…and I don’t mean that travesty of a Disney show. Between Beauty and the Beast rehearsals this weekend, Trish and I managed to see three of the area high schools’ musicals. I know, you’re thinking, “What the f*ck would possess anyone to see ten hours worth of high school performances voluntarily?!” Well, Pineda Conservatory has the good fortune of having plentiful student representation in each cast. Since Juan and Val ran off to the Caribbean with mom-ski and dad-ski (that’s what we call Val’s Polish parents to differentiate them from our “-ski”-less parents), it was up to Trish and I to represent. So it was Cranford’s Anything Goes on Friday night, Westfield’s Kiss Me Kate Saturday night and Scotch Plains’ Guys and Dolls Sunday afternoon.
Since I know many parents and students read this blog, I’ll keep to the positives and give out my version of the HS Tony Awards, the Pinedas if you will, based on these three productions. I’ve used character names if I don’t know the student (sorry, I know that’s sort of ghetto, but I didn’t keep any of my programs).
Best supporting actress (tie): Bonnie in Anything Goes - incredible comic timing and great dancer / Sarah Szollar in Kate - a Pineda fave - be proud of those boobs, hon!
Best supporting actor (tie): Dan Berman in Kate - another Pineda fave showing his “steamy” side / Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls - just a funny, all around solid performance.
Best lead actor: Sky in Guys and Dolls - not the strongest singing voice, but had a strength, confidence and ease of character you don’t usually find in high school boys. And that speaking voice, he definitely has a voice-over career in his future. Dreamy.
Best lead actress (tie): Catalina Gagliotti in Kate - no one on any of these stages can out-sing her (so I'm sure they all hate her) / Adelaide in Guys and Dolls - perfect blend of sincerity and character without becoming a cartoon, impeccable comic timing.
Best ensemble: Guys and Dolls - these kids were committed and invested in the story and in character all the time, unlike some of the other productions where they ensemble was mainly used as glorified “set-dressing.”
Best choreography: Guys and Dolls - a perfect example of using the entire cast rather than always featuring the “dancers” and everyone else stands around jazz-handing it. It was maybe not as technically difficult as the other schools, but it was always clean, tight and precise. I also give props to Cranford for somehow finding an ensemble of long-legged tapping chorus girls - a pleasant surprise.
Best musical: Guys and Dolls - was just extremely tight, clean and well-rehearsed. Some of the other shows, while maybe possessing more talented casts overall, were a bit ragged/sloppy around the edges. G&D was streamlined, well-paced and unlike the other shows, didn’t suffer from clunky transitions and scene changes.
Overall, it was a good weekend of high school performances. Now I just have to survive tech week for Beauty and the Beast and final auditions and callbacks for On The Town. Good times.
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