JADE HEASLEY/The Luminary Members of Virtuoso, the high school theatre ensemble in Montgomery, posed for a group photo on Nov. 20 after two evenings of their outstanding Broadway revue titled “From Broadway to Penn.” Featuring pieces from shows that are currently running on Broadway as well as national tours, the students did a wonderful job with the revue that included a variety of genres of song, dance and drama.
Virtuoso’s fall season offering was a wonderful revue titled, “From Broadway to Penn.”
Montgomery’s musical theatre program gave the revue in the high school auditorium on Nov. 19 and 20. The audiences on both nights were quite impressed with the entertainment provided by the hardworking teenagers.
Composed of a variety of musical numbers, dance performances and short scenes from plays, it was a fantastic way to showcase the many talented students.
A glittering red carpet was placed in the hallway leading into the auditorium where the audience was greeted with a colorful and immersive plunge into a revue that took audiences on a dynamic journey through the world of musical theater that covered nearly every emotion, time period, as well as the realms of imagination to every day life.
From the fantasy world of Oz with numbers from Wicked to the realistic gritty streets of 1966 Tulsa with a song and dreamlike dance fight in The Outsiders, across time from the court of Henry the VIII in Six to 1985 in Back to the Future, and from a range of emotions from grieving parents in colonial America in Hamilton to the ecstatic dancing of the newly rich in the 1920s in The Great Gatsby, the students wowed the audience with their multi-faceted skills.
Each number in the revue was selected by Virtuoso’s co-directors, Carina McNear and Jessica Carpenter. McNear commented, “We went through all of the current Broadway shows, or any Broadway show that’s currently touring nationally. We made a list, and basically went through and made our wish list of things that we thought that would be really good for the kids. Some are our favorites that we don’t know that we’d ever be able to do the full show, so at least we could do a scene from them, and then the ones that we thought would flow and fit together really well.”
She also mentioned that the benefits of a revue over a single show are that it gives lots of opportunities for many students to have a significant role. “I think it’s so important as a parent, that every parent gets to see their kid do what they love and be in the spotlight for it. I thought this was important for the sake of families and friends, too.”
Co-director Jessica Carpenter served as the choreographer for the revue and said that dance rehearsals began in September.
“This was like my playground this time because I wasn’t confined to a particular style, or even just musical theatre and jazz. I got to pull out contemporary and lyrical, and some of the other styles. We got to try new styles and test the kids’ limits so it was really a lot of fun because it was all kinds of different styles and types.”
She further said, “I’m excited about how hard these kids have worked, and really proud of how far they’ve come.”
Performances: “One Short Day” from Wicked – Lily Gingery, Grace Childs, and Company; “The Wizard and I” from Wicked – Samaia Stewart-Williams; “I’m Not that Girl” from Wicked by Jillian Pautz; “Queen Mab Speech” from Romeo and Juliet – Maeson Beck-Barton; “Wherever We’re Going” from Back to the Future – Gabryel Calderon and Nathaniel Straub; “Leave the Light On” from The Notebook – Kaylee Sargent and Camden Dalrymple with Cassidy Jacobs, Kira Follmer, Zoe Furman, and Gabryel Calderon; “Shy” from Once Upon a Mattress – Madison Burleigh; “Apex Predator” from Mean Girls – Lillian Muhl, Maeson Beck-Barton, and Nathaniel Straub; “It’s Quiet Uptown” from Hamilton – Grace Childs, Camden Dalrymple, Emily Dieffenderfer, Lexi Boyer, Autumn Fry, Samaia Stewart-Williams, and Lily Gingery; “Seventeen” from Heathers – Brielle Mowrey; “New Money” from The Great Gatsby – Company; “Ex-Wives” from Six – Lexi Boyer, Gabryel Calderon, Samaia Stewart-Williams, Lily Gingery, Zoe Furman, and Grace Childs; “Waving Through a Window” from Dear Evan Hansen – Camden Dalrymple; “I Paint” from The Notebook – Emily Dieffender with Nathaniel Straub; “Solitary Man” from A Beautiful Noise – Justin Figard; “Act Four, Scene Four” from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Maeson Beck-Barton and Nathaniel Straub; “Dead Mom” from Beetlejuice – Gabryel Calderon; “Day-O” from Beetlejuice – Jillian Pautz, Bryce Miller, Maeson Beck-Barton, Brielle Mowrey, Audrey Cook, and Christeena Gardner; “Requiem” from Dear Evan Hansen – Laila Hessler; “Tulsa/Rumble” from The Outsiders – Jace Hanford, Conner Jarret, Layne Gingery, Braiden Winter, Cash Hill, Trace Furman, Abrahm Childs, Nathaniel Straub, Camden Dalrymple, and Zoe Furman; “Flowers” from Hadestown – Lexi Boyer; “Doubt Comes In” from Hadestown – Zoe Furman and Camden Dalrymple; “We Raise Our Cups” from Hadestown – Grace Childs, Autumn Fry, Laila Hessler, Gabryel Calderon, Erika Kunst, Lily Gingery, Samaia Stewart-Williams, Zoe Furman, Lexi Boyer, and Camden Dalrymple.
Crew: Carina McNear and Jessica Carpenter – Co-Directors; Mr. James Carpenter – Sound Technician; Gabby Butcher – Lighting Technician; Emma Keister – Assistant Sound Technician; Emily Bucio – Stage Manager; Amya Grimm – Assistant Stage Manager; Ava Goliash and Kurrah Bohner – Make-Up Artists/Hair; Adelyn Rine and Joselyn Stoner – Stagehands; Lainie Solano, Lily Burchell, Zoe Furman, Camden Dalrymple, Brooke Edkin – Photography; Karma Schaffer and Briar Persing – Videography.
