Madilyn Ray (left) and Lisa Luoh finish a dance routine in Redwood Middle School's production of the musical 'Oliver!'
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Child's Play
Hours of hard work and dedication by Redwood Middle School students and their parents went into the recent production of 'Oliver!'
By Rebecca Ray
Photographs by George Sakkestad
Performers danced and spun across the illuminated stage. Some sang as they leaped in the air and others tipped their hats and marched in place. Two of them hoisted another performer onto their shoulders.
A woman watched from the bleachers in front of the stage. "It's hard to believe they're only in middle school," she said.
The actors, ages 11 to 14, were rehearsing Oliver!, this year's spring musical at Redwood Middle School. From the choreographed scenes to the fitted costumes to the stagehands who wore headsets and prepared actors for upcoming scenes, the show had the feel of an American Musical Theatre production.
From April 25 through 28, the school cafeteria was transformed into a workhouse, a street and a thieves' den in 1830s Victorian England. Some students played starving workhouse children gobbling down food, while others played criminals plotting to snatch the wallets and handkerchiefs of townspeople.
Emily Harter, a 13-year-old girl, played Oliver, a 13-year-old orphan boy. Not only did the seventh-grader have to try to sound like a boy, she also wore a costume that looked like something a boy would wear, which she wasn't used to. Oliver was Emily's first male role.
"I can't wear a pink nightgown anymore," says Emily, who played Wendy's daughter, Jane, in the Redwood production of Peter Pan last year.
However, before the dress rehearsal, Emily felt ready. Compared to doing back handsprings on the balance beam, which she has done as a competitive gymnast, performing musicals onstage is easy, she admits.
"I'm so excited," she says. "I wish there were 10 performances. I love performing."
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Emma Kelsey (left) helps apply makeup to Michelle Sanfilippo before Redwood Middle School's production of 'Oliver!'
Amanda Fazio enjoyed her role for a different reason. The eighth-grader, who played a member of the Artful Dodger's gang of thieves, says she saw the play as a fun way to show who she was. As a thief, she got to be loud and vibrant.
Sixth-grader Mike Marshall, who also played a thief, says he enjoyed the way Margie Alejandro, the district music teacher who directed the musical, let the thieves act "goofy" by cheering, slapping hands and jumping as they spun in the air. The students found they could channel their energy through singing and dancing--which, says Amanda, is much tougher than it looks.
The thieves could act like they were having fun, which made performing even more fun, adds eighth-grader Briana Bowen, another member of Dodger's gang.
"It's so awesome--people are coming to see you and your friends," Amanda says. "You're just happy about who you are."
Because about 140 students wanted to be in the play, Alejandro decided to feature two casts--the "Charles cast" and the "Dickens cast." There was a place for every student who wanted to participate.
The number of students who wanted to perform has tripled since about four or five years ago, when only 40 or 50 students would try out, says co-producer Cathie Thermond.
Since there were almost 90 parts--nearly 180 total, counting both plays--but only 140 performers, some students had parts in both plays. While about 10 students played the same part in both casts, many others played a different role in each cast.
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Andrin Foster, who played the criminal Bill Sykes in Redwood Middle School's production of 'Oliver!', reviews lines with backstage crew worker Kelly Burke, as co-producers Vicki Gochnauer and Mary Murphy look on.
Aileen Shon faced the challenge of playing two diverse roles-a rose seller and Mrs. Bedwin, a maid. As the rose seller, Aileen had to raise her voice above those of other street vendors to draw attention to her goods, but as Mrs. Bedwin, the eighth-grader sang softly as she tended to Oliver, who was recovering from a run-in with the police.
Sixth-grader Ted Sclavos played a police officer in one cast and one of Dodger's accomplices in the other.
Seventh-grader Aroon Vijaykar played Mr. Bumble, the parish officer, and one of the townspeople. Not surprisingly, Aroon preferred the bigger role of Bumble, which included two solos.
Aroon said he looked forward to singing. Once he starts singing, he says, his nervousness disappears.
"Once the light's on you, you can't see the audience. It's all black out there," he says.
Eighth-grader Amulya Mandava, who played Nancy, says she loves singing more than any other aspect of performing musicals. In fact, Amulya, who has trained in opera for four years, says she has done a lot more singing than acting.
To prepare for singing in front of an audience, Amulya says that, in addition to drinking a lot of water, she pretends to be her character living in the appropriate time period.
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Backstage crew worker Kelly Burke (far right) reminds Marley Teter and other cast members to be quiet before going onstage to perform in the Redwood Middle School musical 'Oliver!'
