Mother-daughter join cast of Mary Poppins at LBOH

The last time Paula Dovre and her daughter Autumn unofficially performed on stage together in a musical was in 2004 for the production of “The Pajama Game” in Marshall.
“I was pregnant with Autumn at the time,” Paula admitted with a laugh.
Officially, they Paula and Autumn will perform on stage together in July when “Mary Poppins” will be performed at the Lake Benton Opera House.
“With Autumn graduating this year, I was thinking that summers might be more difficult to commit to doing a musical together after this,” said Paula. “Autumn wanted to do a community theater production, too, so we decided to do this one.”
Rehearsals began on Thursday, June 1. There are several others from the area performing in the production from July 20-30.
“We won’t know until the read-throughs at rehearsal if we sing any solos or as part of the ensemble,” Paula said. “We also won’t know much about our characters until then either.”
Paula will play the part of Mrs. Andrews, while Autumn will play Northbrook.
Both mother and daughter are musically and theatrically gifted. Paula, the music teacher at Parkside Elementary in Marshall, is a talented singer who has performed with the Route 68 group among other venues, and has been director of the Children’s Theatre at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall. She has performed on stage in productions of “Bye, Bye Birdie” in 2001, “The Pajama Game” in 2004, and more recently, “Almost, Maine” in 2018.
Autumn, a 2023 Minneota High School graduate, was awarded co-winner of the high school’s prestigious Andersen-Christianson Musician of the Year during Senior Awards Night in April. She also played alto and baritone saxophone in the high school band (selected for Honor Band several times), sang in the school choir (multiple superior ratings in the Solo/Ensemble Contest the last two years), and has been in six musicals and three plays in high school.
Alan Riedel of Lake Benton is directing this musical. Emma Lipinski of Ivanhoe, who graduated from Minneota High School in 2022, is the assistant director of this production. Chesney Guetter, a native of Minneota, is the producer.
Others from the area performing in “Mary Poppins” are: Wyatt Pohlen (Von Hussler) of Minneota, Cecilia Rabaey (ensemble) of Minneota, Bradyn Hopper )
Robertson Ay) of Ivanhoe, Bailey Hopper (ensemble) of Ivanhoe, Tom Schmitt (Bert) of Porter, Missy Van Hyfte (Katie Nanna, Miss Smythe) of Canby, and Caleb Van Hyfte (Raggedy Doll) of Canby.
Sara Vogt of Balaton will be playing the part of Mary Poppins.