Wash Your Troubles Away melodrama features original cast members

The beloved 4th of July melodrama tradition continues this year with, Wash Your Troubles Away.
This year’s production takes us back fourty-three years by featuring two original melodrama cast members and creators of the tradition itself: Lynette Adams and Debbie Christiansen. The duo have written, produced, starred in, managed, and/or directed most of the melodrama shows and continue to be a driving force in the continued success of the event today.
It seems only fitting that two of the people who helped start the tradition are back on stage keeping it alive.
This year’s melodrama was written by Debbie Christiansen herself and introduces us to an orphaned Penny Money (played by Julie Parsons) and her sisters, Goldie Money (played by Lynette Adams) and Minty (played by Debbie Christiansen).
The orphaned trio finds themselves out of money and stranded in the dusty little town of Soapstone Junction. With the help of loving residents, the three sisters start a business called “Money Laundry” where their job is washing, pressing, polishing, and shining the town’s money until it’s squeaky clean.
Alas! Like every melodrama, a villain appears. This year’s villain is Buck T. Profit (played by Adam Black).
Buck arrives at Money Laundry with saddle bags full of stolen cash and is looking for a place to “launder” it. Unfortunately for Buck, the Money sisters have a very different definition of money laundering.
What follows is ninety minutes of mistaken identities, impossible love, terrible financial decisions, lies, tricks, enough money puns to bankrupt your dignity, and one villain who just can’t seem to get his dirty money laundered.
Sometimes the biggest mess isn’t dirty laundry... it’s dirty money.
Meanwhile, Penny is trying to win the heart of the ever-righteous Parson Sterling Cashwell (played by Mason Lyman). While Sheriff Bill Hardcoin (played by Dan Hurst) works with determination to keep Soapstone Junction clean as a whistle, Buck’s not-so-perfect plan continues to unravel faster than a loose thread in the wash.
Will true love come out in the wash?
Will Buck finally clean up his act?
Will Goldie and Minty ever get a day off?
You’ll have to come find out.
Directed by Jeannie Hawks, this year’s production promises plenty of laughs, lots of popcorn dodging, and just the right amount of chaos.
If you’ve never experienced a melodrama before, this is your chance. Come join Edge of the Seaters Theatre Company for another deposit into Blanding’s forty-plus-year tradition of laughter.
The 43rd 4th of July melodrama will be at the USU Arts and Events Center in Blanding. It will run July 1st - 6th (with no show on the 5th) starting at 7:00PM and will be held on the outdoor stage.
Ticket prices are $7 for adults, $5 for students and seniors, and $3 for kids.
Come celebrate the original melodrama team this Independence Day weekend!