Town Hall Theater Presents VERMONT SKETCHES 4/9-11

Is it possible to capture the beauty, wonder and quirkiness of Vermont? Popular local musician Gene Childers set out to do just that, and after composing 19 songs and putting together a cast of 27 performers, the result is Vermont Sketches, a musical revue by, for, and about the Green Mountain State.

The show finds humor and beauty in our everyday lives. An ode to Route 100 includes the lyric, "It's a beauty every time you drive it/and a challenge sometimes to survive it." Vermont seasons and Vermont stubbornness, a live country auction, and even Samuel de Champlain himself are the subject of hilarious songs and scenes.

Gene Childers wrote the music and lyrics, served as director, and does extra duty playing in the band along with his son Nathan, an accomplished New York jazz saxophone player who has come back to Vermont just for this event..

The show opened in Brandon last year to packed houses and rave reviews. One audience member called it "the best experience I've had in Brandon in 50 years." Another wrote, "If laughter is the best medicine, then health care need only be a ticket to Vermont Sketches!" A third chimed in, "What a show! Vermont Sketches has everything: comedy, pathos, tenderness, the full gamut of emotions."

Vermont Sketches will be performed at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater Friday & Saturday, April 9-10, at 8 pm and Sunday, April 11 at 2 pm. Tickets are $17/$10 students, and are available at www.townhalltheater.org, 802 382-9222, at the THT Box Office (Mon-Sat, noon-5 pm) and at the door.

Flannel shirts and mud flaps optional.

PHOTO CAPTION: Vermont Sketches, the hilarious feel-good musical revue written by Brandon resident, Gene Childers, will be performed at Middlebury's Town Hall Theater 4/9 & 10 at 8 pm and 4/11 at 2 pm. For tickets: www.townhalltheater.org, 382-9222 THT Box Office, Monday-Saturday Noon-5:00 p.m. or at the door.