Past members of the Sayville Musical Workshop filled the room at the Sayville Historical Society on April 5th for workshop presentation. Who knew this great town had a Musical Theater Workshop that spanned for almost forty years (1948-1985)? Did you also know this workshop theater was the stage for Brian Dennehy and Merle Johnson (who later changed his name to Troy Donahue)?

John Wells, a former member, narrated and presented a slide show of the performances. John had a side note for every single slide. It was amazing to see the beautiful costumes and familiar names in the cast. I enjoyed the reminiscent mood of all present. Most of people in attendance performed, ushered or attended these shows.

Tove Adams belted out quite a few show tunes while her husband Steve, played the piano. The songs brought back happy memories for the audience. Many hummed or sang along. Watching Tove perform made me wish I had only seen these plays in their entirety. Tove was brought up in the theater and performed at many of these shows. Tove’s mother, Karen Hasselriis was one of the founding members who also performed and later directed.

After the questions and answers, I didn’t really want to get up. I wanted to learn more about this workshop, hear more songs, and just spend the day with these people who have so many memories to share. Sayville is really a fascinating place. You can find out more about The Sayville Historical Society at http://www.sayville.com/historicalsociety/index.html and the library also hosts a great site filled with pictures at http://sayville.suffolk.lib.ny.us/browse.htm/ and plenty of books are available.