Schools

Current, Future Stars Take Stage at Gala Concert

Hillsborough High School's rising stars shared the stage with several current stars of the stage.

 Taking the stage at Hillsborough High School Monday night, MiG Ayesa had one warning for the audience in the school's auditorium.

“This might get a little loud,”  Ayesa,who recently performed in the Broadway show Rock of Ages, said before launching into Bon Jovi’s “Dead or Alive”.

Ayesa was just one of the theater stars performing at Monday’s Gala Concert at Hillsborough High School. The concert raised the curtain on the Hillsborough High School Theater program’s 2011-2012 season, when the students will put on four productions.

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“We wanted to create a sort of thing to get people excited about the theater program,” BJ Solomon, theater director, said. “I basically called all my friends and said, ‘who wants to come.’”

His request drew stars Russell Fischer, who is now playing Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys, Carrie Johnson, from Sister Act, Kristen Michelle, who starred in Les Miserables, Thoroughly Modern Mille and the Wizard of Oz, and Andrea Brooks, whose credits include Side Show and Little Women, to the Hillsborough stage.

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“They are all sort of here because they support what we are doing,” Solomon said. “We have so many talented kids in this program.”

“We are breaking the mold as to what high school theater is,” he added.

Three of those students—seniors Scott Cesta, Trevor Nalepka and Vanessa Viscomi—took the stage with their idols Monday night. The trio attended theater conservatories during the summer, after each one received a scholarship allowing them to attend.

“It’s so cool,” Trevor said. “I feel like such a loser saying that, but it’s so cool. We never believed we would get on the stage in high school after performing in middle school.”

“They came up to us and said, ‘you two are Broadway junkies,’” Vanessa added. “It’s really great knowing you can hit the same notes as them.”

“Being able to sing in the same ensemble as professionals, it’s like going to a baseball fantasy camp,” Scott said. “These were the people you idolized as a kid going to Broadway shows.”

For the performers, the gala was an opportunity to give back.

“My first training with theater was in school,” Ayesa, said. “It probably helped keep me in school. It just so happens that I left Rock of Ages last week, so this is my first Monday off.”

“I’m truly impressed with this theater program,” Carrie Johnson said. “These guys are doing a big musical plus an extremely challenging play.”

“They’re clearly talented and dedicated,” she added. “These guys are picking up a song and kept up with the pros as they are trying to learn it.”

Meanwhile, other theater students spent their evening ushering, handing out programs, and working the sound board and lights for the show—much like what some will do during the school’s regular productions.

“It’s really cool (but) it’s kind of stressful because it’s Broadway stars, so they ask you to do something and you don’t want to look stupid,” Justin Luckenbaugh, one of the students working the sound board, said. “They’ve all been really nice so far.”

The event has dual purpose for several students, since they are able to network with the performers, Solomon said. Since the program has a tradition of bringing theater stars to do workshop with the students, the gala allows the students to connect with the performers too.

“It’s all this networking thing.” Solomon said. “It’s getting them to connect with these people.”

 


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