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"West Wylie Story"
April 2005
Childs Auditorium, Deep River
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"Ode to Phyllis"
by Anne Davies
(presented at the "West Wylie Story" cast party, April 9, 2005)
Oh her name is Phyllis, she lives in Deep River
The place Canadian neutrons started to quiver
She came to Deep River in 1988
Saw the trees and the river and said "This is GREAT!"
A job, sports and hunting and loads of theatre chances
And 20 single men for each woman at dances
Aways up the Wylie, she bought herself land
And built a rustic cabin with her two little hands
Yes her name is Phyllis and she's not very tall
But her energy is endless, and she has her Paul
And now in the township on the River she'll stay
Fer sure she's a Valley girl, G'day, G'day, G'day
Phyll saw two cultures, the Bushies and "not"
And her theatrical brain got a marvelous thought:
With the stories and history of the one time "Townsite"
You'sed get a great musical - so she started to write
You can't do it in Deep River, the nay-sayers said
Nobody will come, it'll flop, you'll be in the red
Just pick something old that is easy to sing
"Forget it" thought Phyllis , West Wylie's the thing!
Phyllis was determined to put on her show
Wrote the Wylie and said "OK, Players, let's go!"
I'm going to direct it, and we'll put it on quick
And I'm NOT going to wait to 2006
The time for production is NOW, Phyllis said
And her eyes got that gleam that we've all come to dread
It was the 60th anniversary of that ole ZEEP reactor
And no negative persuasion was going to distract her
Some folks got tight up when asked what they thought
Said the words don't match the music, well, that is just ROT
When the right group of actors and musicians intertwine
Juanita and Heather made it work out just fine
When asked if you wanted to help with the show
Some folks are sure their answer was "NO"
But her question, I realize was mostly rhetorical
Who can resist energy so phantasmagorical?
It's amazing to see all you folks on the stage
Like 60 versions of Phyllis leaping up off the page
Her humour and sayings and fabulous wit
Her unsquelchable energy that just never quits
She's stayed positive and quirky right from the start
She does what needs doing with gusto and heart
She leads without rancor and laughs from her toes
She loves what's she doing and look around - it shows!
Her name is Phyllis, she's small and quite loud
And with the West Wylie she's done herself proud
She did the "undoable" and let none of us quit
Without her we all would have been in Deep Sh— ...River
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
That is what Phyllis means to me
Respect is what she gives and what she got
From Izzy to the youngest tot
You had the vision the dream and the will
If you write the story, the auditorium will fill
Physicists still don't rule the world but by my tally
They might split atoms, but you join the Valley!
Her name is Phyllis, she is just GREAT you see
She gets so excited I think she might pee
But when it gets down to basics, what really is true
She's the one you can count on to get you through
If you have a dream, never doubt that you'll get it
Unless you sit back and dither and fret it
It's critical that you jump in even if you don't know
Who knows what can happen when Phyllis says "OK, Let's Go!"
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