In the Wings

When Nyack High School theater director Joe Egan heard the people from Rodgers & Hammerstein had phoned, he panicked.

“I thought we were in trouble for something we had done in ‘Cats’ two years ago,” he said with a laugh.

But the news was good: Nyack was invited to be one of four high schools and two colleges from across the U.S. to produce pilot productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.” The pilot productions would help R&H Theatricals to prepare the show for the eventual release of amateur rights.

Charlie Scatamacchia (vice president for R&H Theatricals) said “We think your school can handle this. After having seen your ‘Cats,’ we feel you’re capable of handling this,’” Egan said.

Gulp.

Egan thought this was going to be his easy year. The producing team—including musical director Kurt Kelley, choreographer Greg Baccarini and lighting designer Andrew Gmoser—had done “Cats” and “Titanic” over the past two springs.

“We were like ‘I think we’re going to do something light and have it done with,’” Egan said.

“Kurt and Greg were a little scared at first,” Egan said. “Then Andrew said ‘We have to do it.’”

Egan talked to Nyack’s interim principal, Dan Nicholson, and got the green light.

When he broke the news to the students and parents at a meeting a couple of weeks ago, Max Reinhardsen, a Nyack senior, was in the auditorium.

“I have trouble hearing now because of how loud it was after Joe made the announcement,” Reinhardsen said jokingly.

“Actually, there was a moment of complete silence, like ‘How is this possible?’ I don’t think people believed it,” he recalled. “It’s still sinking in.”

Daisy Krikun, a junior, called the opportunity “so once-in-a-lifetime.”

“My mouth dropped open for at least 10 minutes,” when she heard Egan’s announcement.

“I know we were capable of doing it,” she said. “I just didn’t know other people thought we were.”

While the task is daunting, Krikun is confident.

“Joe and Greg (Baccarini) can do anything,” she said.

Brice Walborn, a senior, said he “just freaked out” when Egan made the announcement.

“The room got really loud. A couple of girls almost started to cry they were so excited. I was just happy it was a show I finally knew.”

Walborn says he’ll take a couple of voice lessons to prepare for next Thursday’s auditions.

“It’s the most stressed we’ve ever been for a show. The music is very intense and more operatic, more challenging than most of the music we’ve done before,” he said. “There’s more pressure to live up to the standard of what’s out there now.”

Will Walborn audition to be the Phantom?

“I’m not positive I can pull it off,” he said, “but I’m going to work really hard to get that, or the second lead of Raoul, the love interest for Christine.”

“The Phantom is actually only on stage for 19 minutes in the entire show,” Walborn said. “But when he is, it’s these big, extravagant loud solos. When he is on stage, he’s the sole focus of the performance.

“As a senior, to go for that lead means a little bit more.”

Walborn said the recognition is encouraging.

“It means so much that we’ve actually had people come to our shows and see the talent that we’ve put on and the hard work that we’ve put into it,” he said. “It’s not something that anyone takes lightly. It’s very time consuming and it’s something that we really put all of our effort into.”

Reinhardsen is still in awe of the honor bestowed on Nyack.

“Andrew Lloyd Webber in England and all his people picked four high schools and two colleges—and we were one of them because our reputation is so high. It blows my mind every time I think about it.”

Bert Fink, of R&H Theatricals, said other schools are: Elon University in Elon, N.C.; Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio; Fairfield Senior High School in Fairfield, Ohio; Carroll Senior High School in Southlake, Texas and one more high school yet to be announced.

Fink said Nyack was the only school in New York and the only school in the Northeast to be chosen to participate, adding that he’s certain that representatives from R&H will “almost certainly drive up to see it firsthand” when the production opens on March 7, 2008.
Egan said he hopes to add a first-Sunday performance to the two-weekend run, with shows on March 7, 8, 9, 14 and two on March 15.
Egan called the process of mounting the Tony-winning best musical—based on Gaston LeRoux’s novel—“a daunting task.”
“But that’s what R&H is after,” Fink said. “They want six different productions, with six different budgets and resources and talent pools.”
“We may figure out how to get the chandelier right and someone else might stage a great ‘Masquerade,’” said Egan.
“I guess we don’t have a year off,” Egan said.

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