The musical Paint Your Wagon told the story of life in an 1853 California gold rush town. Based on the 1951 Broadway play, our production was much more family-oriented than the 1969 movie.  Paint Your Wagon featured love interests, singing, and can-can dancing in the tradition of the playwrights’ musical My Fair Lady.  Jennifer, Ben’s tomboy eighteen-year old daughter, falls in love with a young miner and matures into a sophisticated young lady.  Songs include They Call the Wind Maria, I Talk to the Trees, Elisa, Wandering Star, and many others.  The cast included junior high school-and-older singers and dancers in this ambitious production suitable for all ages.

Directors Barry & Earlene McCleave held auditions for Paint Your Wagon on 31 May  and 1 June at the Parkside Playhouse. There were 3 leads—a young woman, her father, and a young man—plus  singing gold miners, 2 female lead dancers, a male dancer, can-can dancers (about 8 fandangos), 2 female singers, and other speaking parts.