What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette I n baseball, up-and-coming players dream of making it to "the show" — the big leagues where they get a chance to shine among the legends. In community theater, it works much the same way. You earn your place at the front of a cast that includes Michael Weir, Caity Church, Lexie Edmunds, Kevin Lancaster and Kathy McClure. This summer, in a jukebox musical titled "Disaster," that ascending star at Arkansas Public Theatre is Edward Mountz. As co-star Patrick Edmunds — another one of those APT legends — puts it: "He's killing it." Mountz plays Chad, "a charismatic ladies man who is trying to meet new women after a pretty messy and rather sudden breakup," as he describes the character. He's working on a floating casino, The Barracuda, which comes complete with high-dollar guests, an "aging but still sexy" jazz singer, a disaster expert who knows one when he sees one — and Chad's ex, a reporter, played by Lexie Edmunds. Mountz admits drawing on his own long-ago breakup for inspiration, but when he sings "I Can't Live," you'll know that silly girl missed the boat! "Growing up with my dad, he was a classic rock guy," Mountz explains. "I rarely ever heard anything else other than classic rock from the '60s, '70s and '80s. When I found out that this show was a '70s jukebox musical, I had to be a part of it. "Most of the time when I go into a musical, I have probably only heard the soundtrack a few times, and so I have to dedicate extra time to learn that music, but with this one, I already know most of the songs by heart," he adds. "The biggest challenge for me has definitely been JULY 24-30, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 3 FAQ 'Disaster' WHEN — 8 p.m. July 29-30; 2 p.m. July 31; again Aug. 4-7 and Aug. 11-14 WHERE — Arkansas Public Theatre at the Victory in Rogers COST — $25 & up INFO — 631-8988, arkan- saspublictheatre.org See Disaster Page 4 Certain 'Disaster' APT musical parodies campy '70s films Edward Mountz plays the romantic lead, Chad, who is accidentally reunited with his former love, reporter Marianne Wilson (Lexie Edmunds), on the floating casino The Barracuda, where bigger disasters await. (Courtesy Photo/Chad Wigington for APT) Patrick Edmunds illustrates the dangers of setting sail on a floating casino in the APT production of "Disaster." (Courtesy Photo/ Chad Wigington for APT) "Disaster" parodies the disaster films of the 1970s like "Poseidon Adventure," "Towering Inferno" and "Jaws." Co-director Ed McClure says "there is a burial at sea moment that is so wrong it is right!" (Courtesy Photo/Chad Wigington for APT) COVER STORY