Carla Clark | For The Republic Pam White, as Aunt Ellen, in front left, and Michael Black, as cowboy Will Parker, during a dress rehearsal for a Lasting Impressions production of Oklahoma at Mill Race Center, Columbus, Ind.. Monday, April 10, 2023.
The Lasting Impressions are ready to kick off a rollicking 20th season in Columbus, delivering a spring show that features memorable lyrics and melodies from the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s.
“Thank You for the Music,” named after the Swedish group Abba’s song from the 2001 Broadway play “Mama Mia,” will be performed for crowds on May 5 and 7 at Mill Race Center.
But after the opening number, the show’s four acts step back in time with 17 selections from America’s songbook of the mid-20th century, pulling from Broadway plays and silver-screen productions of:
- “The Sound of Music,” 1959 stage, 1965 film.
- “Annie Get Your Gun,” 1946 stage, 1950 film.
- “The Music Man,” 1957 stage, 1962 film.
- “Oklahoma,” 1943 stage, 1955 film.
The show opens with a tender touch with music from “The Sound of Music,” as the cast performs “Do-Re-Mi,” “My Favorite Things” and “So Long, Farewell,” as well as the title song.
But the pace and the volume pick up and “the stage is bouncing” when the second half of the show arrives with rousing numbers from Meredith Willson’s “The Music Man,” said Donna Browne, Lasting Impressions founding member and cast director.
That will be evident when this show’s 10 cast members belt out “Ya Got Trouble,” “The Wells Fargo Wagon” and “Seventy-Six Trombones.”
Members of The Lasting Impressions, who range in age from 65 to 91, instill pleasant memories with audiences that often match their demographics. Crowds know most of the words by heart and have no hesitation demonstrating by singing along.
Out of the spotlight, support for the performers comes from artistic director, Geneva Foster, who designs props and backgrounds; costumer and seamstress, Margaret Offenbacker; accompanist and music director, Ed Bruenjes, who plays piano, percussionist Rick Thomas and cast director Browne, creating the plan for each production.
The Lasting Impressions perform three major shows a year — each spring, Veterans Day and a Christmas show, featuring both sacred and secular music at Mill Race Center, home base for the troupe of singers, dancers, musicians, directors and support staff.
However, the troupe also takes shows on the road to other venues, visiting senior citizen centers, service clubs, churches and nursing homes, “wherever we’re invited,” said Browne, 84.
They have traveled north to perform in Franklin, Greenwood and Indianapolis, as well as heading south to entertain crowds in Seymour, Scottsburg and North Vernon. Buffet meals often accompany performances, as will be the case with next month’s show.
“Not everyone can get out and afford a dinner theater. It lets them have a chance to see something different,” Browne said.
“They are exposing folks to a large body of great, mostly American music, which might be forgotten if it weren’t for the Lasting Impressions and other performers,” said Dan Mustard, Mill Race Center’s executive director.
Lasting Impressions music always fits into a specific theme, presented in a way that is very appealing, he said.
With performers in their mid-70s on average, and in good health, The Lasting Impressions deliver an important message beyond the words of their music — people can be creative at any age.
“As we get older, we don’t become less creative. That ability to perform and do things at a really high level doesn’t have to go away,” Mustard said.
That concept mirrors Mill Race Center’s Aging Well philosophy.
“One thing I find amazing is that they memorize their entire show. That is tremendously impressive,” said Mustard, also a musician and singer who performs with his wife, Linda.
A decade younger than the typical Lasting Impression cast member, “I don’t memorize everything anymore. I take my book with me,” he said.
As far as memorizing goes, “We have fun saying it’s Alzheimer’s prevention,” said Browne, a 34-year educator in Bartholomew County until her 1995 retirement at age 56.
Then known as Donna Calvin, she worked in all settings from elementary through high school, finishing her educational career as dean of students at Columbus East High School. Just before arriving at East in 1976, Browne taught drama at what was then Northside Junior High, directing her students through a well-received Bicentennial-themed show for the community.
“The gym was full. I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
EARLY IMPRESSIONS
Browne’s interest in performing took shape as an elementary student in Petersville, the small Bartholomew County town east of Columbus, where she practiced tap dance and ballet.
Her interest in tap dancing was rekindled two years into retirement when the former Bartholomew County Senior Center, where Browne had taken out a membership, brought in two male tap dancers from Bloomington to give lessons.
Five core members of that class, including Browne, entered a 1997 competition in Louisville as the Senior Tappers and won first place.
“It surprised the heck out of me,” she said.
Three of the five women moved on to other activities, but Browne and dance classmate Dawn Hauck stuck with tap dancing and partnered to form the Dancing D’s duo, performing for audiences at the senior citizens center, nursing homes and for service clubs and church groups.
Concluding that 45 minutes of tap dancing was a little much to keep audiences interested and entertained, the pair of performers decided to broaden their repertoire and add song, dance and drama — and embellished their name to become the Dancing D’s and Co. in 2002.
“I know some singers,” Browne remembers telling Hauck. “When they’re singing, we can change costumes.”
The group expanded again two years later and became The Lasting Impressions, debuting in April 2004 with a spring show, “In Your Easter Bonnet and Other Fashion.”
“In the early days, we weren’t as refined as we are now,” Browne said. “We didn’t spend nearly as much time rehearsing.”
Today, Lasting Impressions rehearsals for an upcoming show are held twice a week for three to four hours each time.
There are other differences, too.
Performers at Mill Race Center can be seen easily from the audience while moving about on a riser, with nearby dressing rooms handy when needing to make costume changes. During the group’s formative years at the old Bartholomew County Senior Center, the city’s former Pump House water utility, they hoisted up blankets to create men’s and women’s dressing rooms.
And they passed a one-corded microphone from one performer to the next.
But the process of creating and putting on a show remains the same.
An idea germinates when Browne develops a theme, selects the music and writes the script. She assigns cast members to their roles, with a mix of full-ensemble numbers, some duets and trios, and some solos.
“Variety is very important to me,” Browse said, so you won’t hear three soloists in a row during a Lasting Impressions show.
Also important is sharing the spotlight.
Browne makes sure each cast member has an opportunity to be featured, rewarding “dedicated, hard-working and talented people” in the process of creating a lasting impression for audiences.
“She’s an amazing woman,” said Ed Bruenjes, organist and handbell director since 1973 at Asbury United Methodist Church, and piano accompanist for The Lasting Impressions the past 14 years.
“She stays up all hours of the night and figures everything out,” said Bruenjes, who has also played piano for Columbus East and North High School theatrical productions. “She’s the glue that holds the whole group together.”
