Schools

Staged Combat and Laughs Coming to Clune

The WHS Senior class is getting set to perform its annual play, an original work by Mat Young.

To interrupt the bleak midwinter, the Wilton High School class of 2010 is proud to present its senior show, "Musical The Musical 2 The Sequel," playing Feb. 4th through 6th. A sequel to last year's send-up of musicals, "Musical The Musical," this year's original show, written and directed by Mat Young, will spoof, well, sequels.

The comedy centers on the further adventures of characters introduced last year, played now by Annabelle Fox, Hilary Clifford, and Kelly Kesler.  The three girls find themselves assisting a local children's theater that's working on a sequel called "East Side Story."  Comedy ensues, along with life lessons about young romance, revolution, and guides and the path to knowledge.  Throughout, audiences will recognize songs familiar yet strange.

Fun is what the senior show seems to be about, for the audience certainly, but maybe more for its cast.  Of the roughly 50 senior student cast members, more than half have never performed on stage at the high school.  For the experienced thespians in the cast, part of the fun is finding unsuspected talents in their peers.  "Some of them can really sing!" says Clifford, "And dance!" says Kesler, and all agree that the athletes bring a special something to staged combat.

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"We take everyone!" says writer-director Mat Young, who last summer directed the apprentice program at Westport Country Playhouse.  "Some are athletes, some musicians, all with different experiences, but now they're using the skills they have in a totally new way."  He has seen another process repeat itself:  the student, about to graduate and with no previous theater experience, who gets hooked and for whom drama becomes a passion.

Young, who has been writing original scripts for the senior show for the last four years, has made a conscious choice to keep things light.  The cast seems caught up in that spirit.  "Cliques disappear," says Fox.  "[Students] who would never have socialized before find themselves enjoying each other.  They have something they share."

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Audiences can share in the fun at three performances in the Clune Center for the Arts:  Thursday, Feb. 4th at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, Feb. 5th at 8:00 p.m.; and Saturday, Feb. 6th at 5:00 p.m.   For tickets, call (203) 834-4844, or e-mail whstix@wilton.k12.ct.us.


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