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The Westfield Leader and The Scotch Plains – Fanwood TIMES
Thursday, March 9, 2017
A WATCHUNG COMMUNICATIONS, INC. PUBLICATION
Westfield High School
Presents Carrie, The Musical
No Secret: This Garden Thrives
At Cranford High School
By SUSAN MYRILL DOUGHERTY
Specially Written for The Westfield Leader and
The Scotch Plains-Fanwood Times
CRANFORD – For real estate, the
mantra is “location, location, location.”
For Cranford High School’s spring
musical, The Secret Garden presented
last weekend, the mantra is “voices,
voices, voices.” Oh sure, the dancing
was first rate, the acting superb, the set
design and costumes near perfection,
but the voices - the voices were just out
of this world.
The Secret Garden is based on a
story that morphed into a black and
white movie in 1949. It came to the
Broadway stage in 1991 with music by
Lucy Simon and lyrics and book by
Marsha Norman and was nominated
for a Tony for Best Musical and Best
Featured Actress in a Musical for Daisy
Eagan.
This is a somber story. “What happens to dead people?” the young
protagonist asks. “The house is
haunted,” responds her guardian.
Pre-adolescent Mary Lennox (the
amazing Lilian Rebelo), born in
Bombay, India loses most of her
family to a cholera epidemic. This is
suggested to the audience with a
dance of people circling while passing a red napkin-like cloth to each
other who then fall out of the procession. With that clever staging, the
point is artistically realized.
An unhappy Mary is sent to England
to live with an uncle she’s never met,
Archibald Craven (Noah Wohlsen).
Uncle Archie is a dour widower whose
disability of a humped back causes him
to obsess over the health of his 10-yearold-son Colin (Max Wisnefski).
Archibald, sure that Colin will inherit
his deformity, locks his son away in a
mansion, Misselthwaite Manor, with
the blessing of Dr. Neville Craven (Thomas Dineen), Archibald’s brother.
Along the way, it’s revealed that
Neville harbors resentment and heartbreak over the fact that he loved his
brother’s wife Lily and longs for a
different life.
Throughout the story, housemaid at
the Manor, Martha (velvet-voiced Jordan Burd), her brother Dickson (Andrew Gordon) and Ben the gardener
(Brenden Scalea) help Mary to find the
garden of Colin’s mother Lily (Maggie
Manhardt). Now overrun for the last 10
years, the desiccated garden is a metaphor for Archibald’s psychological depressed state and Mary’s wild behavior.
With the regeneration of the garden, the
broken human lives, like the neglected
plants, are magically transformed to
wholeness.
Among the unforgettable voices in
this impressive production are Maggie
Manhardt who, as ghost Lily, vocally
and physically glides into entrances
and exits; Noah Wohlsen as Archibald,
whose magnificent, rich voice is well
beyond his years and, most notably,
Lilian Rebelo as Mary. Ms. Rebelo’s
voice and acting rival any child actress
on Broadway today.
One of the cleverest parts of the show
is the staging of the “dreamers,” ghostlike figures with ethereal voices and
diaphanous clothing. They serve as a
Greek chorus. They, and Fakir (Pria
McNeill) andAyah (Mikayla Herz), are
the hidden gems of the piece. They
blend and harmonize as precisely as a
finely tuned piano played by a master.
Add to them the solo voices and there
isn’t a weak note among them. In fact,
the ensemble of voices produces a sound
track that is other worldly at times.
Each beautiful chord is paired with
precise cut-offs and impeccable diction.
Orchestra conductor Nick
DeGregorio guides the 20-piece orchestra through the intricate music with
ease. The program book credits Mark
Baron as the music director who has
helped guide the young vocalists to
their final performances. That playbill,
with individual biographies of the students, allows them to give credit to
people who have supported them in
their endeavors and they are quick to
mention their personal voice teachers.
The cast had expert coaching to maintain the British or Irish accents throughout.
How smart of choreographer/director Michelle Massa and producer/technical director Lynn C. Berry to utilize
the vocal talent present in the school.
This year, specifically, they hit the million-dollar jackpot in showcasing legitimate, mature, trained voices in a
show that demands no less. The spotlight does fall on their specialty dancers
too, who, with girls dressed in gorgeous
pastels of cream and light pink, seem to
be lifted from another era.
Bravo to all members of the cast and
crew and adult mentors who made this
Secret Garden bloom.
WESTFIELD – The Westfield High
School Theatre Department (WHSTD)
is proud to present Carrie: The Musical, the horror classic about bullying
and coming of age, on Thursday, March
16, Friday, March 17, and Saturday,
March 18.
“While the Westfield High School
Theatre Department is struggling with
the loss the of its member and friend,
Terry DiFalco, the cast and crew have
decided to continue forward with the
production in honor and memory of
Terry,” Director Daniel Devlin said.
