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Editor’s note: When director Kristin Larsen asked local playwright and Daily News writer Michael Skubal what play to do this fall, he answered “Hodag!” Larsen said she was struck with the brilliance of the idea, and work on the production, which opens tomorrow night, began.

It’s been an enjoyable year for history buffs. The Oneida County Courthouse Centennial Celebration, the City Hall mural and the building’s 100th year, the tour of homes and the Logging Museum’s addition of Red’s Sawmill has piqued interest in the community’s story. There’s more to come.

The Rhinelander High School and Northwoods Community Secondary School drama department will offer it’s own bit of history this weekend by staging “Hodag!,” a musical by Dave Peterson. Performances are Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Nov. 20, 21, and 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $5 and there’s not a bad seat in the house. Kristin Larsen is the director. Nilla Sjoberg the assistant director.

Kurt Kortenhof, author of “Long Live The Hodag,” fills us in, “Eugene Shepard and his Hodag received international attention when the Wisconsin Idea Theater produced a 1964 play entitled “Hodag: A New Musical Based on the Exploits of Gene Shepard, Wisconsin’s Greatest Trickster.”

The playwright, Dave Peterson, derived much of his narrative from material collected by Robert E. Gard and L.G. Sorden for their 1962 book Wisconsin Lore. Sorden was the Oneida County agent and instrumental in starting the Logging Museum.

After premiering in Madison in April, the play made its way north and was performed in Rhinelander on July 18, 1964. “Hodag!” recounted Shepard’s run in with the Kentucky gunman, his ill-fated SS Hodag, and, of course, his Hodag hoax. It also, however, portrayed Shepard as a town promoter rather than solely a pointless prankster. The citizens of Rhinelander received the play well, and it exposed a large segment of the population to the positive aspects of Shepard’s character.

The musical was also entertaining. One reviewer recounted, ‘Peterson’s book has charm and humor, and his music has both the melody and the infectious rhythm that musical comedy needs.”

The music, all original for the play, includes “Who Wears the Pants At Your House,” “How Little It Takes,” “He’s A First Class Citizen,” “Let’s Suppose,” “Say No More Until You’ve Heard My Case,” “The Most Fabulous Boat In The World,” and the climactic “Hodag.”

It’s hard to think of the Hodag on the road, but upon completing its summer tour of Wisconsin, Hodag! traveled to Europe as part of the USO’s efforts to entertain troops overseas. The musical embarked on a seven-week 42 performance tour of France and Germany in 1965.

Dave Peterson was a University of Wisconsin-Extension faculty member who retired in 1995. According to the Wisconsin Music Archives website, “Beginning in the early 1960’s, Peterson began to write musical shows built around Wisconsin themes, and he carried forward the ‘Wisconsin Idea’ by staging them at county fairs, state parks, schools and other local settings around the state. There have been over 3400 performances of his works to Wisconsin audiences alone.”

Peterson and Rogers Keene, who played Gene Shepard in the 1964 version of the musical, will be on hand for the Saturday performance at the RHS auditorium. So will author Kurt Kortenhof. “At the time we were developing art for smaller communities,” said Peterson. “We did a command performance of Hodag! for Lady Bird Johnson in Spring Green. My biggest challenge for this version of the show was to find the original stuff and piece the original version back together.”

“Hodag!” is set in Rhinelander in 1908, 100 years ago. Besides Larsen and Sjoberg, the staff includes Choreographer Michelle Bryski and Choral Director Susan Stefonek. Jim Pekol provides the musical accompaniment. The cast is led by Max Sjoberg as Gene Shepard, Bob Pekol as Harry Wilson, Karie Simon as Miss Jennie Phillips, Justin Dietsche as Matt Stapleton, Noah Lundmark as Judson W. Spencer and Emily Erdrich as Millie Spencer.

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

RHS 1995 Crybaby wrote on Nov 19, 2008 12:09 PM:

" Move, no one is stopping you! "

1983 wrote on Nov 19, 2008 11:54 AM:

" Fair is Fair. I agree. And I was in drama and sports in high school. If some extra curricular activities are cut, they should ALL be looked at. "

RHS 1995 wrote on Nov 19, 2008 10:08 AM:

" If people want to cut the athletics in Rhinelander because it has nothing to do with educating the children, why in the world would we support the arts or music studies. Since we have a 1950 style building why dont we go back to the 1950 basics - Reading Writing and Math nothing else. We could offer athletics only for the boys. "

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