Broadway animal trainer Bill Berloni and his sidekick Chico charm Horizons Town Talk

by Janet I. Martineau

A snippy, nippy Broadway actor with an attitude  took the stage Tuesday for the final program of the 2011-2012 Horizons Town Talk series at the Horizons Conference Center.

And the audience fell in love with him -- lining up after in the lobby to softly and carefully stroke his sandy-colored hair. But only two strokes per person please.

Remember the warning to actors to never to share the stage with children or animals, because they are scene stealers.

Bill Berloni and Chico at Horizons

Such was the case when dog trainer Bill Berloni brought Chico the chubby chihuahua mix along for his program titled “Making Stars Out of Strays.”

“I had to teach him to shut up because he talks (barks) all the time,” said Berloni of Chico, who had a starring role in “Legally Blonde: the Musical.” 

Now 7, the canine spent two years on Broadway with the show, two years touring with the show “and now he is my demo dog for my speaking engagements.”

Not bad for a two-year-old abused pup Berloni adopted from the Associated Humane Society of Newark, N.J.; whose aggressive behavior terrified the staff there; who bit Berloni on his second visit. The first day, when Berloni took Chico out for a trial walk, the pooch chomped down on a truck tire when its engine startled him.

“It took years of rehabilitation to get him this far, to trust, and two years to get him ready for the show (and he did have speaking lines in it). 

"Strangers still cannot come up to him and reach out to pet him. He is likely to bite them. But give him a treat when you reach out and you can pet him twice. Then comes the bark, and back off because he might bite next.”

But a bonafide ham Chico is. Resting in a carry on case as Berloni spoke, when the audience applauded two or three times at something Berloni said, Chico jumped out of the case and onto the floor, as if taking a curtain call bow.

Berloni has worked as an animal trainer for 35 years now; domesticated animals only for 23 Broadway shows in all; always strays or shelter animals. Last year he won a Tony for his efforts.

Not bad for a shy, nerdy, socially inept only child who grew up on a farm in Connecticut. Before he even went to school, he realized he could interact with animals better than people. He had a Collie, a cat and a rabbit back then.

In high school he found the drama club a safe place “because we said other people’s lines, funny and intelligent lines, and no one talked back at us.”

So he decided to pursue an acting career, he said. In the summer he helped build sets at this place called the Goodspeed Opera House. In 1976, when he was 18, the producer of a musical debuting there said one day, “How would you like a part in this show. All you have to do is find and train a dog for it.”

Thrilled this might be his acting break, but given no money to buy a dog, Berloni  got the idea to visit dog pounds; to “audition” dogs there  and take pictures with a Polaroid to show the producer. 

On his last stop one day, one little dog out of 100 was not barking and came running over when Berloni knelt down. He was told the abused dog was due to be killed the next day. He had $3; they wanted $7. His roommate gave him $4 at midnight and at the crack of dawn Berloni was back at the Connecticut Humane Society to buy the dog whether or not the producer liked it.

“I was given $35 for the summer to feed and train it.”

The musical? “Annie.” The dog’s name in the show? Sandy.

“Up until ‘Annie,’ a live dog had never played a character onstage. In movies yes, where the trainer could be calling the commands right next to the animal but out of camera range. A dog had never been live in a theater, with the need to get it right every night in front of thousands of people with the trainer nowhere in sight.”

So with absolutely no training in animal behavior or other theatrical dog trainers to study, Berloni “gave the dog a bath, and then it hung out in the scenic shop where I worked and gradually with the cast.”

Knowing the young actress playing the lead role would have to eventually give the dog its onstage commands, “I Iet them be kids early on and play together. A dog’s  link to and trust of an actor is key. I  also used, always, positive reinforcement; food and love. And if they think the ‘trick’ is their idea, they will do it.

“Then they told me Sandy needed an understudy. When the show became a hit, there was at one time five road companies so I had to train 10 more dogs....and by age 20 I became a famous animal trainer. By my fourth Broadway show I realized I was more talented as a trainer than an actor. And I loved rescuing animals.”

That original Sandy in “Annie,” by the way, worked the show for eight years,

Berloni, his wife and their 14-year-old daughter now live on a 90-acre Connecticut property housing 25 dogs (in training, working and in retirement), four horses, two lamas, a donkey, a pony, four chickens, two cats and a macaw. And yes, all the dogs live inside the home’s “dog wings.”

Among the show credits -- ‘Wizard of Oz,” “Camelot” as well as “Annie” and Blonde.” 

