Mosley’s Halloween show is a tribute to Joyland, recreating ghosts from the past

The shows leading up to Halloween at Mosley Street Melodrama promise a little bit of fright and a whole lot of nostalgia.

Both the first-act parody “What Would Scooby Do This Time?” and the second-act music and comedy revue, “Haunted Joyland,” harken back to Wichita’s Joyland Amusement Park, which was a fixture on South Hillside Street from 1949 to 2006.

“There’s so many great memories I have from my childhood and I’m not alone in that way,” said Monte Riegel Wheeler, Mosley producing artistic director and an Augusta native. “Many people have a soft spot for Joyland, certainly middle-aged people and above like me especially.”

Wheeler and set designer Dan Johnson recreated Joyland fixtures throughout the house, including its lighted sign, logjam, concession stand and wooden roller coaster, for what Wheeler says is a “360-degree feeling that Joyland is present at all times.”

“It’s something people will enjoy from the second they walk in,” he added.

Many of the set pieces have found space in the seating area thanks to the social distancing and crowd size requirements brought on by the pandemic. To make up for the smaller-sized audiences, Sunday matinees will remain on the schedule for the near future.

Wheeler said he’s been thinking of some sort of tribute to Joyland since he saw some pictures three years ago of the dilapidated icons that he remembered.

“We really wanted to take Joyland in sort of its rundown form and kind of create some ghosts from the past so we could bring back some nostalgic memories and also make people laugh and take advantage of some really local references – because we’re really pro-local here,” he said.

“It was very handy for us to stick up these landmarks and kind of give people something fun to look at,” Wheeler added.

Joyland is also the setting for Carol Hughes’ script, a sequel to a 2018 “Scooby” Mosley production.

“We get to do some things with known characters that people might not expect,” Wheeler said. “It’s got all the Scooby-Doo cliches in there and our take on these characters here at Mosley Street Melodrama.”

Kyle Vespestad returns as Fred, Julia Faust plays Daphne, Briley Meek is Velma, and Ryan Schafer takes the place of Wheeler, who played Scooby in 2018.

Wheeler said he stepped away from the role because of the work needed to design the set pieces but gave Schafer his blessing and encouragement.

“He really brings so much of his great comic timing to it. If I was going to hand the role over to someone, I wanted to do it thoughtfully and make a great choice,” Wheeler added. “I have so much love and respect for Ryan that I’m glad he was able to do it. He’s fantastic at it.”

Rounding out the cast is Scott Noah, who plays “all the villains,” Wheeler said, with the classic “Scooby-Doo” villain reveal – multiple times.

“He has three disguises before he’s apprehended, just to keep things fun and ridiculous like we are known to do here,” Wheeler said.

Steve Hitchcock directs, and co-wrote the “Haunted Joyland” second act with Wheeler and Vespestad.

The songs include familiar music from the 1960s through ‘90s – albeit in unexpected arrangements.

“We’re doing a darker, creepier take on some popular tunes that’s just a really fun way to present some familiar music at Halloween,” Wheeler said.

‘WHAT WOULD SCOOBY DO NOW?’ AND ‘HAUNTED JOYLAND’

When: 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, noon Sundays through Oct. 31. Show only begins at 7:30 and 1:50 p.m.

Where: Mosley Street Melodrama, 234 N. Mosley

Tickets: $32 for Fridays-Saturdays and $30 Sundays with show, $22 and $20 for show only, by calling 316-263-0222