In the beginning, L'il Abner was Al Capp's comic strip about the hillbillies of Dogpatch, running for 43 years, from 1934 to 1977. I doubt many remember today the Yokums: Abner, Daisy Mae, pint-sized Poppy and Mammy, and L'il Abner himself, he of the ironic name — being 6'3" — and a perpetually 19, simple-minded, sweet-natured hillbilly. And then there was Lower Slobbovia and Sadie Hawkins Day, but never mind.
Perhaps memories of the 1956 Gene de Paul-Johnny Mercer musical and the 1940 and 1959 films made of it are just as hazy, except for Julie Newmar's Amazonian Stupefyin' Jones. None of which will come to play when the musical is presented by a cast of 46 — ages 9 through 14 — how could they know what even their parents don't remember?
The production is by the San Francisco Arts Education Project, Emily Keeler director. There will be eight performances between Feb. 14 and March 2, at the Eureka Theater. Tickets are $15-$25, and $40 ($20 for students and seniors) for the closing day reception and party, which includes include drinks, hors d'oeuvres, desserts, and benefits the SFAE Project.
Danny Duncan directs the show, the set is designed by the technical theater students at the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts under the guidance of the program’s co-director Paul Kwape and the school’s resident artist Jenny King Turko; Tiersa Nureyev is creating the costumes.
Musical highlights? "If I Had My Druthers," "Jubilation T. Cornpone," and "The Country’s in the Very Best of Hands." Ah, memories!
The Arts Education Project was founded in 1968 (as the Alvarado School Arts Workshop) by artist Ruth Asawa; its programs include numerous projects for high school students, and apprenticeships for college students.