Similarly, Emily Harter, who has performed in several productions at Saratoga Federated Church and Saratoga Elementary School, says she has only performed in one or two shows where she didn't sing.
"It's great," Emily says about singing. "It makes me feel alive. I love to sing."
However, other students were apprehensive about the singing.
Seventh-grader Sarah Thermond, who played Fagin, has performed in school plays and with theater groups since she was 8; she also takes playwriting classes. However, the only singing she's done in front of an audience was in Peter Pan last year, and that was in a chorus.
As Fagin, one of the main roles, Sarah had to sing three solos, which she admits made her nervous.
Sixth-graders Trent Dozier and Neil Shenoi said that although they enjoy singing at home, they were glad that in Oliver! they only had to sing in a chorus.
Charlotte Tilles, an eighth-grader, who played Nancy's friend Sophy and a strawberry seller, was afraid her voice would crack, so she hoped to make up for it by saying her lines well.
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Redwood Middle School students Sonnet Sparacino (left) and Tanya Schillage set up the backdrop for 'Oliver!'
When choosing shows for student performances, Alejandro says, she must choose a musical that is fun, showcases the performers' talents and accommodates many actors. Her selection must also provide for a wide range of theatrical experience. While some students, like Charlotte Tilles, have been performing since they were in kindergarten, others have never been onstage, like Mike Marshall--who says he tried out because his mother wanted him to.
Eighth-grader Emily Dunn, who played a thief, had never performed in a play. She tried out, she says, because she enjoys jazz dancing onstage and wants to be more involved in school.
Sixth-grader Matt Fazio, who played one of Dodger's accomplices, tried out for another reason. He has always wanted to be an actor and someday would like to be a comedian.
Almost all of the performers had to learn how to talk with a British accent.
Students received coaching from Alejandro. But Sarah Thermond says she developed her accent by listening to the voices of two of the performers, who were from England, and Yvonne Harter helped her daughter, Emily, by providing tapes of Oliver! the movie and the musical.
It was that sort of parental help and guidance that made the play a success. Parents' jobs ranged from working ticket booths to managing the stage to producing.
Harter, Lisa Finley and Cathy Schroeder were in charge of the approximately 165 costumes. While some outfits came from the school's costume bank, the three bought material for the others.
Harter and Finley chose the costumes for the workhouse children and thieves, cutting and unraveling shirts and pants to make the performers look more tattered.
Harter bought a shirt at Goodwill and cut it into strips to make scarves for the workhouse children.
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Director Margie Alejandro (second from right) praises Redwood Middle School performers (from left to right) Rohan Mehra, Ben Stewart, Aroon Vijaykar, Angela Chang and (on far right) Rachel Balma for a job well done with 'Oliver!'
Finley frequented after-Christmas sales to find cheap costumes and bought every fabric she could find that matched Alejandro's specifications. She cut the fingers out of knit gloves for the thieves, and she purchased about 60 taxi driver-style hats from a shop that was going out of business.
While the workhouse children wore neutral colors, the thieves wore darker colors, with what Finley calls "jewel-colored highlights," such as emerald- and burgundy-colored shirts.
Schroeder selected the costumes for both the working-class and the upper-class townspeople. While the wealthier women wore lacy, pastel-colored, printed gowns, the poorer ones wore plainer-yet still lacy-darker-colored dresses. Some of the women wore maid's caps, shawls and aprons.
Sarah Thermond wore four-inch heels and a long skirt and coat, and her hair was sprayed gray to make her look older.
The mothers of Aroon Vijaykar and Spencer Sevilla, who played Bumble, made their sons wide, bell-shaped hats that were almost as big as the one that Bumble wears in the 1968 movie version of Oliver!
Y. Harter said that she, Finley and Schroeder wanted the costumes to be as historically accurate as possible without overdoing it.
Sewing costumes, building benches, painting backdrops ... parents helping out with the production makes it more of a family endeavor in which everyone can feel proud at the end, Finley says.
Photograph by George Sakkestad
Playing gang members and thieves in 'Oliver!' at Redwood Middle School are (from left to right) Lisa Luoh, Zo Shain, Kristin Gochnauer, Emily Harter, Katie Stevens and Trent Dozier.
The real stars, though, were the children. And the experience is one they will not likely soon forget.
Katherine Rea, who played Nancy's friend Nell and a milkmaid, says she probably looked forward to opening night the most because it was her first time performing in front of an audience.
"You don't know what's going to happen," the seventh-grader says.
Others looked forward to being under the spotlight.
Briana Bowen loved the applause "because it affirms everything you've done. It's kind of addictive."
"The spotlight is on you," Amulya Mandava says, "and it's all you. It's your chance to show what you can do."
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