Ridge High Students Audition for 'Curtains'

It's eerily quiet in the auditorium. Students sit, awaiting their instructions, eager for their opportunity.  Sean Baldwin, the theater director, begins by describing the setting, characters and lines the students will read to audition for the upcoming Spring musical, "Curtains." He hands out the lines and the students pair off to remote corners to practice before they take the stage and perform.

It's audition time at Ridge High. "Curtains" is a musical mystery comedy and will be performed by Ridge High's talented teens March 5-7 at the school's Performing Arts Center. "It is a big show, a more adult musical which is witty, loaded with jokes and has lots and lots of dance numbers," explained Baldwin. "It has murder, mystery, love and romance." Written by Rupert Holmes, with lyrics by Fred Ebb and music by John Kander, "Curtains" is a musical within a musical; it's 1959 and a theater troupe is performing a show in Boston, "Robbin'Hood of the Old West." Opening night comes and a murder occurs. Detective Cioffi, one of "Curtains" lead characters, and a musical theater afficionado, is brought in to investigate and solve the case; the fun takes off from there. "Curtains" first premiered on Broadway in 2007 and won the Tony Award for Best Performing Actor (remember David Hyde Pierce from "Frasier"?).

Baldwin, who held the auditions the week of Nov. 30 and posted the results on December 6, will direct the show. During the auditions, over 60 students sang, danced and read parts. All students who audition and have the required time in their schedule will have a role in the show, either as one of the principals or in the dance/vocal chorus. Students are also involved behind the scenes as stage managers, stage hands, set builders, producers and designers. An orchestra of 20 musicians, led by Orchestra Director Dan Zugale, will support the show. Other faculty support includes Carol Dory, as vocal director and Elizabeth Siccone, as producer. Theater director Baldwin will choreograph the dance numbers.

Rehearsals began on Monday, December 7, and will continue through to the performances in March. There will be a parent meeting on Monday, December 21, at 7 p.m. to discuss the rehearsals during February vacation and find parent volunteers for marketing & publicity, crews, food, ads for the program and basic support. Tickets (once they are made available) can be purchased through the Ridge Performing Arts Center Web site at http://www2.bernardsboe.com/pac/.

Following is a partial listing of the cast. For a full list see the Ridge Drama Web site: http://ridgedrama.com/news/2009/12/06/cast-list-curtains-rhs

Principals:
Lieutenant Frank Cioffi - Jeff O'Donnell
Carmen Bernstein - Kathleen Pine
Georgia Hendricks - Lauren Morra
Aaron Fox - Nick Siccone
Niki Harris - Emily Cleary
Christopher Belling - Peter Hughes
Daryl Grady - Johnny Graves
Johnny Harmon - Alyssa Luisi
Oscar Shapiro - Abel Flint
Bobby Pepper - Christian Fentress
Bambi Bernét - Camie Luckewicz
Jessica Cranshaw - Shayna Stemmer
Sidney Bernstein - Christian Speal
Detective O'Farrell - Brett Owens