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Dark tale ^
By Molly Belmont
VOORHEESViLLE — The
Voorheesville Dionysians are
presenting Jekyll & Hyde this
weekend, a dark tale of a man
trying to overcome his own evil
urges.
But Monday night, the cast
and musicians struggle with another kind of duality — joining
vocals with instruments for the
first time.
The cast members are having
their inaugural session with the
orchestra, pausing, starting and
stopping as they tried to find the
right tempo and identify their
cues.
Tonight, they are trying to "get
into sync," explains director John
Lopez. The actors have been
working with the keyboard until
now, and they have to recognize
the sound of new cues and find
common ground for the tempo.
The cast and orchestra remain
amiable though the rehearsal.
Simon Stride, played by Austin
Saddlemire and Emma Carew,
played by Ali Glaser try to find
their vocal footing with the new
accompaniment, pausing several
time in the course of one duet.
"It sounded really nice," Saddlemire tells the orchestra after
the second stop.
The two pieces will be hammered together by Thursday
when the show opens at the
Voorheesville Performing Arts
Center in the high school on
Route 85A, for a three-day run
over the weekend.
Initially, Lopez and Mary
Abba, the high school choral director, considered doing the musical, South Pacific this year,
Lopez said. The school has a
"cadre" of strong male voices,
but Abba also had a really capable chorus this year, and wanted
to showcase that, he said.
"If you have a vocal program
that's this strong, might as well
use the engines while you got
them," Lopez said.
Last year, the duo also chose
an ambitious production, the operatic Les Mis.
Lopez prefers modern, cutting-
edge musicals, which often couple beautiful music with compelling stories and characters.
. He gravitates toward shows
that "push the students and push
me," he said.
"I'm not a song-and-dance
man," he said.
Darker than the other shows
the district has chosen, Jekyll &
Hyde is essentially a Greek
tragedy, Lopez said.
a
set, with a'lot: of scene changes, M\
said Rachel Kavanaugh, a mem •
ber of the chorus, called the supernumerii, and assistant prop
master.
Seated in the hallway outside
the theater, she and other cast
members puzzle over homework
between musical numbers.
"'Murder, Murder' h a s . .." Kavanaugh pauses. Thinking aloud,
she and the rest of the group try
1
'If you have a vocal program that's this strong,
might as well use the engines while you got them.'
The play has many tragic elements, including a chorus that
addresses the audience and
prophesies the terrible end, and
the fatally-flawed protagonist.
Jekyll is an ambitious and
driven scientist, who believes he
has discovered the key to man's
duality. With that knowledge, he
intends to "banish" man's evil
side, but when he is unable to
find a subject for his experiments,
he drinks the potion himself —
with monstrous results.
His fatal flaw, like so many
heroes, is pride, Lopez said.
"He can't stop," Lopez said.
"And that essentially becomes the
undoing of him and everyone
around him."
The show prompts self-examination, Lopez said, "to look at
ourselves, and ask what is it
about us that makes us our own
worst enemies."
"Technically nightmarish"
A dark tale, the show features
even more hair-raising production details. With 16 scene
changes, and about 90 people in
the cast and crew, the show is
"technically nightmarish," Lopez
said.
Taking place in interiors and
exteriors across Londifn, the
show features a very demanding
to list the locations where Hyde,
Jekyll's alternate personality, wiji
take his killing spree — "about 10
scene changes in one song," she
concludes.
He kills "basically half the
cast," one of the group of actors
explains.
Most of the props were fashioned by hand, and based on
Lopez's careful research of this
period, Kavanaugh said. And
almost everyone has two costume changes, she said.
Students worked with the costumes for the first time Saturday,
said Portia Hubert, producer. Set
in 19th-century London, the play
features ballgowns and cloaks,
waistcoats and showgirl corsets,
fingerless gloves and breeches.
The costumes — 112 in all —
were rented from a costumer,
said Hubert.
Costuming is an important
part of the play, she said. "It really makes the show," she said.
"Well, the students make the
show — but costumes help."
Saddled with heavy responsibilities, the cast and crew is
learning an even weightier lesson
from the gothic tale.
"There is good and evil in everyone, and you have to work to
balance those parts or the evil
will overcome the good," said
Catherine Wargo, a supernumerii.
Jekyll starts out with good motives, but his pride quickly overwhelms his best intentions, said
Trea Schumacher. The governors are the custodians of the
hospital, but their main concern
is getting mentioned in the
newspaper, she said. "Everyone
has their alternative agenda," she
concluded, knowingly.
* * * *
The performances will be held
on Thursday, March 25, Friday,
March 26, Saturday, March 27 at
7:15 p.m., and Sunday, March 28
at 2:15 p.m. at the Voorheesville
Performing Arts Center, 432
New Salem Road. Tickets will be
$10 for adults, with a $2 discount
for students and seniors.
Village of
Voorheesville
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Annie has 'the right kids'
By William Marley Leight
BERNE — This year's BerneKnox-Westerlo musical features
a large cast spanning the middle
and high schools.
The production of Annie will
showcase the talent found in the
younger ranks of the school.
High school productions are
usually dominated by talented,
experienced upperclassmen.
In this production, younger
children often steal the scenes.
The musical, based on the
comic strip and radio show, is
well known for the song
'Tommorrow."
There are no 18-year-old orphans in this production. The
play is largely carried by talented middle-school students.
"I had just the right kids," said
music teacher Coriellen Travis,
the play's director.
On Monday, she directed her
students on the stage. The children had already learned their
musical parts and the lines. The
time had come to meld the individual parts into a whole.
Annie is portrayed by a seventh-grader Lauren Wilson.
Wilson has not been intimidated
by her prominent role. Even
without a microphone, her voice
projects to the rear of the auditorium.
She is comfortable with the
music, hitting all the right notes.
Older high school performers
are convincing as the adults like
Oliver Warbucks. Warbucks lifts
Annie to his knees with paternal
strength and caring.
"I think we had a really strong
cast for the characters," said
Travis.
The competition for roles in
the production was strong. Over
120 students auditioned for
parts. Only half were chosen for
the 60-member cast.
The students began rehearsing
for the play in December, said
Travis.
As the production nears completion, Travis moves before the
stage advising a new piano accompanist and encouraging the
students in the spotlight.
_
Before next week's performances, the sets need to be created, the costumes finished, and
the scenes polished.
"They've worked very hard,"
said Travis.
Performances of Annie will be
held at the Berne-Knox-Westerlo
High School on the Helderberg
Trail in Berne on April 2 and 3 at
7:30 p.m and April 4 at 3 p.m.
BERNE FOOD STORE
Bricks Around
the Centennial Clock
Cost: $40/per brick
Forms at Village Office
For info: 765-2692
Deadline: March 29, 2004
Jekyll and Lucy: Voorheesville Dionysians, Terence Devlne and
Jessalyn Bdllerano play Jekyll and Lucy in this weekend's production of Jekyll & Hyde. The gothic thriller will be presented on
Thursday, Friday, dndSatUrday at 7:15 p.m., and on Sunday at
2:15 p.m*\Thejperformaiices will take place at the Voorheesville
Performing Arts Center.. >.c..
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The Enterprise — William Marley Leight
America's favorite orphan: Annie, portrayed by Lauren Wilson, a seventh-grader, sings out in the Berne-Knox-Westerlo production of Annie.
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