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02/16/2020 11:00 PMWhen the North Haven High School (NHHS) stage curtain opens for its annual spring musical, students will showcase the hit musical The Phantom of the Opera.
Performances are Thursday, Feb. 27 at 6:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, Feb. 28 and 29 at 7 p.m.; and Sunday, March 1 at 2 p.m. Tickets, $15 each, are available at nhhsmusical.ludus.com or at the box office on the night of the show.
Based on a novel by French author Gaston Leroux, The Phantom of the Opera has been adapted for numerous film and stage productions.
The most notable being composer Frank Lloyd Webber’s musical, which is the longest-running show in Broadway history.
The musical is set in the Paris Opéra House in the early 20th century. It is a love story between a beautiful young singer, Christine Daaé, and a disfigured, masked man, the Phantom, who lives below the Opéra House.
NHHS’s spring musical, which is produced in conjunction with the drama club and the music department, is directed by Jacqlyn Giordano, a North Haven Middle School 8th-grade language arts teacher.
When the production team started brainstorming for the 2020 show, “my music director threw [Phantom of the Opera] out jokingly after we had finished our show last year,” said Giordano, who has been director for the past four years. “I took him seriously.”
After doing some research on the musical, Giordano quickly realized, “It’s hard not to love the music of that show.”
So, the team decided, “We may be crazy, but let’s do this,” she said.
Senior Connor Lloyd will play the Phantom.
“Connor is an extremely talented vocalist,” said Giordano. “He has the voice of an angel…such power behind his voice. I think people are going to be impressed by him. I’m really excited to showcase him this year.”
Junior Olivia Scopetto will play Christine Daaé.
“She has a beautiful voice,” said Giordano.
The nine-member cast will be accompanied by a 45-member choral ensemble, led by NHHS Choir Director Sarah Iadarola.
“It’s one of the more vocally demanding shows [that] we’ve done,” said Iadarola. “So far, our principal actors have been rising to [the] challenge. It’s intense music…taxing.”
A 22-member orchestra, consisting of six student musicians and sixteen professional musicians, will be led by NHHS Band Director Ken Tedeschi. Broadway trombonist Bill Whitaker headlines the group.
“There are a lot of melodies that people are familiar with…’Angel of Music’…’Think of Me,’” said Tedeschi. “There are three operas within the show [and] music that people are not really familiar with and that music is what tends to be the most difficult.”
Tedeschi continued, “This is certainly the most challenging show we’ve ever done and we’ve done a lot of them. I think we’re still embracing the challenge every day…still looking forward at the end of rehearsal, looking to tweak it to make it a little bit better.”
The challenge posed to NHHS staff and students by producing The Phantom of the Opera is recognized by Jared Andrew Brown of Square Foot Theatre in Wallingford, who is the choreographer.
Brown, who has worked with NHHS for 10 years, said, “You don’t hear a lot of school programs that are doing Phantom of the Opera. We continue to push the envelope [with] this show. This is definitely something that is going to blow the community away.”
NHHS enlisted the services of Flying by Foy, a theater flying service, to assist in several aspects of its stage design including installation of the chandelier, a key prop.
Other elements of the set design are developed by NHHS parent and volunteer Debbie Volain.
The production process takes approximately six months, with three months of rehearsing four nights a week.
Although the undertaking has seemed daunting at times, Giordano assures powerful performances and messages will be conveyed to the audience.
“From the story, I hope the audience takes away that no matter how much darkness you see in someone, or they experience, they can find happiness somewhere and they can be good,” said Giordano. “Also, I really want to have the audience understand that when you hold students to high expectations, they are able to meet them if not surpass them.”