Deadwood Dick or the Game of Gold
A Bird in a Gilded Cage (.mp3)
Deadwood Dick Poster (1MB download)
Slideshow
Description of Characters
 Lily and Rose are, of course, the typical heroines of old-fashioned melodrama. Lily, blonde. Rose, brunette. Both are beautiful and innocent but Lily is pale, languishing, delicate kind of heroine while Rose is more. Rose - Audition Side 1 | Lily - Audition Side 1
Sparkling and vivacious. The actress assigned the part of Lily should be able to sing. Lily wears the same lengthy flowered muslin gown and bonnet throughout except for Act II, Scene I, when she appears in a flamboyant, low-cut, dancing girl costume, short-skirted, black-stocking-ed, with fancy garters. Across the back she stuffs a separate strip of muslin to hide its décolleté. Rose wears the same simple but becoming gown throughout. Lily - Audition Side 1 |
Ned and Bill are our pair of handsome, stalwart heroes—Ned even more handsome than Bill more sedate, more noble. Bill should be played for comedy, Ned for tragedy. Bill might have red hair; Ned light curling brown. Both wear the familiar Western outfits: jeans stuck in boots, colored flannel shirts, vests or leather jackets, ten-gallon hats (sombreros) neckerchiefs. Both have a brace of six-shooters strapped to their sides (Ned has four more hidden, as indicated in the text) Ned has a second costume, all black, with black mask and black sombrero when he appears as Deadwood Dick. Bill - Audition Side1 Bill - Side 2| Bill - Side 2 | Bill - Side 3 | Ned - Side 1
Calamity Jane is the type of Gay ‘90s woman personified by Mae West. She wears fancy dancehall hostess costume throughout, except Act II, Scene I, when she wears flashy evening gown. Jane - Audition Side 1 | Side 2 | Side 3
Blackman Redburn, called Black’n Red, is our villain—black haired, black mustachioed, black hearted. Wears costume similar to Ned’s but more elegant. Wears six-shooter. In Act Two appears with left arm bandaged and in sling. Black’n Red - Audition Side 1 | Side2 | Side 3
Judge Nix does his best to be a dignified old lawgiver but his lack of education crosses him up. Sometimes pompous, other times colloquial. Frock coat, stovepipe hat, flowered vest, string tie. Judge Nix - Audition Side1 | Side 2 | Side 3
Molly Loveless, The Sheriff’s wife, is a handsome, motherly woman in her 40s. Wears some simple black dress, white lace collar, poke bonnet throughout. Act Two, Scene 1, she conceals her identity in huge cape. Molly - Audition Side 1 | Side 2
Sheriff; typical Wild West sheriff—star on vest; guns, handcuffs. Audition Side 1
Chet is our assistant “villain”—bartender and toady to Blackman. Hair slicked down, mustache; striped silk shirt, apron, bowtie when tending bar. Other times Western garb. Chet - Audition Side1 | Side2 | Side 3
La Paloma is our “adventuress”—a slim, slinking vampire with Spanish accent. Flashy daytime dancehall gown, lace stockings, red garter in which she carries small pistol. At end of Act I she changes into can-can costume, which she also wears in Act II, Scene I. Should be able to dance short specialty number. Paloma - Audition Side 1 | Side 2
Piano Annie is one of Calamity’s barmaids and entertainers. Plays a mean piano. Costumes similar to Calamity’s. Annie - Audition Side 1 |
Teetotal Tessie is a battle-axe of a women, with a voice like a foghorn. Leads temperance crusade and has at least two cohorts. They wear black dresses, bonnets, carry shiny new hatchets (Aluminum painted old ones) and wear ribbons reading “Down With Demon Rum” across their bosoms. Tessie - Audition Side1
Extras: The Miners and Toughs can be as few as four, but the more the merrier. Rehearse two of them who have a few lines, 1st and 2nd miner,--then let them lead the others who need only appear for final rehearsals. Their costumes can consist of boots, dungarees, flannel shirts, modern felt hats reshaped with flat crowns, wide brims; neckerchiefs; six-shooters. Extra women should wear costumes like Calamity’s and circulate around “entertaining.”
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Last updated June 11, 2007
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