The concept of Guys on Ice is pretty simple. Two guys. Ice fishing. For one day. Add some music and the show is complete.
However, as countless audiences have experienced, the show is much deeper than it sounds. And the Milwaukee Rep will prove it, with a new foray out onto the ice running at the Stackner Cabaret Nov. 15 to Jan. 17.
The show was originally produced by Northern Sky Theater (then American Folklore Theater) in 1998, as a one-act play, before moving to the Stackner Cabaret for a run through the holiday season.
Guys on Ice has exploded since those initial performances. The musical follows two men, Lloyd (Steve Koehler) and Marvin (Doug Mancheski), who are spending the day in a Northern Wisconsin fishing shanty.
The two brave the cold while musing about events in their lives. Marvin is waiting to hear from a local cable show about a possible appearance and is excited for a possible chance in the limelight. Meanwhile, Lloyd is worried a recent squabble with his wife will affect their plans to spend their anniversary at Lambeau Field.
They’re also visited by Ernie the Moocher (Bo Johnson), who provides the duo with scraps of information from off the ice.
Mancheski has been with the show since the beginning, but he wasn’t sure what to think of it when he first got the script. “I was still in New York at the time, and the script was sent to me from (writer Fred Alley),” explained Mancheski in a recent phone interview. “Needless to say, the script was much different than it is now.”
He agreed to the gig, joining Alley himself and actor Chris Irwin in the three-person cast. That original script changed rapidly as rehearsals went on, often spurred by inadvertent suggestions from Mancheski and others. “Fred would take note of something that I said and sometimes I would see it in the script a few days later,” Mancheski said. “It was fun getting to be part of that initial writing process.”
Alley died in 2001, but Mancheski has been a vital part of keeping Guys on Ice alive since, often in partnership with his real-life best friend Koehler. Mancheski says he and Koehler have grown into the roles over the past 15-odd years. “I discover new aspects of Marvin all of the time,” he says. “A lot of it comes from the audiences themselves. They really drive the show each night based on what they find funny or more poignant.”
The subject matter of Guys on Ice — light-hearted Wisconsin conversations in an ice shack — can seem a little silly at times, but Mancheski says it’s much more than that. “The show has a lot of heart to it. It might talk about light-hearted topics but it really is much deeper than that,” Mancheski says. “It harkens back to a time when life was a little simpler and when there wasn’t the ulterior motives that seem to be everywhere these days.”
The musical’s songs include a variety of Wisconsin-themed tunes, including “Ode to a Snowmobile Suit,” “Fish is the Miracle Food” and “The One That Got Away.” Composer James Kaplan also will serve as the music director for this production.
Competition for a seat around the fishing hole should be fierce for this one. While the Rep has produced it in the intimate Stiemke Theater four times in the last decade, Guys on Ice hasn’t been performed in its original Rep home, the Stackner Cabaret, since 2001.
In addition, Mancheski has his own reason why he suspects this run will be a success for the company: “This is the one musical I know of men dragging their wives to it, so it has to be something special.”
ON STAGE
Guys on Ice will run Nov. 15-Jan. 17 at the Milwaukee Rep’s Stackner Cabaret, 108 E. Wells St. Tickets start at $45 and can be purchased at 414-224-9490 or milwaukeerep.com.
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