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02/28/2018 07:30 AMWith loads of talent and a seemingly endless well of energy and enthusiasm, Liza Catino always puts her heart into creating the best possible community theater at Guilford’s First Congregational Church—but this time, she’s surprised even herself.
In honor of the 50th anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s debut of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Liza and company are bringing the Broadway musical to First Church in four community performances Friday, March 16 through Sunday, March 18.
“This is probably the best thing we’ve ever done, as far as the choreography, casting, the vocal sound,” says Liza of a show intended to send world-weary audiences home inspired. “We need something joyful and uplifting and full of forgiveness and colorful costumes and great singing, great voices, great music and great dancing.”
Featuring Aaron Scott as Joseph, First Church’s family-friendly production tells a biblical story of jealousy, despair, forgiveness, and redemption, with songs that run the gamut from rock-n-roll to Calypso tunes and dance numbers including a country hoedown, Caribbean conga, French tango, and even an Elvis Presley-style gem.
The evening and matinée performances at First Church feature a talented, auditioned cast that includes several seasoned singers and actors. The show’s dance numbers are backed by professional choreography from stage veteran Vicki Newman.
Newman, who performed in First Church’s 2009 production of Joseph, will also narrate most of this production. The show’s music is conducted by First Church’s Director of Music Ministries Bill Speed, who has gathered a live pit orchestra.
The production also features sets constructed by Mark Twombly, backdrops painted by local artist Lorraine Lewin, costumes overseen by seamstress and Pilgrim Fellowship Director Judi Wallace, stage management assistance from Jan Nelmes, and professional lighting and professional sound.
The production goes on with support from First Church’s Myrtha Licht Fund, but relies heavily on proceeds from ticket sales. Tickets can be purchased in advance and are given as a free will donation (suggested price, $10). The show is open to the public and suitable for all ages.
“We welcome anybody,” says Liza. “And I always hope, when people come to our shows and say, ‘It’s so great!’ that they’re telling their friends to come and see it, too. We really rely on support from our audiences.”
A Long Island native and child of a professional vocalist/stage performer and elementary music educator, Liza grew up singing and playing instruments. She performed in community and professional productions as well as church and children’s choirs.
“I grew up watching them both perform, and we kids all performed, too. Dad would be asked to do programs for community organizations and we backed him up...They did community theater, and my mother did children’s theater, and we sang and played instruments, so we got pulled along,” says Liza. “My mom was so good at children’s choirs that she would travel all over New York City with her kids, from a working-class neighborhood elementary school. They sang at the United Nations during the Civil Rights era. It was amazing thing, to be a witness to their performances for organizations [supporting] peace and justice and affirmation.”
After earning a degree in education in Ohio, Liza and her husband, Joe, followed his pharmaceutical corporate career to reside in Texas, North Carolina, New York, and Old Saybrook before arriving in Guilford in 1997. Along the way, both were involved in church leadership, with Liza also in choir as well as community theater. One of her first connections to First Church was joining the choir. What she didn’t know was that she had arrived highly recommended to past First Church Reverend Kendrick Morris—by her mom.
“My mother had called Kendrick and said, ‘You have to know what a jewel you have in Liza and Joe Catino,’” says Liza, shaking her head. “So then Kendrick called me to welcome me to the community, and he said, ‘I had an interesting conversation with your mother!’”
At the time, First Church’s Junior Choir was in the capable hands of past director of Music Ministries James “Jim” Gower, who left in 1999 for a new position.
“Kendrick had told Jim I had been a junior choir director for 15 years in all the other churches, and when Jim left to take another position, he told Kendrick, ‘I think Liza should do it,’” says Liza, who signed on as Junior Choir director in the fall of 1999.
Liza says she inherited a “fabulous” program from Gower, who also produced an annual junior choir musical. When it came to Liza to select a production, however, she found available offerings a bit wanting. She began creating hybrid shows by writing scripts and using published music, and went on to produce a dozen such spring musicals at First Church.
“I did one every year,” says Liza. “And then 2008 we had done Shine, Shine, Shine...which was really successful. And that June, I said, ‘I can’t come up with another idea!’”
Instead, inspiration struck—open the productions to an intergenerational cast. In producing and directing Joseph in 2009, Liza took a leap of faith and opened casting to the community. One of the people who came to her (and later joined First Church) was Vicki Newman.
“When the show opened, and Vicki comes down and does her opening prologue and she stands on the steps, and the spotlight’s on her and she’s singing—I said to myself, ‘This is going to be really good,’” Liza recalls. “And it was really good!”
Following that production, Liza and Speed teamed up to co-direct Godspell (2011), Fiddler on the Roof (2015) and, 2017, a drama fitting of the times, 12 Angry Jurors.
“With every show, somehow, it gets better and better. Godspell was terrific. Fiddler was totally amazing, 12 Angry Jurors was amazing. And I really think this is going to be the best show yet,” says Liza.
Liza says the success this time around will certainly be due to the hard work of the show’s 20 actors, as well as all of the individuals pitching in to help mount the production and the support of the entire First Church community.
“I could not have done this without everybody’s help. And the graciousness and the blessings that I’ve found with this church community is that when I ask them for help, they say, ‘Yes, what can I do?’” says Liza. “I feel very blessed that these people are very willing to put all this time and effort into something and trusting me that it will actually not only be good for their soul, but it will be good.”
In addition to her work on behalf of First Church, Liza is in her second year as board president of Guilford Center for Children and has served in other office positions since joining in 2011.
“Guilford Center for Children has been near and dear to my heart these last six years, not only because of the service they provide for working families, but how they educate our children with their wonderful directors and teachers,” says Liza.
The Catinos welcomed their fifth grandchild last week and another is on the way. In her spare time, this mom and grandmother plays goalie with a Connecticut adult women’s soccer league.
Liza took up soccer in Texas, coming off a Division Three college career playing lacrosse and field hockey in Ohio that culminated in being named Second Team All-Midwest by the Women’s Lacrosse Association (pre-NCAA).
“I [now] play soccer on an over-55 women’s team that plays in an adult soccer tournament every year in a different part of the country—it’s kind of like Olympics for me, American-style,” says Liza, who also sits on a board for Kick for the Cause, an annual summer women’s soccer tournament fundraiser for Chrysalis, a Wallingford women’s shelter.
Liza’s soccer play continues a lifelong appreciation of being a part of a team, whether it’s working together on the field, with a board, or to craft a performance.
“I just love being on a team. I love being a part of the collective good,” says Liza. “Seeing that happen is one of the things I’ve enjoyed most throughout all of these incredible theatrical productions at First Church. I love not only watching these actors grow in their parts—I love seeing how everybody comes together as friends.”
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat comes to Guilford First Congregational Church, 122 Broad Street, for four performances including Friday, March 16, at 7:30 p.m.; Satuerday, March 17 at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, March 18 at 2 p.m. Suggested donation is $10. Tickets are available at Page Hardware & Appliance Co. and Sachem Card & Party Shop or by calling Gail Etter at 203-453-8818.