It was a decade ago this month when I reviewed “The Beverly Hillbillies, The Musical” for the 2014 world premiere staged at Theatre at the Center at The Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster.
I described it as “old-fashioned home-spun fun paired with an all-star cast and an impressive set design, all reasons for audiences to ‘rest a spell’ and enjoy the corny and all-in-good fun stage hospitality of the Clampett Clan, as resurrected from the popular CBS sitcom from Paul Henning that debuted in the early 1960s.”
By the time the musical had been unveiled in Munster, it had already been in the works for three years.
“The Beverly Hillbillies, The Musical” was created by the late Tony-nominated writer David Rogers, who died a year prior in 2013, with some portions completed by his daughter Amanda Rogers, all matched with music by award-winning composer Gregg Opelka.
The show’s premise uses a simple plot to hold true to the show’s first episodes establishing how the family came to wealth and a new life in Beverly Hills. Secondary plots include Elly May’s and Jethro’s would-be new romances and a couple of swindlers trying to take control of the Clampett’s fortune.
As I recall, the two brightest and best ensemble song and dance numbers are “We’re Movin’ West” and “Stamp It Like a Clampett.”
If you missed this world premiere event in Northwest Indiana from a decade ago, there is once again an opportunity (of sorts). The original play version of the stage story titled “The Beverly Hillbillies” is included for the new 2024-25 season for Footlight Players in Michigan City.
Directed by Laura Meyer with performances Nov. 6 to 17, the script, which is licensed through Dramatic Publishing of Woodstock, Illinois, is the original work penned by the late Rogers. Tickets, which go on sale next month, are priced at $17 at www.footlightplayers.org or 219-874-4035.
When “The Beverly Hillbillies, The Musical” was revealed in the summer of 2014, it was the highlight of the Theatre at the Center’s 25th Season as programmed by General Manager Richard Friedman and Artistic Director William “Bill” Pullinsi. It included an all-star cast of Chicago talent, including said 6-foot-5-inch tall actor John Stemberg as Jethro, enduring a wardrobe purposely designed two sizes too small and always featuring rope around the waste.
Directed by David Perkovich, the Theatre at the Center production was created with a budget investment of more than $400,000, and took inspiration from the 200 episodes and nine seasons of the beloved 1960s CBS sitcom.
Jim Harms played Jed, Kelly Anne Clark was Granny, and Summer Smart was cast as Elly May. The show even features the classic theme song “The Ballad of Jed Clampett,” as written by producer and songwriter Paul Henning.
Rogers died at age 85 on June 5, 2013, in Westport, Connecticut. In addition to his Broadway career, he wrote for television on such series such as “The Jackie Gleason Show” and “The Carol Burnett Show.”
Rogers had the full blessing of the Henning Estate (Paul died in 2005). Henning’s actress daughter Linda Henning, known for her red-head role on her dad’s other rural series “Petticoat Junction,” attended the opening night of the musical in Munster.
In March 2016, I attended “a stage reading” of a reworked “The Beverly Hillbillies, The Musical” held secretly at Tommy Gun’s Garage in downtown Chicago and led by Amanda Rogers and Gregg Opellka.
Stemberg returned to read Jethro, as did much of the other cast names including Harms as Jed and Clark as Granny, as well as Norm Boucher as banker Mr. Drysdale and Tina Gluschenko as Miss Jane Hathaway, joined by Julie Baird stepping in as Elly May, along with Audrey Billings-Stone, Patrick Martin, Dan Miller, Alyssa O’Donnell and David Sajewich.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center. He can be reached at pmpotempa@comhs.org.
