Flathead Valley youths dive into ‘Finding Nemo JR.’
Daily Inter Lake | Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 15 hours, 47 minutes AGO
Two casts of students from the Flathead Valley will perform an Alpine Theatre Project production of "Finding Nemo JR." The Dory cast features, from left, Andrew Willis as Marlin, Cora Reinbolt as Dory, and Audrey Wampler. (Photo by Matthew Wetzler at Thewmatt Photography)
One hundred forty youths will swim through four performances of Alpine Theatre Project’s production of “Finding Nemo JR.” Oct. 16- 18 at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.
Based on the Pixar film “Finding Nemo,” the musical follows Marlin, an anxious clownfish, across the ocean to find his kid Nemo with help from the forgetful and optimistic Dory, the sea turtle Crush and the Tank Gang. The musical score by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, the songwriters of the film “Frozen,” includes “Just Keep Swimming," "Fish Are Friends Not Food" and "Go With the Flow."
The student actors hail from Whitefish, Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Bigfork and across the Flathead Valley.
"These kids have worked incredibly hard,” Director Tracy McDowell said. “We have 140 performers in two full casts, and they’ve turned the stage into an ocean. They’re funny, fearless, and I can’t wait for the valley to see them."
The stage will be transformed into a reef of sharks, moonfish, jellyfish and a school of reef kids, with costumes by Molly Burns and Jenny Krasteva and a set by technical director Hunter White with lighting by Rachel Burke. Music direction is by Ross Bridgeman, with assistant direction by Parker Scherer.
The Marlin cast performs at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Oct. 17. The Dory cast performs at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Oct. 18.
Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children, which includes service fees, and can be purchased at atpwhitefish.org/shows.
The Whitefish Performing Arts Center is located at 127 Spokane Ave., Whitefish.