“Many of my dogs have played TheDow in Saginaw.” He employs “handlers”  to tour with them, and to be at every show with them In New York. “It’s a 24 hour job. We have to keep their training up and follow through with everything. In fact one of the people working for me is (former Saginawian) Dustin Harder.”

His critters also do commercials, print jobs, some movies “and I am not done learning. Every animal teaches me something new.” His book “Broadway Tails” tells his story as well as the stories of the abandoned and abused animals he has trained for the 23 Broadway show thus far.

Cats are tricky to train for a show. “I look for a cat that thinks it’s a dog.” So are terriers. “They test me all the time. They take advantage of your weaknesses."

Midland's Chippewa Nature Center hosting first-of-its-kind conference

by Janet I. Martineau

Sixty preschool teachers and administrators  from around the nation are camping out at Midland’s Chippewa Nature Center this Wednesday and Thursday.

Preschoolers at Chippewa Nature Center

Not literally -- they are housed at the upscale H Hotel in the city’s downtown.

But  over their two days they will settle in at Chippewa, 400 S. Badour, to hear two keynote speakers, pick and choose from nearly 25 breakout sessions, view a film,  participate in a scavenger hunt, and take a wagon ride to Chippewa’s Homestead Farm for a barbeque in what is billed as the nation’s first Nature-Based Preschool Conference.

“We have teachers and administrators coming from Vermont, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Georgia and Ohio as well as Michigan,” says Rachel A. Larimore, the director of education at Chippewa.

“As best we know there are just 20 to 30 nature-based preschools in the United States at present. We are still new, still developing and growing, and we do not quite fit in at early childhood conferences or at conferences for nature centers. We are a hybrid of the two, and we need to decide how do we define ourselves.”

So, she says, Chippewa Nature Center got the ball rolling and created  what will become an annual conference for nature-based preschools. “We hope it will start the building of a network -- the people attending will meet people they can call when they have questions on how to deal with issues that come up.

“It also will allow us to become more organized, to build an association and begin regular communication with each other.”

And perhaps most important of all, Larimore says, “It will establish the fact we are a profession and have established best practices.”

Chippewa opened its nature-based preschool five years ago, and even constructed a special 5,000-square-foot building to house its students. But the 60 visitors will only briefly visit that facility since it is in use.

Instead, they will meet in the classrooms at the adjacent Visitor Center, where Larimore and her colleagues have scheduled an impressive list of hour-long  breakout sessions. Among them are “Terrible to Terrific Transitions,” “Exploring Puppets,” “Augmenting Your Site for Better Nature Play,” “Ideas for Great Group Excursions,”  “Nature and the Brain,” “Creating Nature Journals With Children,” “Seasonal Activity Ideas” and “Working With Urban Centers.”

Leading the sessions are teachers and administrators not only from Chippewa Nature Center but also from the participating nature centers.

“We have the breakout sessions divided between two styles,” says Larimore. “One is traditional -- one or two presenters do the whole program. And the others are sharing sessions -- a presenter does a short overview and then facilitates a group discussion.”

The movie on tap is “Mother Nature’s Child,” which discusses the need for nature in the lives of children.

And the two keynote speakers are Patti Bailie, the director of Wisconsin’s Schlitz Audubon Nature Preschool, on “Best Practices for Nature-based Preschools,” and Jim Gill, a musician and author, on “Music Play for ALL Young Children.” Next year’s conference will take place at Schlitz.

Larimore was instrumental in the creation of Chippewa’s nature preschool, which so far has served more than 200 youngsters. She also authored the 93-page  book “Establishing a Nature-Based Preschool,” published by the National Association of Interpretation.

Pit and Balcony's "Sweeney Todd" a muddled mess

review by Janet I. Martineau

OK, first a word to the cast of “Sweeney Todd” at Saginaw’s Pit and Balcony Community Theatre. This review is not about you. You all did the very best you could under the circumstances, and your singing voices were stellar.

But your director, Michael Walling...WHAT was he thinking that resulted in turning this musical about madness into a muddled mess.

We LOVED Walling’s  “Jesus Christ Superstar” interpretation that was unique and different. It succeeded, in our mind. But with “Sweeney,” which he labeled in a newspaper story as a stylized version purists might not like, yikes.

In its frantic race to get to the end there was no time allowed for nuances and inflections from the cast and thus no emotion. The majority of songs were sung with such a vicious rapidity and over-the-top volume that the words were unintelligible. (I had to explain the story to the woman sitting next to me.) The sound system, at least on opening night Friday, sounded like an echo transmission from outer space.

