Theatre Group’s performances feature several musical numbers on stage — and beyond
The Santa Ynez High School Theatre Group was able to put its stamp on a memorable Broadway play based on a popular movie, in a show that couldn’t be contained to the stage.
That show was “Andrew Lloyd Weber’s School of Rock,” which the group performed in four shows over three days from March 14-16 at SYHS’s Little Theatre. The show was based on the Broadway musical that itself was based on the 2003 motion picture starring Jack Black.
For those not familiar with that movie, the story follows Dewey Finn (played here by Harvey Ho), an aspiring rock star who gets kicked out of his own band and loses his job at the same time. He happens to take a call meant for his roommate Ned Schneebly (Signy Hansen) and ends up assuming Ned’s identity to take a teaching job at Horace Green School.
After identifying the musical talent in his students, Dewey forms a band out of the fifth-graders in an attempt to win the upcoming Battle of the Bands contest, all under the suspicious nose of the school’s principal, Rosalie Mullins (Addisynn Laliberte).
The show, in this case the matinee on Saturday, March 15, featured several musical numbers, and in some of them the actors ventured off the stage and into the aisles to perform. One example was “If Only You Would Listen,” as the Horace Green students stood along the front of stage and up each aisle, while singing about their frustration over parents’ expectations. Another was Laliberte performing “Where Did The Rock Go?,” from the back corner as Ms. Mullins begins to soften her no-nonsense exterior. And, there was even a moment when the actors tiptoed through the rows of spectators to simulate their “sneaking out” for their “Battle of the Bands” audition before the principal could catch them.
“I just like to involve the audience as much as I can, and used every bit of space that we can,” said SYHS Theatre Group director and teacher Amy Curti, who was directing her second show at SYHS. “I like that people have to turn around sometimes, and it’s not such a passive experience.”
In the production’s playbill, Curti mentioned in her director’s note that she decided on “School of Rock,” after exchanging “just a few words” with Harvey last summer, and stated that “Harvey Ho is Dewey Finn.”
Harvey’s performance seemed to bear that out; like actors before him, he was able to portray Dewey as a mischievous and rebellious protagonist, but with enough charisma and humility to convince his students to embrace their talents and rebel a little on their own. That message was conveyed with the number “Stick It To The Man,” which may have been the signature tune for the show.
“I really identified with that part of the character, because the kids are so uptight. They’re smart, but they’re kind of brain dead, like they’re not creative,” Harvey said after the show. “I really like how the [Dewey] character brings out that creative side and then gets them having fun.”
It was a familiar kind of role for Harvey, who said he’s played comedic roles before, like Mr. Macafee in “Bye Bye Birdie,” and the grandpa in “You Can’t Take It With You,” though he said the singing parts were new for him.
That was actually the kind of balance Curti sought when she picked “School of Rock” for the spring production.
“It was the first time we did a musical, and I felt it was very palatable,” she said. “And, a lot of musicals have just singing, but this one had acting too, so I thought this would ease us into it.”
Of course, the musical numbers very prevalent in the show. Curti praised the vocal talents of Addisynn for her “Where Did The Rock Go?” number, as well as Anelly Tovalin, who as Tomika didn’t say much until the second act, when with a little push from Dewey belted out a rousing rendition of “Amazing Grace.”
Addisynn expressed after the show how much she enjoyed doing a musical this semester.
“I did ‘Little Women’ back in the fall, but this was different,” she said. “You definitely sweat a lot, because with the singing and choreography we put in a lot more physical effort. But the output was great and it was worth it.”
While the actors did a lot of moving around, the audience was able to hear them clearly as many of them, including Harvey as Dewey, wore wireless microphones while performing. All that due to an outside vendor, Curti said.
“We hired Bill Gaines Audio out of San Luis Obispo, because we haven’t been able to afford our own equipment,” Curti said. However, she said the department is hoping for donations so that it can eventually purchase it on their own.
With two shows under her belt, Curti said she’s looking ahead to next year.
“We’ve already decided to do ‘Emma’ in the fall, since it’s going to be Jane Austen’s 250th birthday in December,” she said. “Then we’ll have another musical next spring, but which one it is will be determined later.”
