Written by Rob Kennedy - submitted by Sarah Shepherd

Hartford - The Amity Theater Department was presented with four awards at the Connecticut High School Theater Awards held on Monday May 24th at Bushnell Theater in Hartford. Amity’s production of Les Miserables had been nominated in thirteen categories, the second most by any school.

The Amity winners included junior Kimberly Simon of Woodbridge who won for her portrayal of the bawdy and devilish Madame Thenardier. Kim was the very first winner of the night and was overwhelmed by the experience. At the podium she thanked the cast and crew and her family for their support.

Two Amity faculty members were honored for their efforts as well. Chris Hickerson won in the Best Achievement in Musical Direction category and Phil Dolan was given the award for the Best Orchestra. Dolan and his student orchestra was hard at work at the awards gala. Dolan conducted for all three of Amity’s performances and John Chang, Emma Platoff, Nick Platoff, Eric Jiang and Sarah Gans were the only students invited to join nine professional musicians on the Bushnell stage. When asked about the awards gala Dolan gushed about his students, “What a unbelievable experience for them! Congrats to the orchestra, cast, crew and directors Rob and Andrea Kennedy”.

One of the final awards of the night went to senior John Jorge of Orange. John was awarded the trophy for Best Performance by an Actor over some very tough competition including his cast mate Ken Adair and the 2009 Connecticut and National High School Music Theater Award winner Stephen Mark of Ridgefield. During the gala John sang a stirring rendition of the song “Bring Him Home” which brought the Bushnell crowd, including the competing high schools, to their feet. An emotional Jorge was visibly moved by the win and made sure to thank his directors Rob and Andrea Kennedy and his father who he called his “inspiration”.

John will now move on to compete in the second-annual National High School Musical Theater Awards which will be held on Monday, June 28, 2010 at the Marquis Theatre on Broadway. Activities will commence on Wednesday, June 23 with rehearsals, master classes, private coaching and interviews with theater professionals leading up to the live awards show where the Jimmy™ Award for Best Performance by an Actor and Best Performance by an Actress will be presented. Both overall male and female winners are eligible for four-year scholarship assistance to attend the NYU Tisch School of the Arts Department of Drama, contingent upon acceptance into the program. In addition, The Nederlander Organization will present both winners with a check for $10,000 to help these talented students pursue their dream.

Perhaps the pinnacle of theatrical experiences is when we become so immersed in a production that we are watching that we forget the theatre we are sitting in, and willing suspend any disbelief that we have somehow been transported to some fantastic other world taking place on the stage. For me, Amity High School’s production of Les Miserable failed to reach that pinnacle. I was all too aware that I was sitting in the high school theatre, next to my eight year old daughter, about whom I worried if she would be able to make it through a three hour production well past her bed time. Also sitting next to me was my wife, decompressing after a long drive home from Hartford after a vehicle fire had closed I-91. Beyond them was my mother-in-law, my priest and his wife, my daughter’s school bus driver, and many friends from about town gathered for this important social event. This suspension of disbelief was further challenged when the smoke machines set off the fire alarms during Act II.

Beyond this, was the music of Les Miserable; much of which I knew by heart, and somehow, a 19th century France where the only communication is by people singing in English makes a suspension of disbelief more difficult. As the musical started, my mind wandered to political implications. In the opening scene Jean Valjean learns that his criminal background prevents him from finding gainful employment. Of course this was two hundred years ago, and we don’t have issues like that in twenty first century Connecticut, right? This year’s “Ban the Box” bill which would made it illegal for the state and businesses that contract with the state to ask applicants if they’ve been convicted of a crime during the first round of review, failed to make it out of committee.

Yet there was, perhaps, a more important willingness to suspend disbelief taking place at Amity High School last night. While the production failed to completely transport me to 19th century France, I did forget that I was not at a professional production. Early on when Marla Morris, in the role of Fantine, sang “I dreamed a dream”, my mind wandered to the sensation Susan Boyle created when she sang that song on “Britain’s Got Talent”. Yes, Simon Cowell might have some snide comment Marla Morris’ performance, but you won’t find comments like that from me. I thought her performance was stellar. It set the stage for high expectations for the rest of the night.

With this, I wondered how well Dalia Medovnikov would be able to carry off the great song “Castle in the Cloud”, in her role as the young Cosette. I was not disappointed and instead look forward to seeing her perform in a starring role at Amity High School when she is older.

