Book
& Lyrics by Fred Alley
Music by James Kaplan
Conceived & Researched by Fred Alley & Frederick Heide
The Hit Ice Fishing Musical
Buddies Marvin and Lloyd spend a winter’s day in a shanty out on the ice, talking about life, love and Leinie’s. Guys on Ice has thrilled audiences throughout Wisconsin, as well as in Michigan, Oregon, California and New York.
Since 1998, Guys on Ice has played to soldout houses in Ephraim, Sturgeon Bay, Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison and played for audiences as far away as California, New York and Oregon. Fred Alley wrote the following description of the show for AFT’s 1998 program:
You've seen them. Little wooden shanties sitting on lake ice. Puffs of smoke rising from chimney pipes. On a quiet day, maybe the static of a tinny radio filters through plywood walls, across the frozen tundra, back to shore. In a cold world, on a cold day, on a frozen lake, these little signs of life are all most people know of a secret culture that thrives right here amongst us. Well, wonder no more. Once again, AFT sets its sights close to home as we bring you our somewhat twisted take on the secret world of ice fisherman. Guys on Ice spends a day in the life of Marvin and Lloyd — fishing buddies and home-grown philosophers. With musical numbers like, "The Wishing Hole," "Ode to a Snowmobile Suit," "Fish is the Miracle Food" and "The One That Got Away," Guys on Ice works not only as a serious anthropological study but as a musical comedy as well.
Reviews
A New Fishing Hole Opens Up
Guys on Ice debuts at AFT summer stage
Since it premiered at Ephraim Village Hall in 1998, Guys on Ice has defined American Folklore Theatre. The show has played to sold-out audiences from Door County to Madison to as far away as Ashland, Ore. It has been featured on a segment on National Public Radio.
But this signature show has never been on AFT’s signature stage — the outdoor amphitheater at Peninsula State Park, where the group first started (as the Heritage Ensemble) more than 30 years ago.
That’s changed. The musical about two guys sharing their hopes and dreams (not to mention beer, fish and jokes) on the Green Bay ice has come home in a bright and funny production at the park. This is a revised version of Fred Ally-James Kaplan show. The original was an hour-long, one-act piece. Shortly before Alley’s death in 2001, the collaborators expanded it — with new bits, jokes and songs — to a two-act production, which has been used in productions since.
The latest show returns it to a one-act format but keeps some material from the expanded version. However the show is organized, Guys on Ice is always about its two heroes — Marvin and Lloyd, a pair of Sturgeon Bayites who seemingly live for fishing and the Green Bay Packers. They’ve gotten together in their shanty on a cold winter morning for a special occasion. The host of a local cable TV fishing show is going to drop by the shack and interview the two "for the TV."
They pass the time – this is a kind of Waiting for Godot with regional accents — by swapping jokes and talking about their lives. Neither is too happy right now. Lloyd’s wife has left him because he won’t give up his Packers vs. Bears tickets for that Sunday, which is also their wedding anniversary. Marvin is burned out by his job and lonely — and he can’t find the courage to ask out the checkout girl at the Pick ’N Save.
The third character — Ernie the Moocher, mainly just a pain in the neck — is an immediate threat on the ice. As his name implies, Ernie wants what the two have (in this case, mainly their Leinenkugel Beer).
Doug Mancheski returns as Marvin, a role that has defined his work at AFT. He fits into the role like a pair of comfortable old gloves. He knows — and obviously loves — the material, and takes fresh chances with each production. His Elvis-inspired "I Am the King" is still a highlight. Jeff Herbst steps into Lloyd, a character created by his long-time friend, Alley. Herbst makes this his own character, full of nuance and unique touches. Lee Becker returns as Ernie The Moocher, and has a blast in his two scenes during the show, and during the pre-show warm-up, where he gets the crowd (a packed house Wednesday night) into the mood for the show.
Those familiar with Guys on Ice will not be disappointed. Favorite tunes, from "Ode to a Snowmobile Suit" to "The Once That Got Away" to "Your Last Day on Earth" are all here. An expanded orchestra — Kaplan on piano, Maureen Milbach on percussion and Eric Lewis on guitar — adds extra punch to the songs.
Though AFT tries to set the mood — Christmas songs before the show, Ernie’s warmup, the heavy snowmobile suits worn by the character — it is difficult to get completely in the mood, especially on an early evening where the sun is shining brightly and the temperature is pushing 90 degrees. In the end, it doesn’t matter. Guys on Ice doesn’t try to be too deep, through it does delve into the nature of friendship and love (just like Lumberjacks in Love and The Bachelors, the other two shows in this informal trilogy by Alley and Kaplan) and finds plenty of truth in the simplicity of spending a day doing nothing but waiting for the fish to bite.
Guys on Ice runs through Aug. 30at Peninsula State Park at 6 p.m. Wednesdays and 8:30 p.m. Saturday s. For more information, call 854-6117.
~ Ed Huyck, Door County Advocate
Thursday, July 8, 2003
Guys on Ice Sliding into Another (Season) of Fun, Frolic
A great little musical has returned for another burst of off-the-wall energy. Guys on Ice — about two ice-fishing buddies who don't catch a thing but still share a special time — opened Thursday to a full house at Village Hall.
The American Folklore Theatre show started at a rare time, 5 p.m. That was because of the Green Bay Packers–Miami Dolphins game at Lambeau Field. Marvin and Lloyd, the characters in the show, would insist on that because they're Packers fans to the hilt.
Guys on Ice was an instant hit when it opened in Ephraim last September. The jolly musical played to packed houses through fall, then went on to more glory in two runs at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre's Stackner Cabaret. After the run at Ephraim, Guys on Ice will return to the Stackner for a one-month run.
It's Wisconsiny. It's also surprisingly touching.
This show clicks with its inside humor. It's very Wisconsiny. It's also surprisingly touching. Some songs are giddy and goofy. Some are pretty. The story is simple yet deep at the same time. It's two guys coming up with corny ice-fishing jokes (like a one-armed fellow showing how big his lunker catch was) and breaking into a song and dance about such things as the virtues of the snowmobile suit. Then, suddenly, they ponder life as if it were, as the song says, Your Last Day on Earth.
Perfectly capturing the purely Wisconsin feeling are Fred Alley and Doug Mancheski, a Green Bay native.
Mancheski is Marvin, who envisions all the fame that will be his when he appears on a fishing show on cable TV. He imagines himself as Elvis Presley and sings, "What Elvis is to rock 'n' roll I am to the ice fishing pole."
Alley is Lloyd, who has problems at home. That's partly because Lloyd's wife doesn't think spending their anniversary at the Packers-Bears game at Lambeau Field is all that swell. Picky, picky.
James Valcq doubles as the "band" and as the character Ernie the Moocher. Valcq is new to the show, and it shows. But then, Alley and Mancheski have all the mannerisms, expressions and fractured-English phrases down pat, so Valcq is working from a disadvantage.
One of the many beauties of Guys on Ice is it runs for only 60 minutes, yet is packed with impish adventure.
~ Warren Gerds, Green Bay Press Gazette
September 3, 1999
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