“Follies” staged at college

Merilyn Potters

Friday, Nov. 8, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

He had the common sense of Ben Franklin, the popular appeal of Colin Powell, the political wit of Mark Twain and the showmanship of Jay Leno.

All the folks who met him liked him. And certainly, he never met a man he didn't like.

Such is the legacy of the man immortalized in "The Will Rogers Follies," the Tony-award-winning musical that will be staged by the Community College of Nevada's Performing Arts Center Friday through Nov. 24.

The production will put a down-home spin on the life of one of America's modern-day folk heroes, says director Chuck Rounds.

That's while actor Wayne Larson, who will portray Rogers, will be putting a spin on his rope.

Will Rogers, who lived from 1879 until 1935, accompanied his humorous monologues with rope tricks. He appeared in early-century reviews known as the Ziegfield Follies in New York, acted in movies, and wrote a series of syndicated newspaper articles in which he poked fun at the great figures of the day.

"'The Will Rogers Follies' tells the life story of Will Rogers in a Ziegfieldian way with lots of songs and dances and interspersed with his comments and comments about him," says director Rounds.

Like Ben Franklin, he was down to earth and wise, Rounds says.

"He'll be the narrator and the participant in his own story,"

Larson says it's a story of an amazing man, one who was the beneficiary of a new era.

"Newspapers and radio had started. People before him didn't have the same load of mediums. He had radio and motion pictures and was quickly famous. He even ran for president."

Seriously. Under the De-Bunk party, he stole the race in the District of Columbia.

"He was flattered," Larson says. "Those were the politicians who voted him in."

Rogers was a Colin Powell kind of guy, Larson says, liked by all politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike.

But he was a satirist, too, of the Mark Twain mold.

The play will spotlight Rogers' renowned schtick, in which he quips over newspaper stories of the day. Some of those headlines may sound a familiar ring to audiences today, such as those that appeared in the Feb. 27, 1921, New York Times:

"New Yugoslavian republic torn by ethnic strife."

"Anti-cigarette legislation pending in 42 states."

"President accused of philandering."

More than 60 years later, history has repeated itself, Rounds notes. "As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same."

Rogers himself was a foreshadow. He was the first of the modern talk show hosts, in the same vein as Jay Leno, Larson says.

"It was before television, but he was one of those guys who could talk the talk.

"When people were going through the Depression, he was seen as a good-natured guy, someone who would lift their spirits.

"He was the kind of guy everyone relates to -- a country boy who only went through fifth grade."

The play, which first appeared on Broadway in 1991 and won a Tony that same year for the best musical, has not been produced in Southern Nevada until now.

It's a cooperative effort of the fine arts department, Rounds says, with participation from the music, dance and theater programs. The actors are "primarily students, some community people and some UNLV students."

"As far as the production, I have chosen to keep the company small. I'm giving each actor more things to do, enhancing the theatricality for members of the chorus to step out in a role."

In addition to the Ziegfield-styled chorus, Rogers' father, wife and his four children will help him recount his personal and professional life, Rounds says.

At 37, Larson will play Rogers at all stages of his life -- briefly as a boy sitting on his dad's lap, to a teen-ager, to marriage, to running for president, to his death resulting from an airplane crash.

"I won't be dressing the different ages," says Larson, who's "played kid parts practically my whole life."

Most recently, he's played in Signature Productions' Secret Garden and West Side Story.

For his Will Rogers performance, he'll meet his "forte."

"The music in this one is exactly what I do. I'll sing a lot of baritone ballads -- beautiful music."

But he's also learning something entirely new for the role: spinning rope.

"The first time, I was pretty pathetic. I've had to get to where I look like I do this for my life."

Larson will cast the flat spin, the wedding ring, the merry-go-round and "maybe the Texas Skip" -- all rope tricks that look like they sound.

And all signature moves of the man who could be a model for modern times.

"Will is hard not to like," Larson says. "He's honest. He works hard. He loves his wife. He's loyal. He's funny.

"What is there not to like?"