and there are discounts for seniors, military and students with ID.

The Perry Players will also stream a version of the musical online July 22-25. Otherwise, the group was quiet during COVID apart from a limited-audience fundraiser edition of “A Christmas Carol” directed by then 18-year-old Hanna Kemp.

The Perry Player’s playhouse is at 909 Main St., Perry, and ticketing and information are at perryplayers.org.

July 16, 17 and 18, the Warner Robins Little Theatre opens its doors to live audiences for the first time since COVID with Rachel Cox singing “The Music of Patsy Cline.” Cox is a veteran of productions such as “Rent,” “Cats” and presentations by Perry’s CenterStage for Christ and Theatre Macon. Admission is $20-per-seat for the musical fundraiser and season passes cannot be used. The group’s first live drama begins Sept. 3 with “Cry Havoc,” a story focusing on female medical workers during World War II at Bataan. Auditions are July 19-20. WRLT information is at www.wrlt.org and the playhouse is at 502 South Pleasant Hill Rd., Warner Robins.

Contact Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com.