Let’s go back from 1943 up to 1965, when Rodgers and Hammerstein did their first stage play Oklahoma!. It was their first musical they ever did together and they loved it so much.
These revolutionaries were no fiery avantgardists. They were seasoned Broadwayhands, each with some 20 or more years of musical creation and collaboration behind them, and each at the top of his profession when they teamed up for Oklahoma!
Then came serious plotting—even death and the afterlife, as in Carousel, a love story involving not only a middle-aged man but racial complications in South Pacific, a non-love story, a kissless man-woman relationship, with a mature heroine and the death of a hero in The King and I.
There were the non-star productions in which then virtual unknowns like Alfred Duke, Celeste Holme, Yul Brynner, and Isabel Bigley shone forth in major roles.
The fabulous Broadway era of Rodgers and Hammerstein came to a close on June 15, 1963 when The Sound of Music closed after 1442 performances. And what an era it had been!
Julie Andrews
As the irrepressible Maria in The Sound of Music, Julie Andrews adds to her growing list of outstanding performances on both stage and screen. She dazzled Broadway, and later in London, as Eliza Doolittle in the unforgettable My Fair Lady, and went on to new triumphs as Stately Guinevere in Camelot, again on Broadway. Her motion picture debut in Mary Poppins charmed audiences. She garnered rave reviews for her next film role in The Americanization of Emily.
Christopher Plummer
Christopher Plummer (Captain von Trapp) recalls that his first audience was his pet dog. “As an only child living in the country, I went for long walks with my dog,” he says. “I had time on my hands and, when we would stop at a lakeside, the dog would play my straight man. I played kings, emperors, and knights.”
Eventually these lakeside appearances led to young Christopher performing in school plays. The many facets of Plummer’s talents are called into play brilliantly in his portrayal of Captain von Trapp.
Peggy Wood
Playing the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music is Peggy Wood, one of the great ladies of the American theatre. It’s a role that takes her back to the start of her career, and, despite the fact that she is internationally acclaimed as a dramatic actress, Wood was a star in musicals two generations before she began doing straight drama. She is probably best known for the record she set in television. For eight years Wood was the “Mama” of I Remember Mama.
Batley and Stewart
The next part of this is about Fred Batley and his old buddy and best close friend Jeffrey Stewart. Both of them are in the St. James Players.
Batley is the producer (and occasional actor) of the St. James Players, while Stewart is an actor as well.
On Sunday May 18, 2014, Stewart gave Batley an “Academy Award”—it was a blanket made for him for his great work with the St. James Players.
Stewart was in the 1980 production of Oklahoma! behind the scenes, and in 1982 he was in Annie Get Your Gun as the lion. In 1985 he appeared in The Sound of Music. Stewart was a contestant at Salzburg Music Festival.
In 2012 he was an usher at the 40th Anniversary of the St. James Players. Stewart tries to be a part of the St. James Players and he raised $500 for a new organ as St. James United Church from Rodgers Organ Studio in Toronto.
Fred Batley became the producer of the St. James Players in 2002. His productions are State Fair (2002), Fiddler on the Roof (2006), Bells are Ringing (2007), Wonderful Town (2009), White Christmas (2012), and Lady in the Dark (2013).
Fred Batley and Jeffrey Stewart promoted The Music Man in 2001 and Jungle Book in 2004. They were also a part of The 40th Anniversary of St. James Players. With Rodger and Hammerstein, Batley and Stewart are musical experts.
On Sunday August 24, the St. James Players did their Sunday Service. Some of the players were there including Fred Batley, Shirley Rolufs, Jeffrey Stewart, Betsy Ann Gyane, Mark Hiscox, and Justin Hiscox.
The Christian education of St. James United Church and the St. James Players’ Director Shirley Lannen had a meeting to choose a member of the St. James Players to be a representative to the great people before they get to church. They chose Jeffrey Stewart to be the representative.
Jeffrey Stewart has been doing this since 1972—42 years ago.