Broadway musical comes to Rapid City - KOTA Territory News

Broadway musical comes to Rapid City

A new season and a new stage. The stars align to push the Black Hills Community Theater group to aim higher than ever.

"Now that we have a state of the art theatre with much more space, we decided to bring it out and do a large musical," said Michael Kraklaio, managing artistic director with the Black Hills Community Theater.

And how much bigger, and more ambitious do musicals get than 'Cats'?

"It was one of the most popular shows in Broadway and London. We're going to honor the music, but I am changing it visually, we're redoing the setting, costumes, makeup, to make it original, to make it Rapid City," said Kraklaio.

"We won't' be in traditional, cat garb, the unitard...not everyone can pull that off," said Michelle Martinson, ensemble actress. 

'Cats' contains not a single spoken word, its entirely sung.  A challenge that doesn't seem to faze the 26 actors in this production.

"For me its a lot easier because its easier to memorize a song than it is dialogue," said Martinson.

They've been practicing for more than six weeks and are eager to dazzle theater goers with an experience unlike anything they've they may have seen in the Black Hills.

"My goal is to make sure these 26 actors have a great time. if they have a good time and know what they're doing, the show will automatically be good, the audience will have a great time," said Kraklaio.

"Its a very cool experience,  you get there, you get to your seat you have your ticket, the lights go down...the overture starts...its just exciting!" said Martinson.

Excitement that's heightened by the commitment Rapid City has made to the performing arts.

Tickets go on sale September 15th and you can purchase them from www.BHCT.org. The musical runs for ten nights, starting on September 21th.