High school to present Guys & Dolls

By Jennifer Grybowski
Turley Publications Reporter

STURBRIDGE - Locals will be transported from New York City to Havana and back when they attend Tantasqua Regional High School’s (TRHS) production of Guys & Dolls Thursday, Nov. 19, Friday, Nov. 20 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.
TRHS Fine Arts Director Christine Costello said choosing Guys and Dolls was easy.
“When you select a show you have to consider the strengths of the students,” she said. “This show requires a lot of talented males and you don’t always have years like that. We wanted to find a venue for as many students to be involved as possible.”
In fact, the show includes about 50 cast members.
Also, this show requires a lot of dancing. With the addition of choreographer Reagan Paras to the Tantasqua staff this year, such a production was possible. In addition to coordinating the existing choreography needs of the show, Paras also added in a tap number.
“Not all of the girls had had formal dance training,” Costello said. “He built it from the ground up.”
Paras, however, was quick to credit his students.
“They are an incredibly dedicated group of students,” Paras said.
TRHS Theater Instructor Eric vonBleicken said the show was cast in June and students started rehearsing this summer. They began by discussing character, period styles and how to master a New York accent.
“So we hit the ground running in the beginning of the year,” he said.
Several – though not all – of the students are in the new theater class being offered by Tantasqua. Although there had been a theater class offered years ago, Costello said it focused more on history rather than technique. The current class is open to students in grades 9 through 12. vonBleicken said he teaches the Meisner technique of acting.
“[I’m teaching] kids to respond to emotional impulses that come out of the script, not just responding to cues,” he said. “Acting from the inside out and learning to find an emotional center. Movement and voice based on emotional kickstart or impulse generated by the script.”
Costello said she fully supports the class.
“It’s great that Eric can give such a rich experience to the kids,” she said. “They are not just deciphering lines, they are developing characters.”
Guys and Dolls originally ran for 1,200 performances and won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and had several Broadway revivals as well as several West End productions. But the Tantasqua Fine Arts program is no stranger to hugely popular Broadway shows. Last year’s musical was Rent, and the year before that was Aida.
According to www.imagi-nation.com, Guys and Dolls is based on Damon Runyon's short story "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown," Guys and Dolls revolves around Nathan Detroit, the organizer of the oldest established permanent floating crap game in New York, who bets fellow gambler Skye Masterson that he can't make the next girl he sees fall in love with him. The next girl he sees happens to be Miss Sarah Brown, a pure-at-heart Salvation Army-type reformer, and the stage is set for an hilarious evening of complications.
Seniors Jonathan Costello as Skye Masterson and Samantha Stagias as Sarah Brown; and juniors Joseph Conceison as Nathan Detroit, Taylor Roy as Miss Adelaide and Cian Ashworth as Nicely-Nicely Johnson. Lila Callaghan is the stage manager.
vonBleicken said the technical department is building much of the set for the show.
“I want to incorporate more and more of that in future productions,” he said.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students and senior citizens. For tickets, or more information, contact Costello at (508) 347-9301 ext. 1133.