- We're taking you behind the scenes at Circle Theater, where we're curious about George.

(upbeat music) (actors laughing) (upbeat music continues) - "Curious George and the Golden Meatball" is kind of similar to the story that we know, the books and the TV show.

- George's friend, Chef Pisghetti, has all You-Can-Eat Meatball Day, happens once a year.

George is very excited about it.

He's gonna be a waiter.

Phineas, who has invented this instant meatball machine, pops up and steals all Pisghetti's business, and he's discouraged and he doesn't wanna cook meatballs anymore.

- But in this particular production, George ends up wanting to enter his friend, Chef Pisghetti, into the Golden Meatball contest.

- Which is all the way in Rome.

So leads everyone on a little bit of a cross-country adventure.

- Circle Theater, here on the campus of Aquinas College.

- Yes.

- Give me a bit of the history of Circle.

You haven't always been here.

- No, no.

We started in 1953, and the first location was at the old Rowe Hotel.

Then the second one was at, what was the Pantlind Hotel, which is now the Amway Grand Plaza.

And then the location we were at for the longest, which is where I first became familiar with it, was at John Ball Zoo.

And so we had moved there in 1964, and then we moved here on campus in 2003.

- What makes Circle Theater special today?

- We are so blessed with the level of talent that we have in this community of performers, of designers, directors, musicians.

And we have so many patrons that come to the theater, they can't believe it's community theater performers, that they're supporting their neighbors and teachers and dentists and doctors and all of these people who most of them have full-time jobs and this is their second job, but a little bit, probably more fun.

(Shelley laughs) - [Shelley] Tell us your character.

- I am Curious George.

When I was told I got the part, I was very excited because this is actually my first real community theater role, and I always watched "Curious George" like ever since I was like five.

I was really obsessed with it.

I watched the Halloween special with no noggin, like year round.

But I really wanted to audition for it because like it really holds a special place in my heart.

- How'd you get the interest to get involved with "Curious George" and the Circle Theater?

- So I have always loved doing theater for young audiences ever since I did the "Charlotte's Web" back in high school.

And I just love it 'cause kids are the most honest audience members that you're gonna get.

Like they'll not lie to you about what they thought of the show.

And the impact that you could have on someone seeing their very first live performance, it's incredible.

(gentle music) - I'm the director for the show, and so my job is to kind of make the creative vision and all the creative decisions.

I was in charge of casting and picking our awesome cast that we have.

Yeah, and so it's really fun to get to create and kind of bring the story that everyone knows, but also kind of create this new story that is unique to the musical.

Basically, she's in charge of the creative and I'm in charge of everything else.

So I make sure that the creative and the technical aspects of the show just come together and become seamless.

- Usually, a rehearsal process starts out with a read through, sing throughs, so we go through the whole show.

And then it depends on the process of the director, but I like to start with music and really make sure that all of the actors are really solid on their singing, and then we move into dance and kind of sprinkle the acting portions in between those so they can kind of bring everything together.

And then at a certain point, we take all the different elements and kind of piece 'em together and put the show, and it's like a puzzle, basically, putting all the pieces together and then getting to run the whole show and really making sure that everything smoothly connects with each other.

- [Actor 1] Check this out.

- [Actor 2] that's in back of the whole world, George.

- What is it about theater that once you've been on stage, that makes you wanna come back for more?

- I think the experience that you have is unlike any other.

First of all, in a show, you have different people coming together from all different walks of life, all different lived experiences, people that might not come together under any other circumstances other than this and they all come in to do one thing together.

And I always tell every cast, it's kind of like being the Beatles, nobody else knows what it's like except for you guys, because you're the only ones creating this every single night, but it's also special for the audiences when they come because every single performance, because it's live, is unique and different, and you won't see it the same twice and you'll never be able to, one, audience isn't gonna be able to get the same experience as another audience.

And then for the performers on stage, the energy that they get from the audience, it's just you cannot replicate a live experience, a live performance.

- Are standing ovation's pretty cool?

- They're pretty awesome.

They're pretty awesome.

Won't lie about that.

(laughs) - [Shelley] Break a leg this season, Lynn.

- [Lynn] Thank you so much.

Shelley.

(audience clapping) (bright music) - Celebrating vibrant people, captivating places, and remarkable things.

This is "Living West Michigan."

(bright music continues) (bright music fades)