WEST MILFORD — Start your holiday season off with a classic as the West Milford Players stage "March of the Wooden Soldiers" three weekends in November and December. This show is adapted from the 1934 Laurel and Hardy film.
Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee are bumbling apprentices to the master toymaker of Toyland. This joyous, fairy-tale community is populated by all the colorful Mother Goose characters we know and love; the one sour apple in the barrel is mean old Silas Barnaby. Barnaby holds the mortgage on the outsized shoe where Widow Peep and her daughter Little Bo Peep reside.
A very talented and diverse group comprises this cast. Ringwood resident Scott Coburn is Ollie Dee, Hewitt resident Grace Soriano is Stannie Dum, Tony Kirk of Newfoundland is the toymaker, John Santalla of Little Falls plays Santa. Kristen Rotello of Wyckoff is Mother Goose, Elisa Tornow of West Milford is the Widow Peep, Kelsie Daniels of Kinnelon is Bo Peep, Steven Bunin of Fairlawn is TomTom, Kalyn Shaible of West Milford is Old King Cole, Larry Tornow of West Milford is the magistrate, Frank Catalano of Ringwood is Barnaby Silas.
Rounding out the cast from West Milford is Leah Mora as a doll, Christine Alessio as Mary Mary, Megan Hubbard as Little Red Riding Hood, Grace Fiorilla as Willie, Mia Grizzuti as Jill, Maya Pagano as Elmira, Sophia Jordan as Santa’s helper, and Kyle Guell, Nicolas Schmelz and Charlie Rodriguez as Boogeymen. From Hewitt are Elisabeth Lynn as Miss Muffet, Soren Schwerner as Jack and Mary Soriano as Curly Locks. Belle Dykstra from Wanaque plays Little Sally and Amanda Merino from Bloomingdale is a fairy.
Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for students and seniors. The show will be performed at the Hillcrest Community Center, 1810 Macopin Road. As is always the case, the West Milford Players will donate a portion of its proceeds to a non-profit group, this time the Soldiers' Animal Companions Fund.