Then there was the set. What the heck was it trying to say. Those HUGE gears at the back were distracting and tended to swallow up the people in front of them. The half dozen noisily moving towers...toward the end we thought we would scream if the cast moved them one more time in an attempt to create an imaginary scene. And we did scream (internally) when during Daniel Taylor’s singing of the lovely ballad “Johanna,” one of the few quiet numbers, those towers started moving to set up the next scene. NEVER upstage an actor with a set piece.

Red wooden chairs.....really, do people routinely stand on chairs to sing...made us giggle. The little fog machine that couldn’t....TURN IT OFF. When the barber killed his victims and then each of them proceeded to stand up, take his or her chair, and walk off the stage...talk about destroying a moment. If the orchestra nearly outnumbers the cast count....well, guess who will win.

And why was it some of the cast members had British accents (it is set in England) but others not a hint?

It was like Walling was saying “Sweeney Todd” is a dumb and horrible show and I am going to dis it; gonna turn it into a cartoon; gonna rob it of any humanity (and it DOES have humanity amid the carnage). If this is what stylized means, that a show is robbed of its humanity and any sense of detailing, then yuck.

But back to the cast.

Laura Peil somehow managed to triumph over most all of that in her lively performance as Mrs. Lovett, who turns the revengeful barber’s victims into best-selling meat pies. She speaks and sings with enough diction to save some of the play and displays at least some hint of being a human (albeit a sinister one).

Tony Serra in the lead role has a baritone voice to die for, and uses it well. But in the director’s apparent rush of this thing, his Sweeney Todd lacks any depth of character.

As for the rest of the cast, bravo for braving the super difficult Stephen Sondheim score. We can tell from the hints that are there, you did conquer its complexities, We also know most of you from other plays and what you are capable of as actors. You just got pushed under the speeding bus on this show.

And it could have been worse. We saw a “Sweeney Todd” in Detroit that had the cast members also the orchestra members -- each playing an instrument along with having to act and sing. What is it about this musical that makes directors want to mess with it?

We’ve also seen two more traditional productions...and to that we say, sometimes being a bit of a purist might be wiser.

Bay City Players tickle funnybone in "Drowsy Chaperone"

review by Janet I. Martineau

If ever, IF EVER, IF EVER a musical theater role was tailor made for Leeds Bird, it is as the Man in Chair (the narrator) of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” playing through Sunday at the Bay City Players.

And the long-time Bay City actor/director, who is a musical theater devotee and has even written co-written couple of them, milks it for every single movement and line inflection in a performance for the record books in any theater, not just community theater.

But he has company in this production -- and lots of it.

Michael Wisniewski directs a dream team to near perfection -- from the cast to the choreographer to the costumers to the orchestra. This is a “don’t miss” show. The cast is an assemble of over-the-top characters underplayed beautifully. The dance routines are exciting -- especially a tap routine by two men that ends up with one on roller skates and blindfolded. And the colorful period costuming....well it must have tapped the budget for the next decade.

Now, how to explain “Chaperone” since it is fairly new. In it a depressed curmudgeon (Bird) clad in a bathrobe grumps to the audience about how musical theater ain’t what it used to be. In the process he hauls out a 33 rpm record (remember those)  of a vintage and favorite show (“The Drowsy Chaperone,” from 1928), hugs it fondly, remarks how it is a two-record issue....and then proceeds to put it on his record player for us to hear.

And as it plays the show comes to life on the stage -- with Bird’s narrator keeping up a constant HILARIOUSLY droll commentary. He is a critic, a gossip, an historian all rolled into one -- passing judgement on a bad routine and an even worse song, and best of all informing dishing the dirt on the show’s actors as well as what happened to some of them in their later years. A flick of the wrist, a darting of the eyes, an inflection in the voice, a shifting of the body -- Bird reels us in from the get go.

Written by a quartet of folks (two on the music and lyrics and two on the script), it helps that “The Drowsy Chaperone” is one of the most fun musical theater scripts in years --  word play, sight gags, nutty characters, a crafty melding of contemporary life and the 1920s, and a warm-hearted spoofing of musical theater then and now.

SPOILER ALERT SPOILER ALERT...Keep in mind, Man in Chair is playing his 33 album for us. So, for those who remember 33 records, what do you think occurs twice? Once when just two people are on stage in a scene but the second time during a full-blown production number? THE RECORD GETS STUCK. I damn near had to leave, I got such a case of the giggles watching the actors repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat their words and movements.

