Mill Mountain Theatre marks 60th anniversary with show tunes and Top 40 hits

Most of the cast and crew of Mill Mountain Theatre’s 60^th anniversary concert weren’t even born when the curtain first lifted in 1964.

During a pause in a rehearsal of pop hits with big harmonies — Toto’s “Africa,” Rihanna’s “FourFive Seconds” — cast members expressed delight at the chance to be part of this celebratory show, which takes place Friday and Saturday on the theater’s Trinkle Mainstage. 

Even though their involvement with Roanoke’s stalwart professional theater began relatively recently, they demonstrated contagious enthusiasm while discussing Mill Mountain’s legacy. 

“I’m from Tazewell,” said Sarah Coleman, 29. one of the concert’s lead vocalists. “I grew up watching plays here all the time, and I just always thought it would be so cool if one day I could be up on that stage. I’d be like,” and she affected a country drawl, “‘Oh my God, I made it!’ if I did it.”

A Radford University alumna, Coleman is returning after performing in two previous Mill Mountain Theatre concerts and last year’s production of the musical “Bright Star.”

“The fact that I get to be a part of the 60th anniversary is so cool, like high-fiving little Sarah who’s like, ‘Hey, you did it!’” she said.

“I was fortunate enough to be here six years ago in ‘West Side Story,’ and I loved it,” said 27-year-old Manhattanite Jeffrey Keller. “Ever since, I’ve been wanting to come back. Finally, something lined up, and I’m so thrilled to be back. I think it’s a testament to Ginger [Poole] and the whole team here that actors and vocalists want to come back and work for these people and work for this company and be in this city.”

“Right now, if a theater celebrates five years, that’s impressive; but 60 years, that’s really, really incredible,” said Sam St. Ours, multi-instrumentalist and music director for the 60th anniversary concert. “Coming up with this setlist, it was just like, the history of this theater is really rich. To show people just how long 60 years is, playing music that was popular in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s is a really good way to contextualize it.” 

A native of Harrisonburg, St. Ours, 28, said, tongue-in-cheek, that he goes wherever the work is, so his home address is his car. With Mill Mountain, “I’ve worked on three shows, and this will be my fourth production here,” he said. “We’re a part of this and we’re the now. It’s just a really incredible capstone on a great legacy. But what’s really cool is that it’s still going. The concert for the 61st year, it’s going to be just as big.”

Ginger Poole, Mill Mountain Theatre’s producing artistic director, is directing and choreographing the concert, which she summarized as “just a perfect little night of music and the theater.”

As well as Top 40 tunes from the past 60 years, “you’ll see some musical theater tunes” from the likes of “Guys and Dolls,” “My Fair Lady” and “Children of Eden,” she said. “We try to cover those six decades, but we also wanted to keep it light and fun. It’s a party. It’s our birthday party. I mean, we will have party hats and cupcakes.”

The show also provides Mill Mountain with an opportunity to showcase in-house talent, as education director Francesca Reilly and business manager Larry Kufel are both featured vocalists. Graduating seniors from the theater’s conservatory program for youth will also perform.

The concert won’t be the only way Mill Mountain Theatre acknowledges its diamond jubilee. The 60^th season brings back well-received productions from previous years such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Annie,” and notably adds a fourth Trinkle Mainstage play, “Cabaret,” a musical that MMT was forced to cancel in 2020 during the pandemic shutdowns.

Performances of “Cabaret” take place in June. “It’s still very relevant and it is a classic,” Poole said. “So we’re happy that’s finally coming to fruition for us. We’ve almost brought back and produced everything that got canceled in that 2020 season, with the exception of ‘Dreamgirls.’”

In January, Poole announced her intention to retire after 15 years as the first woman to lead Mill Mountain — so should Mill Mountain Theatre’s “Dreamgirls” finally come together, that show will go on with someone else in the artistic director’s chair. 

However, on a recent Saturday, answering emails behind her desk on the second floor of Center in the Square, Poole didn’t appear particularly retired — though as far as finding a replacement goes, “the search has officially started,” she said. There will be time for the board of directors to bring a new leader on board, whom Poole expects to assist during a period of transition. 

“And then I can moonwalk out,” she said.

Her exit will bring to an end yet another of Mill Mountain Theatre’s many eras.

During the concert, audience members will be asked to answer trivia questions about the theater’s six decades of history. No one will be graded on their MMT acumen — nonetheless, for those who might like a refresher before the show, here are a few key dates:

1964: Then known as Mill Mountain Playhouse, the theater opens in the Rockledge Inn atop Mill Mountain.

1976: Rockledge burns to the ground, a case of suspected arson that was never solved. The following summer, Mill Mountain Theatre performances resume at another storied institution, the Grandin Theatre, Roanoke’s oldest surviving movie house. The theater company launches its “Phoenix Season” with a hit production of “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

1983: The theater moves to downtown Roanoke, taking up residence inside Center in the Square, a nonprofit founded to provide rent-free or low-cost housing for arts and culture nonprofits.

1985: A memorably severe Roanoke Valley flood damages many homes and businesses, including Mill Mountain Theatre, where the first-floor stage takes on about 13 feet of water.

1986: Jere Lee Hodgin becomes head of Mill Mountain Theatre, a position he will hold until 2005, when he steps down as producing artistic director. Named Roanoke’s 1999 Citizen of the Year, he oversees MMT’s transition from a summer stock company to a year-round professional theater. 

1990: Mill Mountain adds a second, smaller black box theater in the newly opened Center on Church building at 20 Church Ave. S.E. in Roanoke. At first called Theater B, the name is changed 10 years later to Waldron Stage.

2009: Debt problems nearly shutter Mill Mountain for good. A gradual, financially conservative comeback plan, community goodwill and Ginger Poole’s leadership bring the theater back to full flower.

2023: The Christmas production “Elf, the Musical” sets an all-time MMT box office record.