This article by Lisa Boucher appeared in tonight's Thursday, November 11, 2010 Edition of The St. Albans Messenger. There are numerous photos taken by Josh Kaufmann of The St. Albans Messenger - Had they been by Lisa, I would have asked her permission to include them, but I don't know Josh, plus I believe he is a professional photographer.
BFA, Fairfax state-of-art 'Willy Wonka' opens tonight
Fairfax cast and crew surmounts obsticals
By LISA M. BOUCHER
Messenger Correspondent
FAIRFAX—Much like life, the development of a drama production isn't linear; however the end results appear in a matter of weeks instead of years, creating much havoc and turmoil along the twisting meandering path of creativity.
This can be said for Bellows Free Academy's (BFA) second annual Fall Musical—"Willy Wonka.' After last year's success with Disney's Broadway "Beauty and the Beast," the cast and crew were pumped — planning for the fall production began in the spring with Producer and Middle School Math teacher Jerry Bailey.
The show opens tonight at 7 at BFA, Fairfax and runs through Saturday.
"Willy Wonka" was chosen and cast try-outs were completed by the end of the school year. Rehearsals began in early September amid the bedlam of fall sports. A small school, BFA's actors are often also its athletes. Time and space constraints sometimes—perhaps often, requires a great deal of wrangling and sharing. The upshot being a versatile student body.
"I'm so excited to be presenting our second annual fall musical," said Bailey. "From the acting, to the singing, choreography, sets, lighting, and sound—the show is completely state-of-the-art. It transforms our high school gymnasium into a grand amphitheater. I'm proud of everyone involved."
The cast is quite large with more students from the lower grade levels this year acting along side their 9-12 grade counterparts and an orchestra conducted by BFA Music teacher, Melissa Towle, all adding another wangdoodle dimension to the mayhem of a large scale production.
There are; however, only four seniors in the cast: Annie Dreher (Mrs. Bucket), who was an integral part of "Beauty" last year, has been a member of drama since her sophomore year. Thomas Taber (Mr. Salt) a BFA drama veteran, having suffered some hearing loss as a small child, avoids singing parts in theses musicals.
Chris Hogan (Grandpa Joe) and Anna Hartmann (Oompa Loompa), both new to drama, "Wonka' is their first production. They unanimously agreed that their decision to participate was directly related to the success of "Beauty and the Beast" and the fact that it appeared to be "a lot of fun."
Julie Filiberti who has been directing the elementary program for a number of years, stepped into the empty director's chair. "They did a fantastic job, they're an inspiration," said Filiberti, regarding the work done by the large, multi-age cast. "I was very intimidated, [having] only worked with the elementary."
"Willy Wonka" is not a play with a minimalist-set—it had to reflect the elaborate eccentricity of the title character and be everything a candy land could be in the physical world of wood, paint and other art media.
Enter Fairfax artist and Student Support Center staff, Cynthia Pease, who was asked once again to be the set designer as she has been numerous times in the past. With Pease's talent, artistic vision, untold hours, and countless helping hands—the set of "Willy Wonka" is nothing if not scrumpdilicious.
The show would not be complete without the latest lighting and sound effects available, BFA Alum (2006), Brian Senesac of C.W. Stageworks is the mastermind working the board. A Clarkson graduate, Senesac has been working the technical end of BFA Drama productions since he was in the fifth-grade.
"I'm taking a vacation from work this week to work on this," Senesac said, having put in innumerable hours over the weekend and throughout the week leading up to opening night. "It's the one time of year I get to come home and help BFA." He also pointed out that he has been working with Bailey and Pease since he was a kid.
Regardless of any of the aforementioned elements of a drama production, none of it would run smoothly without a competent stage manager and crew to move the sets and actors into place at the right time.
Title I Math teacher, Marcy Cummings, a veteran of elementary productions with Filiberti, and an assistant backstage for the high school last year, is this year's wizard behind the curtain. "It was a lot more work than I thought it would be," said Cummings, who has put in immeasurable hours working on the set and props as well as shepherding her backstage crew.
Shows are tonight through Saturday night at 7 with a 2 p.m. matinee Saturday Admission is $8 adult, $6 children.
