Hampton Theatre Company’s (HTC) first show of 2026 will be the musical I Do! by Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones. I Do! I Do! opening on March 12th and running through March 29th. It will be directed by HTC President Rosemary Cline, who was kind enough to answer some questions about the show for Hamptons.com.
Why did you choose the musical I Do, I Do for the first HTC show of 2026?
I was looking for a smaller musical. Our music director, Dee Laveglia, who is so talented, has a long history as a music director and is such fun to work with, brought it to me. You might remember seeing him up on the stage in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. We watched it, listened to the soundtrack, and started talking about how it might work for our demographic– that is always our guide. We felt that a play about 50 years of marriage would work well–as long as there were laughs as well as tears! It is charming, it’s heartwarming, and it’s real.
What are the challenges of putting this show together?
You say to yourself, a two-person musical. This is going to be easy. I was wrong! First, it’s the casting. You have to find just the right two people. They must look right together, have chemistry, and be able to age from 20 to 50 years old. You want to get a glimpse of that in the auditions. The show is also prop and costume-heavy. There are dozens of costumes. Theresa LeBrun, our fabulous costumer, has to find and make an enormous array of vintage costumes. The show goes from 1898 to 1948, and over those 50 years, there are so many changes. In addition, each of the actors has to have a dresser who choreographs each exit, entrance, and corresponding speedy costume change. George Loizides, board member, actor, and director, is in charge of props on this one–and it’s a doozy! I’m delighted and fortunate to have my partner in arms (he does absolutely everything HTC), Andrew Botsford, as my Co-Producer. Our new set designers and builders, Steve and Keiran, are already hard at work. And we’ll have the awesomely talented lighting designer, Sebastian Paczynski, once again.
Walk us through the casting process?
It was a fairly long search. We held auditions more often than I ever have before. You’re looking for two actors who do look good together, yes, and have chemistry. They both have to be incredibly strong vocally. They each must learn 18 songs–15 duets and three solos. So, vocally, they must be strong and know the value of caring for their voices. The music and the lyrics are no walk in the park either. Dee and I agreed that we wanted to depart from what we’d seen done and work with younger actors–what a tour de force for them it will be! We are thrilled with Nick Auletti (who has acted all over the East End and is on our Board as well) and Savannah Jean Moore, who is new to us: we think they are just perfect for this show!
The importance of live theater on the East End?
I’m going to steal a bit from the HTC mission statement here first and say we are here to create and support live theater using local talent and resources in all positions whenever we can. We want to bring the highest quality of storytelling to our stage to entertain, to enlighten, and to inspire– to reflect the human experience. We endeavor to ensure that all voices are heard. You saw some of that in our fall show by Larissa Fast Horse, “Thanksgiving play”, directed by Mary Powers.
Live theater is important, an imperative, for all of us. Every theatre company, every actor, director, scenic painter, set builder, rehearsal stage manager, box office staff, usher, lighting designer, you name it–all of us are driven to see that live theater lives on. We believe it’s one of the most important things in our lives. It’s a couple of hours where we see and feel how other humans live, what they grapple with, and we see ourselves, our hearts, our souls, and our minds reflected up there in the stories that we tell and watch.
“I Do! I Do!” will open March 12th and run through March 29th, at the Quogue Community Hall.
For more info, Hamptontheatre.org