Based on the best-selling novel by
Stephen King, the musical forges a
unique connection from page to stage,
demonstrating that a supernatural thriller
can make great theatre.
Carrie: The Musical tells the story of
Carrie White (Emma Stern), a high
school outcast with inner powers who
is relentlessly mocked and harassed by
her classmates, especially a group of
“mean girls” (Abby Rothenberg,
Catherine Barry, Lucy Ritter) lead by
queen of the mean girls, Chris (Lauren
Singer). Despite the support of teacher
Miss Gardner (Emma Shakal) and the
sympathy of popular girl Sue (Nicole
Player) and her boyfriend Tommy
(Jonathan Saminski), Carrie is still the
continuous target of bullying. Since
first grade, Carrie had been the school’s
scapegoat and outcast. Indeed, Carrie
was at the bottom of the social pyramid.
Things aren’t much better at home,
where Carrie lives with an oppressive,
religious
mother
(Kimberly
Zimmermann) who has a radical sense
of guilt and atonement.
Meanwhile, Carrie finds her powers
growing in intensity as she enters womanhood and when Chris and boyfriend
Billy (Julian Mazzola) take their sadistic pranks one step too far, she turns her
frightening abilities on the entire school.
The novel, penned in 1974 by Stephen
King, has inspired several film adaptations as well as the short-lived Broadway musical in 1988. Those familiar
with the novel or movie will surely
remember the disturbing climax – while
those new to the story will be stunned.
“Selecting a musical whose primary
storyline revolves around bullying and
its disastrous consequences may seem
unusual, yet it is common for the awardwinning WHS Theatre Department,”
said director Daniel Devlin. “One of
the goals of the WHSTD has always
been to produce challenging works,
many of which are obscure and
underappreciated, works that challenge
the student actors and technicians, as
well as the entire production team, to
grow in their art, both individually and
collectively. Additionally, these lesser
known works bring current relevant
social issues into the light – in this case
extreme bullying and hazing – for discussion by the WHS community and
NEW LISTING
A REAL HORROR SHOW...Carrie: The Musical, the horror classic, comes to the
Westfield High School stage Thursday through Saturday, March 16 to 18. Tickets
on sale at whstd.booktix.com. Featured cast pictured above, standing from left to
right, Julian Mazzola, Lauren Singer, Nicole Player, Jonathan Saminski, Kimberly Zimmermann. Kneeling is Emma Stern.
beyond. Carrie: The Musical certainly
falls i1nto the category.”
The powerful soundtrack features
music by the legendary team of Dean
Pitchford and Michael Gore, who wrote
the Oscar-winning theme song from the
movie Fame. Mr. Pitchford may be
best known for the movie Footloose,
for which he developed the screenplay
and collaborated on the score. When
Footloose went to the Broadway stage,
Mr. Pitchford wrote the lyrics and cowrote the stage adaptation.
Other featured cast include: Abby
Connolly as Mrs. Stephens, Antonio
Peer as George, Max Wasilewski and
Stokes,Anthony Butera as Freddy,Alex
Cestero as Reverend Bliss, andAmanda
DePinto and Julia Salvato as Sue’s Interrogators. Members of the show’s
ensemble are: Margaret Bergin, Katie
Ceraso, Amanda DePinto, Charlotte
Fountain-Jardim, Roselyne GarabeteAzrak, Lindsey Garnhart, Alice Gregory, Emma Herber, Alexandra
Jackman, Jessie Karlin, Victoria
Napolitano, Meagan O’Connell,Abbie
Painter, Lily Paone, Liz Rosenberg,
Julia Salvato, Julia Singer, Lauren
Triarsi, Gianna Tyahla, ConnorAbrams,
Alex Cestero, Spencer Fishman, Daniel
Hoerle, Vincent Mora, Andrew
Orenberg and Javier Ortiz Wood. The
late Terry DiFalco was also a member
of the ensemble.
In addition to the on-stage talent,
WHS students play a large role behind the scenes, working on the show’s
costumes, makeup, props, lighting and
sound, and designing and building
the set.
The award winning Westfield High
School Theatre Department is an inclusive community offering outstanding
opportunities for all students to develop their skills in acting, technical
theatre, and live performance. Its mission is to help every student reach their
highest potential as an artist and as an
individual.
Tickets for Carrie: The Musical
are $14 each and are on sale at
whstd.booktix.com. Advance purchases are recommended. Any tickets not sold in advance will be available at the door. Tickets are reserved
seating. Performances are March 16,
17 and 18 at 7:30 p.m. All performances will be held in the auditorium
of Westfield High School, located at
550 Dorian Road.
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