Musical theatre students at three Tri-City high schools will imitate the generation their grandparents grew up in for shows this and next week.
And two productions will pull back their curtains tomorrow night (Wednesday) — one of which will include a live orchestra conducted by an award-winning musical director.
DR. CHARLES BEST
A total of 34 young actors, under the lead of drama teacher Brad Case and musical instructor Brent Hughes, will take on Bye Bye Birdie — a story based on the rise of singer Elvis Presley and his draft into the army, in 1958.
Grade 11 student Raymund Koh is cast as the Elvis character of Conrad Birdie while Grade 12 student Stefan Crnogorac (the pastry chef in Best’s The Drowsy Chaperone, from 2015) portrays his manager, Albert Peterson.
The plot centres on Peterson’s attempts to appease Birdie’s fans as the heartthrob heads off to war.
He arranges a farewell television program that would see Birdie kiss Kim MacAfee, a small-town girl with a big crush on Birdie.
Grade 9 student Kyra Leroux, who plays MacAfee, said she was thrilled to win the role, saying of her character: “She’s very young and finding new things about herself — just like I am at this school. I can relate to her.”
Jocelyn Tsui, a Grade 12 student, also said she was eager to be included in the Best show after seeing the musical at Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) in Stanley Park.
A former student of the Lindbjerg Academy of Performing Arts in Coquitlam, Tsui plays Rosie Alvarez, Peterson’s girlfriend.
“It’s a very high-energy show,” she said. “It’ll keep you toes tapping all night. It’s so much fun.”
• Bye Bye Birdie runs May 3 to 6 and May 10 to 13 at Dr. Charles Best secondary (2525 Como Lake Ave., Coquitlam). Tickets are $15/$12. Call 604-461-5581.
HERITAGE
Elvis also figures prominently in All Shook Up, a jukebox musical set in midwest USA in the 1950s, that’s being presented by Heritage Woods.
Drama teacher Shanda Walters and assistant Zelda Coertze are co-directing the musical that was picked by a student selection committee last June.
Walters said although Heritage Woods showed All Shook Up six years ago, none of the current student body was in it.
But alumna Hayley Perkins recalls the 2011 production, in which she had a role.
This time around, the fourth-year UBC physics and theatre undergrad is the co-musical director and a scheduler for Walters.
Perkins is also keeping a close eye on her sister, Jillian, who stars as Natalie Haller — the cross-dressing mechanic.
Jillian Perkins, 16, is no stranger to stage, having grown up in a theatrical family (her parents met in their high school production of Anything Goes) and has been a student (and now teacher) at Lindbjerg Academy since the age of four.
This summer, she’s in the ensemble for TUTS’ Mary Poppins and will return to Michael J. Fox Theatre for the Align Entertainment remount of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. “I love theatre. I want to do it for a career,” the Grade 11 student said, adding, “Natalie is a very familiar person. I see a lot of myself in her: She’s insecure and a dreamer but she’s also strong. She knows what she wants.”
Chad, on the other hand, is played by rookie Xavier Smith, a 17-year-old Grade 11 student who moved to the Tri-Cities last year from Bonnyville, Alta.
He clinched the role after singing Adele’s Love Song during an audition last September.
Learning how to move and sing like Elvis “has been a lot of fun,” he said. “I’ve been watching a lot of old school rock and roll videos and trying to copy how he did it so well.”
• All Shook Up runs May 5, 6, 12 and 13 at Heritage Woods secondary (1300 David Ave., Port Moody). Tickets are $12/$10. Call 604-461-8679.
GLENEAGLE
Meanwhile, a Tony-award winning musical that premiered on Broadway in 1950 is Gleneagle secondary’s offering this season.
Directed by drama teacher Amy Clausen — with assistance from Heritage Woods’ Coertze and choreography by Gleneagle alumna Lyndsey Britten — Guys and Dolls features 41 cast members telling the 1920s and ‘30s stories of gangsters and gamblers in the New York underworld.
Clausen said Guys and Dolls was a perfect fit this year as she recently chaperoned 26 musical theatre students to Manhattan to see Broadway performances, attend workshops and tour theatres.
Clausen also wanted to emphasize a classic — rather than a contemporary — piece, as has been the case for past Gleneagle shows such as Shrek, Beauty and the Beast and Footloose.
“Those have modern films so it’s easy for the students to visualize their characters,” she said during a dress rehearsal last week, “but with Guys and Dolls, it’s older and I wanted them to put some work into their characters. I didn’t want them duplicating anyone.”
Guys and Dolls also carries a solid soundtrack with such tunes as A Bushel and a Peck and Luck Be a Lady.
• Guys and Dolls: A Musical Fable of Broadway runs May 3 to 5 and May 10 to 12 at Gleneagle secondary (1195 Lansdowne Dr., Coquitlam). Tickets are $15/$8. Call 604-464-5793.
