By Rebecca Elyse Boman
On Friday evening, the home grown musical, My Powder River Home, impressively packed the seats of the Broadus High School auditorium, spilling over into standing room only. Written and directed by Laura Lee Ullrich, My Powder River Home paid tribute to 100 years of history in our community and our nation. Accompanied by pianist, Julie Long, and a band of dancing and singing balladeers, Laura Lee led the audience on a journey through the decades, giving light to Powder River County's exciting past. This 2 1/2 hour production celebrated "100 years of determination, tenacity, and grit. 100 years of dreams, vision, and hard work. A century of building community and neighborhoods."
During one of the most special moments of the evening, the audience was quickly wrapped up in heartfelt applause as each of our community's citizens over 90 years old was mentioned by name, 38 in total, with 17 in attendance. This culminated in a standing ovation for the group, following the mention of Virginia Robinson, who will turn 99 next month.
Our town's founders were also honored, as well as our local teachers, service men and women, and our current and former County Commissioners.
The centennial compilation appropriately began at the inception of our county, and the choosing of Broadus as the county seat. The balladeers sang loud and proud about the discovery of oil at Belle Creek, and how much Belle Creek oil money has contributed to the county's growth. The balladeers included Tom Minow, Randy Ward, Coy Morris, Cody Morris, Amy Minow, Stacie Ostendorf, Deanna Twedt, Lana Smith, and Pam Nisley.
Laura Lee then took the room on a virtual tour of the town, explaining how the buildings have changed over the years, as well as the services offered.
Decade-to-decade, from 1919 to today, the musical highlighted how Powder River County fell influence to the culture and turmoil of the times. Wars, rodeos, flapper girls and hippies. Floods, fires, drought and Mormon cricket infestations. Powder River County saw it all, and the balladeers re-lived it for us on stage in many enjoyable song-and-dance numbers.
The musical boasted of the quick-work and ingenuity that led to Broadus building up and earning the title of county seat. It discussed the role our citizens played through the wars our nation has fought over the past century. Our five living WWII veterans, Charlie Barbero, Stanley Damm, Scott Burley, Lyman Amsden, and Ira Andrews, were each named and invited to the stage to be honored and celebrated. Vietnam and Korean War veterans were honored and thanked for their service to our country in a way so touching that one Vietnam veteran expressed that it was the sincerest gratitude he had ever received and will keep it ever close to his heart. Our local rodeo heroes and champions, Houston Brown, Garrett Cunningham, Jake Lockwood, Tate Harmon, and Jess Lockwood, were also honored and wished future luck.
Acknowledging that in life you have to take the good with the bad, the balladeers also sang of some local cowboys getting rough with some motorcycling hippies back in the day, cutting their long hair short and high-tailing it from the cops. As their performance came to a close, Laura Lee explained, "Looking back we realize this was not our proudest moment. By the early 70s we had lots of local hippies...and looking back we have grown and learned not to judge a book by its cover."
Our town may be small, but the cast of My Powder River Home proved that big things most certainly can come in small packages. The audience was privileged to experience so much artistic and musical talent Friday night.
The scenic, hand-painted backdrop of the set was as stunning as the true Montana horizon, as were the stage set and props.
The Powder River Art & Soul group painted the backdrop, which included Kathy Heidel, Lana Smith, Gaylene Fortner, Sonya Harrington, Blondie Woolston, Amber Smith, Laura Lee Ullrich, Kate Ruland. The Stage Set and props were masterfully completed by Amber Smith.
The descendants of bank-founder, A. W. Heidel, in chorus with members of the UCC church choir, serenaded the audience with their own rendition of the hymn, Shall We Gather at the River (with the catfish at the inch-deep, mile-wide River).
5-year-old Sophie Ostendorf charmed everyone with a song and tap dance number, Shirley Temple's "Good Ship Lollipop".
Pam Nisley beautifully sang the nostalgic "Tennessee Waltz", as Tom and Amy Minow danced across the stage. In a cute and comedic turn of events, Lana Kay Smith cut-in, acting as a novice eager to learn a new dance at the expense of Tom's toes (Haven't we all been there?).
Amy Minow, Jennifer Mattingley, Deanna Twedt and Stacie Ostendorf harmonized an oldie-but-ever-goodie, "Lollipop", by the Chordettes.
Tom Minow entertained us with a revised version of "Okie from Muskogee", reminiscing upon the old-fashioned values of our proud little town, and expressing the sentiment that we can all share, "I'm proud to be from Powder River County".
Former Broadus High School history teacher, football coach, and wrestling coach, Laris Roberts, started us off with a pop quiz! He asked, "When was the Magna Carta signed?" When he received his answer, "1215", he went on to explain that to remember the date, just remember that it's lunch time (history teachers never change). After the history lesson, Roberts had the whole crowd joined in and rocking along with him as he sang the hit song, "Joy to the World", by Three Dog Night.
Dressed in a 60s go-go outfit, Stacie Ostendorf sang, "Harper Valley PTA" by Jeannie C. Riley, receiving much-deserved 'hoots-and-hollers' at the end of her solo. The song highlighted the clothing of the 60s and 70s, as well as the timeless epidemic of gossip that not even our humble haven is immune from.
Alvin Rashkow mesmerized the crowd as he performed Mark Chestnutt's, "Ol' Country" while strumming along on his horizontal guitar. Tipping his hat to the era of 90s country music, Eric Graff channeled Garth Brooks himself, singing, "Make You Feel my Love".
In honor of our veterans, "Taps" was played, flawlessly, by out-of-towner and high school sophomore, Leah Mattingley, who also soloed "Mean" by Taylor Swift, as an acknowledgement to the turn of the 21st century.
Talented vocalist, Randy Ward, sang Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" while Tom Minow played the guitar. This performance served as a beautiful and chilling tribute to all who served, suffered and carried on through the devastating fires in the summer of 2012. Laura Lee took the time to talk about how the fires progressed. She described the vast destruction the county faced that summer, and honored all those who offered support, rescue, care and prayer. She also didn't miss a beat in lightening the tone, by humorously likening the heat of the fire summer to the heat of the very auditorium we were all sweating - er, sitting in (no AC when school's out for the summer).
The musical's theme song, "My Powder River Home", by Chris LeDoux, was duetted by father and son, Cody and Coy Morris, accompanied by Sue Clark on the guitar. As they performed against the backdrop of our breath-taking Powder River landscape, the audience was entranced. When the group completed their performance, the auditorium erupted in a standing-ovation.
In an appropriate tie to the values we cherish and the independence weekend we were in the midst of celebrating alongside the centennial, the evening was brought to a close with one final performance as Becky McEuen, on the piano, and her mother, vocalist Charlotte Carlat, performed God Bless America. Charlie Barbero went up on stage during the performance. Singing the chorus as a solo first, Charlotte Carlat then led the entire audience in a second chorus, and the sound rang out through the auditorium as all who were present proudly sang praise to the country and the flag and the God we love.
All-in-all, My Powder River Home was an entertaining, enlightening, nostalgic and moving production that will no-doubt be remembered for the next 100 years. The musical expertly wrapped up a century of culture, tradition and history, celebrating the proud moments and honestly acknowledging the times of struggle and controversy that the citizens of Powder River County have lived through.
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