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Incline High School presents "Oliver!" the musical |
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Written by Submitted to the World
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Thursday, 06 March 2008 |
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With a cast of "ragamuffin" fourth-graders and talented high school singers, Incline High School is presenting "Oliver!" to the community March 12-15.
The musical Oliver! was adapted from the book Oliver Twist, written by Charles Dickens. The music, lyrics and book adaptation were written by Lionel Bart. The setting is London in 1850, and chronicles the adventures of an orphan boy, Oliver, making his way through the underbelly of London. Some of the popular songs from Oliver! include "Food, glorious food," "As long as he needs me," "Where is love?" and "Consider yourself."
This year's musical, Oliver!, follows the 2007 success of "The Wizard of Oz," but director Tom Canino, an English teacher at the high school, said Oliver! should be just as good, although the play has a different personality.
"I don't know that we are thinking that we want to top Oz. That was a great experience, but there is a different personality to this show and the people involved," Canino said.
The Wizard of Oz was Canino's first directing experience for a musical, along with other adults who jumped into volunteer to help with the play, such as production manager John Paganelli.
"We were very happy with the performances we were able to put on the stage last year, but as it was a first time production for most of us. I think we learned a lot about what we wanted a musical to look like, and I think we have approached this year's production with the entertainment quality in mind. I think we will put on a superior performance to what we did last year. We have a better idea of how we want the play to look and how we want the audience to be involved," Canino said.
The high school cast has been involved with all aspects of the play from the beginning, including blocking the scenes and choreography of the dances, he said. There are also a variety of roles, which the students have worked hard on.
"We get very clean, entertaining and funny performances from our seniors like Bonnie Best, Cheryl Pillsbury, Jacob Barnett, and Michael Ring. It is an interesting cast in that I have lots of seniors, sophomores and freshmen. Sophomore Jordan Cronin is a physically intimidating force as Bill Sykes. We get some very fun scenes between freshman Myles Buergin and sophomore Erika Wegener, and freshman Dani Flores carries several of the singing numbers. This is a good play for a high school musical because it offers so many opportunities to so many individuals," he said.
The opportunity to have many students involved, including 15 elementary school students, is the reason the high school chose Oliver!.
"The play is set up for several singing and dancing numbers, but we also have some interesting action scenes scattered throughout with Bill Sykes picking on people and some comedy with the elementary kids and the Bumble and Corney characters," he said.
There are several adults who have volunteered to help put on the play, besides Canino and Paganelli.
Carol Bell is the music director.
"We would be lost without her. I knew after the first time I saw her in action directing the elementary kids that there was no way I could do this without her help," Canino said. "Last year her daughter Kati was Glinda, so it was in her interest not to leave the music to a novice like me. This year she is helping out of the great kindness of her heart, and I think her pity for me."
Diana Reynolds is helping to get our costuming together. Professional artist Liz Paganelli has designed all of the sets. Her husband, John Paganelli, showed great vision in designing and building the platform being used. Rick Jackson will be doing sound, and Amy Henderson will be the stage manager for the performances. Joanne Devine has organized the elementary kids during rehearsals and for their performance costumes. Nancy Irwin has rounded up a number of musicians for the performances and Sandy Davis will be the piano player again this year.
The musical production is looking for anyone who knows about makeup to help with that facet of the play. Also, anyone who is interested in helping to finish the sets on Saturday can show up at the high school to help.
"Right at this moment I would say that we are on the verge of putting on a very good show," Canino said.
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