We won’t spoil the other brilliances in the show but you can anticipate another A1 one  when Man in the Chair, who hate intermissions so we don’t get one,  goes off stage to take a pee and then returns.....and when the two pastry chefs (who are really gangsters) engage in some old groaners word play.

The 21-member cast is so comfortable in its acting, singing and dancing that the show becomes magically real. 

Director Wisniewski is graced with an abundance of top-notch singing voices and tap dancer supremes in David Bowden and Trevor Keyes. And while we cannot possibly name every cast member, we loved in particular the acting chops of Tezra Armstrong as the boozy title character, Dale Bills as the Latin lover Aldolpho (cliches abound and 

this show is NOT politically correct, praise be), Samantha Corrion on the tottery Mrs, Tottendale, Amanda Glashauser at the dim-witted Kitty and Steve Moelter as the long-suffering Underling.

Oh gosh, there are so many other sight gags we’d like to share, witty lines, cool costume gimmicks, an airplane scene, references to other musicals....but you need to discover them for yourself.

It has been a marvelous community theater season in Saginaw, Midland and Bay City, and to it “The Drowsy Chaperone” soars.

Saginaw pioneer comes to life during special program

by Janet I. Martineau

Kyle Bagnall as Ephraim Williams

A Saginaw pioneer comes to costumed, first-person life on Wednesday, May 2, when the Nurturing Nature series presents “Ephraim Williams, Pioneer Fur Trader.”

“When Ephraim and his brother, Gardner, lived in Saginaw, they were very involved with the growing town,” says Kyle Bagnall, who assumes the persona of Ephraim during the 7 p.m. program at the Green Point Environmental Learning Center, 3010 Maple.

“Ephraim was the first clerk of Saginaw Township, the first postmaster of Saginaw and building superintendent for the first Saginaw County Courthouse. His daughter, Julia, was one of the first white children born in Saginaw. His brother was the first supervisor of Saginaw Township and was elected the first mayor of Saginaw in 1857. And 1834, the Williams family built the first sawmill in the Saginaw Valley.”

And that does not even include the earlier family history connected to the War of 1812, which marks its 200th anniversary this year.

Thee manager of historical programs at Midland’s Chippewa Nature Center, Bagnall is no stranger to the Nurturing Nature series. He has presented three living history programs as Michigan explorer Bela Hubbard in various phases of his life.

He was intrigued to do the same with Williams, Bagnall says, “because of his fascinating life story at the end of the Michigan fur trade era and his involvement in the earliest era of settlement in the Saginaw Valley. This is one of my favorite periods of Michigan history, and I can’t think of a more fascinating family to bring it to life.”

Bagnall researched his script through Williams family contributions to the “Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections.” Published between 1876-1929, this 40-volume collection is a vast repository of pioneer reminiscences, biographical sketches,  memorials, and the proceedings of local pioneer societies.

As the story goes, Ephraim was born in Concord, Mass., in 1802. His father opened a trading post in Detroit in 1808,  and his ship was captured by the British at Mackinac Island during the War of 1812. The entire Williams family moved to Detroit in 1815 -- when Ephraim was 13, the oldest of eight children.

Ephraim and his brother arrived in Saginaw in 1828, as agents of the American Fur Company. They were responsible for the company’s trade and dealings with Native Americans for the entire Saginaw Valley, including posts at Midland and Sebewaing and along the Cass and AuSable Rivers. 

“During this program, I portray Ephraim in the year 1840, as he is closing up fur trading in the Saginaw Valley,” says Bagnall.  “My historical dress consists of reproductions from the period, typical for a fur trader in the Great Lakes region. I also use a variety of furs, an 1823 map reproduction, a knife, tomahawk, and other typical trade goods of the period.”

Ephraim eventually moved to Flint and was elected mayor in 1861.  He died in Flint 1890, at age 89.

Nurturing Nature is co-sponsored by the Friends of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge and the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, Admission is $2 at the door.

Dave Bennett plays the clarinet yes....but piano and drums too

Dave Bennett

review by Janet I. Martineau

OK, just about everyone living in Saginaw County knows that a downstate guy named Dave Bennett plays a mean clarinet. He actually channels Benny Goodman.

He’s nearly 28 now .... cut his teeth at age 14 with Saginaw’s own New Reformation Band; a regular these days at Spencer’s.

