The Last Dance of Dr. Disco (2006)

WRITTEN BY: Eileen Moushey
TO HAVE BEEN PERFORMED AT: Tag's, Big Flats
TO HAVE BEEN PERFORMED ON: May 13 & 20, 2006
DIRECTOR: Martin King
SPONSORED BY: Market Street Irregulars
CAST:
* DR. DISCO- Don Lerario (May 13)/Jim Duffy (May 20th)
* ILSA- Amanda Fenn
* MARGIE- Amy Lange
* TONY- Mark Troia
* ANGIE - Debbie Troia
* LYNDA - Katie O'Herron
* DJ- Mike Carson
* DYLAN WANKER- David A. Scott
* HOST/HOSTESS- Kate Puccio
DANCERS:
* TBA

PLOT: A mad scientist (Don Lerario) plans to use disco music to take over the world, but a mysterious murder may lead to his undoing. A dinner theater murder mystery/comedy.

HISTORY: With my membership in the Market Street Irregulars hitting its one-year mark, it's an amusing coincidence that I would seem to be ending that 12-month period by doing the same show that I started it with. Having played Dylan Wanker in the July-August 2005 production of "Dr. Disco" at Fat Cats, I was asked to play him again in May 2006, one year after I'd first auditioned for the show. The majority of the cast was brought back together for two shows at Tag's bar/restaurant/concert-arena in Big Flats.
With busy schedules keeping Ellen Boyd and Otto Campanella from reprising their roles, Amanda and Mark took over as Ilsa and Tony, repectively. Because Jim Duffy, also a teacher, was chaperoning an East High School trip to New York City during May 13th, Don Lerario was asked to fill in as Doctor Disco for the first of two planned shows at Tag's. (Don had played the same role during a non-MSI production, at Saint Mary Our Mother School in Horseheads, in early 2005.) Duffy was still slated to play Disco for the other performance, scheduled for May 20th.
But on May 10th, when reservations for the May 13th show didn't sell as quickly as those for previous MSI plays at that venue, Tag's cancelled the May 20th performance. This meant that the version with Don as Disco would still be performed, but not the one with Jim. However, on May 12th, Tag's was still unhappy with the low number of reservations (around 20 out of the available 100), and decided to cancel both performances.
Possible reasons why things happened this way could have been: A)because of Tag's shifting ad focus (their signs were changed, and "Dinner & a Murder" posters replaced, to promote their Summer concert series); B)because plenty of people had seen "Disco" already during its six previous shows (hardly likely, since "Marriage Can Be Murder" continued to sell out after two years and 21 shows); C)because of the holidays (The first "Disco" show was on Mother's Day weekend, and the first "Audition For Murder" show suffered a similar fate with its Good Friday scheduling); or any variety of minor reasons contributing to what wsa simply the wrong time to do the show.
However, there is a slight chance that "Disco" may still be performed, this time on June 22nd, replacing "Marriage Can Be Murder" as the intended Tag's show for that evening (with an already-scheduled audience of Mount Morris high school seniors). We'll see....

PHOTOS:
* none yet