The Scoop
A REVIEW OF WIR NIGHTS!
Posted on: Sunday April 7, 2024
A REVIEW: WIR NIGHTS! by Joe Verdegan
I must confess that I don’t often write reviews of books or musicals but this will be a first.
On Saturday, April 6 my wife Kim and I spent the day in Green Bay and took in night No. 2 of the musical ‘WIR NIGHTS’ at the historic Meyer Theater in downtown Green Bay.
The musicals are put on by Let Me Be Frank Productions. The captain of the LMBF ‘ship’ is Frank Hermans. You likely have seen Frank on WFRV TV 5 or maybe even doing an Elvis impersonation or emceeing the local telethons. He’s been a local entertainer in some way, shape or form for many decades now.
(Full disclosure here) I’ve been friends with Frank for many years. We coached middle school football together and Frank and his talented staff have been cranking out locally-themed, comedic musicals now for 25 years.
Essentially WIR NIGHTS is a cross between Wisconsin International Raceway in Kaukauna (a track I had the honor of serving as the track announcer for the ‘Thursday Night Thunder’ shows in the 1990s) and the comedic spoof Talladega Nights.
I won’t give the whole storyline away but the driver names will obviously be very familiar to race fans: Trick Dickle. Bobbie Johnny. Anika Hatrick. You get the picture.
The ‘real’ Joe Verdegan (left) with WIR NIGHTS Joe Verdegan Pat Hibbard! (Kim Verdegan photo)
Track owner/promoter Dan Van Daalwyk (in real life) has a character Van VanDollock (played by Tom Verbrick) in the show and the track announcer (played by Pat Hibbard) is named Joe Verdegan. Trophy gals are Lisa Vercauteren and Sarah Dickie (played by Lisa Borley and Sarah Galati, respectively.)
Veteran LMBF performer Paul Evensen and Frank’s own son Blake Hermans play Dickle and Johnny, respectively. Frank himself plays Bobbie’s dad, former local racing legend John Johnny.
Perhaps the coolest part of a LMBF show is that each respective show’s theme is LOCAL in nature. Often several local hometowns are dropped into the banter back and forth between the characters. And the performers are LOADED with musical and comedic talent! WIR NIGHTS is no exception. Frank also is great at ‘ad libbing’ things and isn’t afraid to make a joke out of things like when he accidentally forgot to turn his wireless microphone on. It got some laughs and showed his human side.
Frank Hermans
With WIR Nights the storyline centers around an outsider – a female racer Anika Hatrick (played by Frank’s wife Amy Riemer) comes in as an outsider and sort of ‘shakes up’ the local ‘Dutch Mafia’ as it were.
An awesome setlist of songs which all in a way are centered around cars and racing in some capacity are flawlessly performed by the staff. I’ve often said all of the female performers in the show including Riemer, Borley and Galati could easily be performing on Broadway. Those gals are that talented. They all possess an amazing vocal range and the choreography involved with the skits is second to none.
What oozes out in the LMBF shows (and especially with WIR Nights) is that all the participants genuinely seem like they themselves are having a great time delivering you a show. That great vibe spills over into the crowd and soon everyone is smiling and laughing at the slick one-liners and delivery. It’s nothing but smiles at the end of the night.
The entire cast is very accessible before, during and after the show. Frank is a master at warming up the crowd and serves as a great frontman for the entire operation. He’s funny. He’s engaging. He’s a man of many talents and I’ve often described him as one of the busiest men in show business. At the end of the night you are greeted by the smiling cast members, who are there for smiles, laughs, handshakes and selfies.
The cast of WIR NIGHTS
Whether you are a racing fan or not, you owe it to yourself to catch WIR Nights sometime in the month of April. The shows dates remaining at Meyer in Green Bay are: this coming Thursday thru Saturday April 11 thru April 13; Thursday thru Saturday April 18 thru 20 and then again at Meyer April 25 thru 27 with two shows on the 25th and the 27th.
To order tickets you can visit ticketstaronline.com. You can also check out letmebefranks.com for additional LMBF shows as they typically have new musicals up every month or two. LMBF is also very active with their Facebook page as well and you can follow that as well for the latest information.
The GPS address for the Meyer is 117 S. Washington Street, Green Bay, Wisconsin 54301.