3 minute read
Love Stings
A Note from the Author of "Love Stings"
by Richard Castle
Bees are incredible creatures. One little bee pollinates up to 5,000 flowers per day. It can carry its own weight of pollen and nectar back to the hive, where something magical happens. The entire colony works together to transform it into something beautiful: honey. Honey is a natural miracle; it never spoils. It’s been found sealed in Egyptian tombs, fresh as the day it was made. One beekeeper told me that opening a beehive is “like finding gold.”
I didn’t know the first thing about bees when I began writing Love Stings, my new musical set on a bee farm. But the more I learned, the more I realized that making honey has a lot in common with putting on a musical.
Honeybees return to the same spot every year to pollinate, much like we return to Door County each summer to see a Northern Sky show. And like wine, the taste of honey differs depending on the crop, making each vintage an entirely unique production. Northern Sky premieres a new musical every year, each one also an entirely unique production.
It takes a lot of bees to produce a jar of honey, and it takes a lot of talented folks to produce a musical. For every actor you see onstage, there are many busy bees behind the scenes. Backstage is a hive of activity, with set designers, costumers, musicians, and production staff striving to create something beautiful. Our queen bee is director Pam Kriger, who also helmed our last show, Oklahoma in Wisconsin. I’m especially grateful to Jeff Herbst for not telling me to buzz off when I pitched him a musical about bees.
The biggest similarity between honey and musicals has to do with love, which is important enough that I included it in the title of Love Stings. Beekeepers love what they do. They feel an emotional, even spiritual connection to their bees and honey. I love musicals. I feel an emotional, even spiritual connection when I’m in an audience, sitting under the stars at a Northern Sky show.
Whether you find Love Stings to be as sweet as honey or maybe even a little sappy, you’re all beekeepers tonight. Let’s open the hive and find some gold!
Love Stings
Book & Lyrics by Richard Castle
Music by Matthew Levine
Director & Choreographer Pam Kriger
Music Director & Music Supervisor Alissa Rhode
Orchestrator Dennis Keith Johnson
Stage Manager Shawn Galligan*
Asst. Stage Manager Hayden Hoffman
Puppets All Stitched Up Puppets
Costume Designer Karen Brown-Larimore
Lighting Designer Jason Fassl
Sound Designers Ben Werner & Derly Vela
Scenic Designer Adam Stoner
Props Designer Lisa Schlenker
Cast of Characters
Doc Dudley ................................................................................Alex Campea
Claire Fairweather..................................................................... Molly Rhode*
Nutty Boyd ..................................................................................Zach Woods
Elizabeth Boyd.............................................................. Corrie Beula Kovacs
Jeri Nichols/Operator..................................................Lachrisa Grandberry*
Bill Zapper............................................................................... Doug Clemons
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
Musicians: Alissa Rhode | Dennis Keith Johnson | Colin O’Day
"Love Stings" is sponsored by Door County Medical Center, Door County Candle Company, Tony & Judy Licata, Main Street Market, On Deck Clothing Company, Nicolet National Bank, The White Gull Inn
