My name is Larry Billman and my "Role" is one of the proud birth-parents of "Hoop

Dee Doo" with Bob Jani, Tom Adair, aul !uter and "orrest Bahruth# $n %&'(, $ went
to ioneer Hall to see the )enue and ima*ine the possibilities# $ returned to my +ob
as "Mana*er, !how De)elopment, Disneyland" and be*an writin* the show with Tom
and aul, deli)erin* a ""irst Draft" in mid-,-tober, -alled "The .hoop Dee Doo
Re)ue#" .ith input from Bob Jani, we deli)ered a /nal-draft s-ript on 0o)ember %1th
and be*an loo2in* at )ideotapes for a new *roup of -olle*e students, -alled "The All
Ameri-an 3olle*e Musi-al 3omedy .or2shop#" The -ast was sele-ted 45 playin* the
roles on a re*ular basis6 and % male and % female "!win*#" - playin* all ( male or
female roles#
$n early June the -ast arri)ed to .D. - and rehearsals be*an#
!ele-ted from o)er 577 auditionees, the ori*inal -ast was Marilyn Ma*ness - 8ni) of
Redlands, 3A 4"Dolly"6, Brad 9oodin* - Allen Han-o-2 3olle*e, 3A 4"!i: Bits6, John
.indsor - Ari;ona !tate 8ni) 4"Johnny"6, Jude <othman - !am Houston !tate 8ni), T=
4"3laire6, 9ary <ortemeir - $llinois .esleyan 8ni) 4"Jim"6 and <ate Ri-hards - .illiam
.oods 3olle*e, M, 4""lora#"6 The swin*s were Leslie <im 0orris - Berry 3olle*e, 9A
and Ted <in* - 3entral .ashin*ton !tate# Tommy Russell, .D. piano wi;ard, a-ted
as rehearsal pianist 4hen-e "rofessor Tommy"6# Andrew "ieldin* - >alley !tate
3olle*e, 3A, !te)e !-ha?er - Adams !tate 3olle*e, 3olo and Ron Da)is - 3al !tate
"ullerton, were the musi-al trio# "orrest Bahruth was the -horeo*rapher# Ja-2 Muhs
desi*ned the -ostumes# 9ary 9oddard was my assistant and Tony 4then "Jen2ins"
now "3hristopher"6 assisted "orrest# The rehearsals were -ondu-ted as a wor2shop,
with the -ast de/nin* the -hara-ters, impro)isin* and addin* details and lau*hter#
Brad 9oodin* 2new e)ery old @ terrible +o2e in the world and added many to the
show# .hat the *uests would a-tually do in "Da)y 3ro-2ett" was an un2nown - as
well as what the "oods sta? would feel -omfortable doin*# The show opened on June
(7
th
%&'1 and the pri-es were Adult, A%%, Junior 4%B-%'6, AC#BD and 3hild 4(-%%6,
AD#D7
The responses from the openin* audien-es were *ood - and une:pe-ted# Be-ause of
the intera-tion, the -ast be*an to impro)ise# $t was Brad 4"!i: Bits"6 who wal2ed up
to the han*in* bear s2in and -ried "Mama" in "Da)y 3ro-2ett#" Brad and Marilyn
4"Dolly"6 started playin* with the -hallen*e - be-ause they lo)ed and respe-ted
ea-h other so mu-h, their was ne)er a nasty tone# !imply the "one-upsman-ship" of
eternal pals# <ate 4""lora"6 had blown her nose on instin-t in "3lementine" in
rehearsal, so the -ast be*an buildin* on that# The "Bear" +o2es be*an *rowin*
when the -ast saw the positi)e rea-tion of the 9uests# The *uests sele-ted for
"Da)y 3ro-2ett" soon *ot into the fun and be*an impro)isin* "bits" whi-h are still in
the showE The "An*el" who did the ballet turn 4as dire-ted6 and then shoo2 his
fannyF the 2id who said "Gu-2" when the !enorita 2issed him, et-# The openin*
dessert son* was the "Apple ie Hoedown" - as "oods was ser)in* apple pie# The
ser)ers "*ot into it#" Dolly and 3laire e:plored the one-on-one with the male *uests#
The -ast only had about B7 Dinner !on* -hoi-es 4from "orrestHs *reat -olle-tion of
period sheet musi-6 and were doin* them well# After about %7 days, $ left .D. to
*o ba-2 to my +ob at Disneyland and 9ary be-ame the maintenan-e dire-tor# The
show had a life - and a future#
The !tate !on*, Ar**hhI Durin* the be*innin* trial run in the !ummer of H'1, there
were only two subs - one for all the male roles and one for all the female roles who
ea-h had to 2now BD states# ,ne ni*ht, some obs-ure state was in the audien-e and
Leslie 0orris, the female sub - who was responsible for it was totally lost - started
somethin* li2e "!wam to see us li2e a du-2###" J)ery -ast member and food sta?
fro;e to see how she was *oin* to rhyme it# As she -ame to the "###u-2" rhyme all of
us s-reamed anythin* we -ould# The *uests howled and $ thin2 it too2 about %7
minutes to *et ba-2 to the show# Leslie, who was the -utest 4a former Miss 9eor*ia
or Alabama or one of those !outhern Miss Ameri-a birthpla-es6 and funniest *irl in
the world, started it with "0ow, where were weK"
The show opened, was an une:pe-ted su--ess and boo2ed to -ontinue# As part of
DisneyHs pled*e to the -olle*es we *ot the All Ameri-an performers from, we
promised not to hire any of them who had not /nished -olle*e# !o the ori*inal -ast
4Brad, Marilyn, 9ary, <ate, John, Jude, Ted and Leslie6 returned to s-hool# After
*raduation, many of them e)entually returned to do the show# Auditions were held
at .D. and the /rst "pro" -ast was hired# "Beautiful Dreamer" was added for !i:-
Bits whose -hara-ter had be-ome )ery popular# And yes, it was "adapted" from an
Abbott and 3ostello routine# .e rehearsed them and 9ary and Tony stayed with the
show for a while and tried to 2eep the show -lean and ti*ht# $ went o? into some
".ild Blue Gonder" - probably Japan - and only returned for periodi- brush-up
rehearsals# !aw it one time when $ -ould hardly re-o*ni;e it, so we "went ba-2" and
started from s-rat-h with the -ast who embra-ed and in-orporated the ba-2story of
the -hara-ters and their relationships# ,n-e you 2now "who" you are, that 2eeps the
-enter of the pie-e inta-t# Many of the performers throu*hout the years ha)e done
some )ery funny impro)isations and put them into the show - whi-h threw the
balan-e o?# .hen "lora *ets the showHs bi**est lau*h, then the established rhythm
is thrown o?# !orry "lora 4you do not want to hear about what be-ame "the snot
ra* medley#"6 Ameri-an humor has -han*ed so drasti-ally sin-e %&'1 and $ smile
when $ remember the ob+e-tions we *ot from mana*ement about "su**estin*" that
!i: Bits passed wind in "The Ho2ey o2ey#" !u**estin*K $t is the "nau*hty"
inferen-e that ma2es the 2ids *i**le so mu-h# And we ALL are +ust bi* 2ids who do
not *et enou*h opportunity to reli)e that inno-en-e#
!o, here we are in B7%7 and $ -anHt tell you how mu-h +oy $H)e had readin* about all
of you# .e -an all ta2e pride in bein* a part of an e:-eptional family of people who
simply wanted to entertain people and ma2e them smile# Loo2s li2e we did itI