For a production lacking North Dakota performers, the 2009 Medora Musical beams with Badlands spirit.

This year's cast list includes just one North Dakota native, the charismatic Job Christenson.

Other members of the Coal Diggers band and the Burning Hills Singers hail from Minnesota, South Dakota, Florida, Connecticut and Tennessee.

Lexie Wollan, a veteran Burning Hills Singer from Minnesota, said there was a drop in returnees at the annual Fargo auditions.

"The North Dakotans didn't come back this year," she said. "Iguess they wanted to get real jobs."

Apart from Fargo tryouts, the Stage West Entertainment production company pulls musicians from a Minneapolis audition, the United Professional Auditions in Memphis and the traveling Southeastern Theatre Conference.

Organizers were happy to work with fresh, out-of-state talent, said Kinley Slauter, manager of the Burning Hills Amphitheater in Medora.

"It's far out here, but I got a couple of offers this summer and took this partly because Iknew it was a good time with good people," said Jessica Kaufman, an actress from Connecticut. She heard about Medora from college friend Brittany Everitt, a Burning Hills Singer from Minnesota.

Returning and freshmen performers alike channel Badlands pride into every song they belt out.

More musical revue than musical, performers keep the crowd engaged with a plotless but fun mix of popular music and Medora exclusives.

Perfectly executed covers of country hits "Man! IFeel Like a Woman!"and "I Hope You Dance," get the audience members mouthing lyrics. Then they cheer as the Burning Hills Singers hit every high note with gusto.

The current mid-show attraction, the Peking Acrobats, bring nail-biting feats of balance and agility to counter the Burning Hills Singers' clogging and high-kicking.

The acrobats will perform though July 5 and close the season with more appearances from Aug. 3 to Sept. 6.

"Passin' Through 1800s Medora" and "T.R., There was a Man!" keep the show's focus on Dakota Territory history and appreciation.

Pyrotechnics and animals help tell the story of President Theodore Roosevelt and the rugged terrain he adored. A reenactment of Roosevelt's charge at the Battle of San Juan Hill in Cuba includes horses and an unexpected poof of pyrotechnics.

A carefully orchestrated appearance of elk on a moonlit hill behind the stage rounds out the spectacle in a patriotic grand finale.

The atmosphere in the amphitheater after the last note rings out feels like watching the last firework burst on the Fourth of July.

The musical is performed daily at 8:30 p.m. Tickets can be reserved by calling 800-633-6721 or visiting www.medora.com.

(Reach reporter Rachel Albin at 250-8253 or rachel.albin@bismarcktribune.com.)