An (alleged) actor prepares for his next (alleged) role

I have been interested in the performing arts such as movies and theater for quite some time now.  Despite this interest and knowledge, I have yet to be considered an actor; much less any important person involved in film making and stagecraft.  However, in the past two years, I have been involved with an acting troupe that at least once every year puts on a show in front of an audience consisting of our families and others from the Town of Oyster Bay, New York.  It relates to the Town's Group Activities Program for the Disabled, for which I am considered due to having Asperger's Syndrome. 

Each Spring since 2013, I have been involved in acting in a play or musical of some sort.  In 2013, I was both Bill the candy store owner and a composite of the TV reporters in Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory.  The next year, we did something different in a number of us portrayed important singers over the past 60 years.  It was our take on a Legends in Concert performance you might see on a cruise ship.  For my part, I was John Belushi in his Blues Brothers alter ego.  This past May, I was the Chris Penn character Willard in an interesting hybrid staging of Footloose.  We took elements from both the film and the later Broadway musical.  So, I got to sing (gasp!) a couple different times, notably the Randy Newman sound alike Mama Says.  Now, try picturing me singing this.

Sadly, I did not get to do the full song.  Oh well, had to make it just under an hour and 10 minutes.

So, next month the GAP drama program gets back in business after having the summer off.  I am hoping we may be able to do something for the Christmas season, even though it might be at best a holiday themed Legends in Concert sort of occasion.  None the less, we are definitely going to put on a show sometime next year in either April or May.  I would like to believe that before the year is out, we will find out what play/musical act we are doing.

This is where you come in.  I have some ideas that I would hope receive the necessary traction and approval of the GAP leadership; though I am far from the only person jotting down ideas.  Here are quite a few that I have considered for what we could do.

Disney related.

Inside Out
Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs
Toy Story (any of the movies)
Wall-E
The Lion King

Jim Henson related.

The Muppet Movie
The Great Muppet Caper
The Muppet Show (a sort of best of sketches)
Sesame Street (perhaps some of the better sketches over the years)
Labyrinth
The Dark Crystal
The Cube
The Storyteller ( any of a number of episodes)
A number of different TV specials involving Jim Henson and/or the Muppets
Note:  There would be no need to use puppetry.  I would prefer those involved being ourselves, yet imitating our characters by wearing related costumes.  In the case of a character like Kermit The Frog, a sweater or onesie (jumpsuit pajama) will suffice.

All ages acceptable, musical or film based

The Last Unicorn
Fun Home
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
Finding Neverland (possibly the movie version)
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
Yellow Submarine
Bye Bye Birdie
Star Wars (any of the movies; though I have not yet seen Episode VII yet)
The Sandlot
Wallace and Gromit
Shaun the Sheep
The Pirates
Fantastic Mr. Fox
E.T.

I like these, although opinions may vary

Company
West Side Story (no alterations to the ending)
Into The Woods
Starlight Express
Cats
My Dinner With Andre
Toys
The Wall
Me and Earl and The Dying Girl
The Land Before Time
The Odd Couple (preferably the Lemmon-Matthau film)
The Producers
Blazing Saddles
Monty Python's Flying Circus (any number of sketches)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Spamalot


And a special section.  Should we be doing another Legends in Concert type show, I think we could do some of these artists.

Pink Floyd
Sir Paul McCartney
The Who
ABBA
Janet Jackson
Peter Gabriel
Joni Mitchell
The Temptations
Prince
George Harrison
Stevie Wonder
Billy Joel
The Pretenders
U2
Paul Simon
Kiss
Arcade Fire
Husker Du
The B-52's


Where you come in is as follows: I would like to know what you think of these suggestions.  I would also like to know if you have any ideas of what we could do for next year.  If you can, please either comment or post or like this essay either here or on Facebook.  I would like to hear from you.

Here is an added incentive:  you can give me a suggestion, and if anyone asks, I could post a video of me acting out a role from that particular character and/or play/musical/movie.  Think of it like a screen test, or rather one of those lip sync dubbing videos only it is me actually saying the lines.

If you want, I can post an idea for what sort of musical I might like, though others are not sure.  I really think we could do a play such as this; provided some material is altered.

Once again, let me know what all of you think about these ideas.  I would like to hear your ideas as well.

Surprisingly have not been to a Broadway show in quite a while,

Robert Kelly