But on Sunday, at the Temple Theatre for the Saginaw Valley Concert Association series, he proved himself a heck of a pianist, drummer and singer as well. ( And a good master of ceremonies too, with just the right amount of banter and information between songs.)

It was an all Goodman show -- a “Dave Bennett: Benny Goodman Tribute” by title. But the music was all over the map -- boogie woogie, jazz, George Gershwin, the Beatles, Goodman standards and some less familiar. And number of players ranged from a full sextet to a more intimate trio.

Bennett is gracious towards his five-member band -- allowing most of them lengthy riffs within a number. Especially drummer Peter Siers, pianist Tad Weed (who toured with Paul Anka for 11 years) and vibraphonist Jim Cooper.

Which brings us to Bennett at the piano and drums.

“Benny’s Bounce” was played with four hands and one foot -- Bennett and Weed seated at the too-short piano bench pounding the keys boogie woogie style, changing places twice without missing a note, and with Bennett adding his right foot to the four hands at one point. It brought cheers.

Then came “Sing, Sing, Sing” at the end. Bennett was sorta walking up to or near each band member as he played a solo segment. Except when he walked up to Siers, Bennett picked up his own set of drumsticks, stayed standing and with Siers played an absolutely delicious drum duet/duel on one drum set. It was INCREDIBLE musicianship.  Breathtaking.

As for the singing, it came with the ballad “St. James Infirmary Blues,” one of the trio entries with just Bennett, the pianist and the upright bass.

“Running Wild” found Bennett playing his clarinet faster and faster. Who can ever get tired of hearing the smooth “Moonglow” or “Stardust.” “I Got Rhythm” -- it was the somewhere amid all the sidetracks. 

And the Beatles, you ask. Bennett said Goodman was a big Beatles fan back in the 1960s. And “Yesterday” sounds just lovely on clarinet.

Bennett and crew leave the soul well fed.

SBSO's 'A Night at the Movies' brasstacular

review by Janet I. Martineau

John Williams (center) amid some famous beings

It was a brasstacular Saginaw Bay Symphony Orchestra  concert on Saturday night at the Temple Theatre. One that found maestro Brett Mitchell in a playful mood -- sporting horn-rimmed glasses after intermission and then popping the buttons on his dress shirt to reveal a Superman T-shirt underneath.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” he said, noting his parents were in the balcony. “I hope I didn’t embarrass you.”

But not to worry. It was a purely pops “A Night at the Movies” concert featuring the music of Juilliard-trained composer John Williams in honor of his 80th birthday. And is was clear quickly on that Mitchell and the audience are major Williams and movie fans.

We use the word brasstacular because much of the composer’s music is brass heavy, and intensive, and wow did that beefed up section of the orchestra shine. For the most part the music was big and bold and cinematic. But there were softer more symphonic moments to savor as well.

Either way, close your eyes and within just a few notes...Darth Vader and Yoda were there. A shark and dinosaurs. Superman and J.F.K. A bicycle-riding Extra-Terrestrial and cowboys like John Wayne. The 1984 Summer Olympics and NBC Nightly News. And heroes named Indiana Jones and Oskar Schindler.

And always, quips from Mitchell. “I wish I could win an Oscar for writing just two notes,” he said after the Theme from “Jaws.” There there was his apology for giving away maybe too many of the plot developments in the “Star Wars”  Suite for Orchestra “but it’s been 32 years (since they were released) so if you have not seen them, then that’s your problem.”

Kidding aside, however, there is nothing like hearing this music played LIVE by a top-notch symphonic orchestra. Richness and color and nuances were everywhere from the percussion section to the violins.

The subtle and steady trumpet work of Mark Flegg and drums served Theme from “J.F.K” so very well. Concertmaster Sonia Lee got a standing ovation for her solo work on Theme From Schindler’s List” -- and we wondered if it was for her playing prowess or for the sheer emotional impact still of that movie, or perhaps both. Princess Leia’s Theme from “Star Wars” featured a trio of excellent solo work from a French horn, flute and violin.

It’s been awhile since a pops concert at SBSO. This one was a real keeper -- played in a facility that showed many of those movies back in their day and written by one of the movie world’s most prolific and gifted composers (five Oscars, 42 nominations, more than once competing against himself, from 1967 to 2011).

But gosh, we really wanted to hear those familiar notes from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” Mr. Mitchell. And maybe a hint of “Harry Potter.” Oh well.