Norwin High School Musical Review

None — Norwin High School's Musical Production of "Curtains" gives its audience something that few musicals can -- something different. Behind all the sequins and cowboy hats, tin men and Pink Ladies, the truth of the matter is that the story is pretty meaty. "The Wizard of Oz," "Oklahoma," "Fiddler on the Roof," "Guys and Dolls," "Grease," "Oliver!," "West Side Story" and a few others are the New York Yankees of the high school musical world. Everybody knows the songs; many even know the dialogue. Much of the most difficult parts of teaching children to perform are eliminated. Easily accessible movies reduce the art of acting to the much easier craft of imitation.

"Curtains" is a 2006 musical by John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Rupert Holmes. These names are responsible for some of the best known and loved modern musicals not written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Kander, Ebb, and Holmes's works include "Caberet," "Chicago," "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Drood". "Curtains" is a musical-within-a-musical back stage comedy/murder mystery. The show ran for one year in Los Angeles from 2006 to 2007 and a year on Broadway from 2007 to 2008.

The show is set in Boston in 1959 and stars senior Vincent Holden as Lt. Frank Cioffi, a theater loving homicide detective who gets a chance to live his dream when XXX XXX, the star of "Robbin' Hood" (the musical within the musical) is murdered after the curtain call on opening night. Mr. Holden is equal parts starstruck and rigid bureaucrat in his portrayal of Cioffi. "I have to switch between the passionate theater go getter and the detective trying to solve the mystery. David Hyde Pierce played Cioffi in both the Los Angeles and Broadway runs, but Holden made no effort to copy the mannerisms of the famous television star. When asked if he considered Pierce in his development of the character he replied. "If I knew who that was, I guess I might have." Frazier has left the building.

Despite this being his first leading role, Mr. Holden is no stranger to the stage, having been part of the ensemble in earlier Norwin musicals. He has a good voice for the role, warm but not overly strong, and can certainly carry his own as a dancer, but his strength is certainly as an actor. "I'm not the most coordinated person. Acting is my passion and my strong point."

Cassia Sakmar, a junior in her third Norwin musical, plays Niki Harris, the too-sweet-to-be-true love interest of Cioffi. "She's a lot like a Disney Princess, very innocent and very sweet." Ms. Sakmar is a member of the Show Choir and Chorus and it shows in her lively, very well played performance. This show is a stark contrast to last year's "Back to the 80s" revue style production. "This is more of a classical musical. It's funny and has little twists."

"Curtains" is a more complicated play than many of the standard musicals. The characters have a backstory and more depth than usual. As such, it's a bit harder to follow, but greatly rewards the careful observer with humor, suspense, and its share of catchy show tunes. Katie Falk, who plays Georgia Hendricks, sums up the audience reaction succinctly: "It's not something that they already know. The songs are really great. You just get so attached to these characters. I was blown away from the first read through and it's turned out ten times better than I thought it was going to be."

Ms. Falk plays Georgia Hendricks, divorced from fellow composer Aaron Fox (Josh Gongaware) but seeking a reconciliation. To prepare for the role, she looked to her own life. "I tried to draw everything from myself. As a girl i can relate to the whole trying to get someone to refall in love with you even though that usually doesn't work that well." Despite the apparent lack of a single romantic bone in her body, Ms. Falk fakes it with the best of them. Also a talented singer with very good comedic timing, she is at her best in "What Kind of Man."

Forrest Mance, a senior and theater novice, was tasked with the role of the show's murderous villain Daryl Grady. Playing the role was "kind of hard at first because you have to learn how to be creepy." To hone his creepy edge, he turned to Heath Ledger's performance in "The Dark Knight", but, thankfully, played a much more subtle character, although the voice is certainly reminiscent of Bale's Batman.

There are many in the cast who deserve individual mention for bringing the funny to a show very well done. This show is filled with humorous characters as any "behind the scenes" show must be. Lee Scandinaro is hilarious as flamboyant director Bhristopher Belling, and Brittany Nance likewise as the eternal understudy Bambi Bernet. Sarah Pachesky's stint as diva and first murder victim Jessica Cranshaw is all too brief. Josh Gongaware is a convincingly tortured artist, and Sarah Payne is wonderfully bitter and opportunistic as Carmen Bernstein.

The production is led by a young group of professionals led by Meghan O'Halloran. In her second year as director, Ms. O'Halloran, (or "MisO" to her charges) has found herself in a unique position at Norwin. The Norwin campus has a bit of an athletic club feel to it. The ribbon of concrete winds through athletic fields with very expensive looking scoreboards, tennis courts, baseball fields, and professional sized tracks. The auditorium, by contrast, is a bit underwhelming in design and maintenance. But where some might see a difficulty, MisO sees opportunity.

The decision to produce "Curtains" stemmed from the opportunity to take chances. "We were looking through catalogs to figure out what we were going to do, and we stumbled across [Curtains], did our research, and it seemed that a lot of the parts fit our kids." As a second year director, she is still getting to know the students, and the show's relative anonymity allowed every student the opportunity for the spotlight. "I thought it was a lot more fun that way. High school musicals are very cut-throat. But when you don't know the show, it kind of levels the playing field."

Musical Director John Smialowski echos that sentiment: When you have no presuppositions about what the characters should be, you have to develop the characters yourself." Even teaching brand new songs to the more than forty cast members proved to be no obstacle. "It wasn't a disadvantage at all. The cast this year was very eager to learn. The general musical aptitude of the ensemble was considerably above average. I admonished them to get a copy of the CD and get engaged with it. When we gathered for ensemble rehearsal, it fell into place."

For Choreographer Erin Shrader, the play-within-a-play format was perfect for their cast. "We can take one number and feature the actors, and another and feature the stronger dancers. No one in the cast can't be featured in something."

Many theater departments would never dream of producing a show like "Curtains." One school visited earlier this year sold out their 1000+ seat auditorium four times. At twelve bucks a head, that's over $48,000 of gate receipts. That's spectacular, of course, but it's also expected at that institution, and the money had been spent long before a single ticket was sold. It creates a cycle of expectation, and performing an unfamiliar show with unfamiliar songs could have resulted in a devastating loss of ticket sales and revenue for the department.

At Norwin, despite having production values like art and scenery that are attractive and absolutely in line with other similar school districts, chances can be taken. And sometimes, like this year, they pay off. Concerns regarding audience reaction proved to be unfounded. The audience was engaged throughout despite the lack of a familiar song. The jokes, fast and furious, found their mark often thanks to very good overall performances from the entire cast.

WPXI