The following is from the May 28 edition of Cityview. The original article is available in the Cityview archives.

"Six-On-Six: The Musical"

After being critically praised for "Caucus The Musical," Robert John Ford knew he needed to create a show that would not only entertain, but also inform. He created that with "Six-On-Six: The Musical"

"The stage is the ideal place for six-on-six to be resurrected. Its fascinating history, rich traditions, colorful characters, pageantry, music and its drama both on and off the court, were all elements that make for great theater," said Ford, who not only wrote the script and the music, but is also directing the show. "My goal was to create an entertaining theater piece that conveys and celebrates the true essence of the game, gives the audience an opportunity to actually experience it with all the senses and introduces it to the current generation and preserves it for future generations."

"Six-On-Six: The Musical" celebrates the tradition — its glorious history, unique rules, phenomenal popularity, colorful personalities and the controversy that ultimately resulted in the game's demise — of six-on-six girls' high school basketball in Iowa. It's a must-see for fans of the game, especially the thousands of Iowa women who actually played the game and wish to share a piece of their history with their children and grandchildren.

"When I began to consider it as a theatrical piece, I knew I would have to do far more than simply attempt to duplicate on stage all that I had personally experienced and all that I had discovered through extensive research," Ford said. "As any playwright must do, I had to face the challenge of making the subject more symbolically "universal" and creating interesting characters, compelling situations and plausible dramatic conflict. I concluded that my story had to be fictional, but still it would be heavily inspired by real people, real situations and real events."

With a show about basketball, you'd expect a bevy of performers to grace the stage at once, and Ford doesn't disappoint. The show features a cast of 40 and is in the vein of a big, fun, old-fashioned musical comedy for the entire family.

"In order to capture the true energy and magnitude of the game, I felt it was essential to have a large cast, and Hoyt Sherman is the perfect venue for such a production of this scale," Ford said. "Very few new musicals with large casts are being produced these days. But to me, the best musicals are the really big ones — the spectacles — and that’s what we're creating for Des Moines audiences. From a budget and personnel standpoint, this will be one of the largest, if not the largest, new musical to be ever produced in Des Moines."

In conjunction with the production, the Granny Basketball League of Iowa will be hosting a six-on-six exhibition game at noon on July 18, at the AIB College of Business Activities Center, 2500 Fleur Drive. This fundraiser for local charities will feature numerous all-state players and coaches from the six-on-six era.

"It's a really wonderful show about a subject that all Iowans can relate to," Ford said. "We are also very committed to making this production affordable for the entire family. It’s the perfect recession-escaping entertainment event of the summer."

For more information, visit the show's Web site http://www.sixonsix.com.