Recently, Gilbert Theatre Examiner Joe Gordon interviewed David Dietlein about our current production of Forever Plaid.  Below is part of the interview.  If you would like to read the interview in its entirety, please click here. Enjoy!

The Hale Centre Theatre management is devoted to presenting the very best in family entertainment, both for its loyal adult and youth patrons. The Hale Theatre presents the return engagement of one of its most popular shows, the musical Forever Plaid. When first presented in 2007, this internationally acclaimed musical was a sell out, turning away eager audiences nightly. The new production plays through July 10.

The Examiner chatted with Hale Producer David Dietlein about all things Hale last week. Dietlein is a man of many talents, in addition to producing, he is his company’s lighting, set and sound designer, a true renaissance man of the theater. David has been involved in all aspects of theater since a child. He is the grandson of respected theater greats Ruth and Nathan Hale (original founders of the Glendale Center Theatre). Dietlein has produced over 150 comedies and musicals. He brought the Hale Theatre to Gilbert in 2003 after working many years in Glendale along side his brother Tim. Dave oversees all aspects of each production and contributes greatly to the finished product.

Q:The Hale Theatre Centre is an exciting part of the Gilbert community. How many Hale Centre Theatres are there currently?

A: The original Hale Theatre is in Glendale California, right outside of Los Angeles. There’s also one in Salt Lake City’s West Valley and one in Orem, which is about fifty miles south of Salt Lake City. The Hale has a summer theater in Grover, Utah.

Gilbert is our newest home. We chose to build here because there wasn’t a permanent year round theater in Gilbert at the time. We have never regretted that decision. Each theater is totally, independently owned and operated. Our only connection is that we are all family.

Q: What do you consider important in planning each new production?

A: Each area has a different personality. My wife, Corrin, and I have talked about this a number of times. What might work in LA may not work in Arizona or Utah. The family talks about different shows, studying what might and might not work in the different locales. We have to look at what people like in the various locations. It’s definitely a learning process. We do find that our audiences in Gilbert respond well to shows that have a lot of action. It’s a little more over the top than I was used to in California. Here they like bigger more vibrant characters. We were talking about doing The Importance of being Earnest next year. Glendale had just done it and when I spoke to my brother, Tim, who runs that theater, told me that the Wilde play has an exhausting amount of clever dialog and not much action in it. I thought that it might not work for our audiences. One thing we have found here is that dramas don’t seem to do as well as the comedies and the musicals, of course, are always enormously popular.

Q: Like many of the Valley’s theater companies, the Hale has a vibrant children’s theater. Can you tell us about it?

A:We are really excited about our children’s program. While our shows are very interactive with our young audiences, they are equally as entertaining for the adults. The shows have a lot of humor. We try to mix modern with traditional. Some of the characters can be pretty wacky and a whole lot of fun but they are always bright and colorful.

We’re very thrilled about our next show, The Little Mermaid. This is an original work written especially for the Hale. In fact, one of its writers, Karey Kirkpatrick, is someone I knew in LA when he was going to film school. He came to us with the idea of adapting Hans Christian Anderson’s classic fairy tale for the Hale and the resulting show is just great. The Little Mermaid was a collaboration of love by Jonathon Hale and Sarah Sandberg, with the music by Karey Kirkpatrick and Byron Simpson. In fact, Karey was also involved as a writer or director for Madagascar, James and the Giant Peach, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Imagine That starring Eddie Murphy as well as Over the Hedge. The Little Mermaid will play from July 10 through November 27.

The Little Mermaid will play from July 10 through November 27 following our current production of The Princess and the Pea.

Q: This is not the first time the Hale has presented Forever Plaid. What convinced you to bring it back now and can you describe the new production?

A: We simply couldn’t get everybody in last time. It was a complete sell out. The new production has the same director, Mickey Bryce, who created all the magic the first time out. We have an new choreographer for the revival, Amanda Paige, who performed on Broadway for a number of years and is freshly relocated to the Valley. We have a great new group of actors, DeVal Johnson as Sparky, Devon Johnson as Jinx (no relation to DeVal), Stephen Erek as Francis and Nathan Turley as Smudge. Mickey Bryce is also the music director and our live band includes Lincoln Wright (piano), Stephen Tessier (bass) and Walt Partlow (drums).

This production will be a total change for the Hale. When the audience walks into the theater, they are in store for a delightful surprise. We are converting the auditorium into a proscenium thrust stage. We have draped off the north section, removing about fifty seats, replacing them with a stage. It’s very cool.

Forever Plaid is one of those shows that you can see over and over again and never get tired of it. Somehow the music of that era is like ice cream. It is such a treat. You can’t have enough of it. That’s a tribute to why the show is so popular and done so much all over the world. We are very excited to bring it back.

Next up for the Hale Centre Theatre Main Stage is the classic Irving Berlin musical Annie Get Your Gun. Annie Get Your Gun, follows Forever Plaid, opening July 16 and running through August 28.

All photos and artwork used by permission of Hale Centre Theatre.

For more information about performance schedule and ticket availability for Forever Plaid, Annie Get Your Gun, The Little Mermaid and/or The Princess and the Pea, please contact Hale Centre Theatre directly either ON LINE or the box office at (480)-497-1181.

Hale Centre Theatre 50 West Page Ave Gilbert 85233