Of course, the real star of the show was John Jorge in the role of Jean Valjean. After his performance as Roger Davis in last year’s production of Rent, there was little doubt that he would make an excellent Jean Valjean. This role demanded much more versatility as we followed Valjean through the years, and Davis carried it off with exceptional talent.

Ken Adair, after his success as Benjamin Coffin III in Rent last year, turned in another great performance as Valjean’s nemesis, Javert. Likewise, Connor Deane, after his success as Tom Collins in Rent last year, provided another strong performance, this time as Marius, and it was great to see Alli Kramer in her role as Eponine.

It has often been said that many standing ovations are caused by people wishing to get to the parking lot and head home, and it could easily be imagined that after a three hour performance, some people might stand for that reason. Yet that was not the case at opening night. Instead, the audience stood and clapped and did not move. Even after the house lights came up, there was no rush to leave. My eight year old daughter, barely still awake reveled in the experience, telling friends that she liked it even more than Mama Mia which she had seen at the Bushnell in Hartford.

No, the Amity High School production of Les Miserable did not transport me to nineteenth century France. Instead, it transported me to a small community in Connecticut that values the arts and has high school musicians delivering performances that exceeded many professional performances that I’ve seen. That is a place I’m much happier to have been transported to.

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes

One day more,
Another day, another destiny,

Amity Performing Arts production of Les Miserables opens tomorrow night. Some tickets are still available.

Tomorrow we'll discover
What our God in Heaven has in store!
One more dawn
One more day
One day more!

Tickets for Amity High School’s production of Les Miserables are now on sale online. The production will run from April 30th through May 8th. If the show is anything like previous years shows, you won’t want to miss it, but you’ll have to buy your tickets early. The best seats disappear quickly and the shows often sell out.

Here is what Dr. Britton has to say about the production:

Les Miserables: The wait is finally over for the 8-time Tony Award winning
musical that has thrilled audiences around the world. The award winning
Amity High School Theater Department is proud to announce that tickets for
our 2010 musical LES MISERABLES are now on sale. This exhilarating musical
voyage runs the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May for five
performances: Friday April 30th, Saturday May 1st, Thursday May 6th, Friday
May 7th, and Saturday May 8th with curtain at 7:30 pm. All seats are
reserved. Tickets are $15.00. LES MISERABLES is sponsored by Roll-A-Cover
Intl., Apicella Adjusters Inc., and the Jamie Hulley Foundation for the
Arts. Please consider supporting the Amity Theater Department by purchasing
an ad in the 2010 Les Miserables program, or by becoming a corporate
sponsor. Amity Theatre Department productions are funded entirely by ticket
and advertising revenue. We need your help to continue the Broadway-quality
performances we provide year after year. To purchase tickets or advertising
please go to our website at: www.amityperformingarts.com

For more information read the following press release:

Can a bunch of high school students take the horribly successful Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog and produce it as a high school musical? If any group could pull it off, it would be the students at Amity High School. After their great production of Rent last year, I have a lot of respect for the thespians there.

Can they take such a great show, and add nuances to it that make the show its own successful interpretation instead of simply creating a pale copy of the original? I had greater doubts about their ability to do this, but I was wrong.

Produced by Katie Errera and directed by Lauren Fox, this show was a smashing success. Things got off to a poor start because of technical difficulties with the sound system. The students struggled with the problems and eventually got the system working sufficiently enough for the show which started around fifteen minutes late.

Ted McNulty, starring in the role of Dr. Horrible did a phenomenal job. Together with Rachel Hildrich as Penny and Dan Quarequio as Captain Hammer, they added a dimension to the show that seemed to amplify the meaning of the original show. Dr. Horrible is a shy, ill adjusted young man who wishes to display his horribleness in order to win the heart of the sweet idealistic young Penny. Captain Hammer is the dashing young do-gooder who does his good through beating up people and seeks Penny as little more than an object, another sexual conquest. Seeing all of this cast in the light of high school romances with the geeks, dweebs, jocks and good kids worked incredibly well.

In addition, the casting and acting of Tess Stirling as Moist was brilliant. In the original production, Moist is a flat minor character, a villain whose super power is merely to make things moist, and a close friend of Dr. Horrible. In this production, Moist was presented as a person that had a crush on Dr. Horrible from the beginning and Tess played this incredibly well.

There were two down points about the production. First, it was not as well publicized as it should have been. I imagine many people from the Amity Region would have loved to have seen this show. The second problem was related to the first. It was a one night show. The production deserved at least a full weekend run. In the end, it did get a deserved standing ovation, and I hope that Ms. Errera and Ms. Fox also get proper recognition for a very successful independent study project.