'Movie, Movie' at Gilmartin School - My Review

I was invited by a parent to attend the opening night of a "musical extravaganza" running at Gilmartin School, a K-8 school in Waterbury. I had watched the building of this beautiful school on Spring Lake Road and was excited to finally see the finished product. Cyrilla Stoll is the mother of the talented Preston Bogan, who as a fourth grader had appeared in Schoolhouse Rock with me at Maple Hill School. She thanked me for attending as she handed me my program. What a surprise it was to soon discover in my program that the musical Movie, Movie was written and directed by the director of our Schoolhouse Rock, David Gardino. I knew immediately that this would be a memorable production.

The hour-long performance was presented in the school's "cafetorium," a large open lunchroom with a beautifully rounded stage on one end, complete with a red velvet curtain. The chairs quickly filled up with family and friends and lots of kids. Mr. Gardino told me that the cast was made up of students in grades 6 through 8 and that they had worked extremely hard at rehearsing what he called a variety show. Make no mistake, this was a pretty sophisticated variety show with songs from several beloved Broadway style movies, some fun comedy, and some pretty challenging choreography by Marcia Schultz and these students did not miss a single lyric or dance step.

Principal Dr. Daniel Burzler writes in the program "Another great show! Our tradition continues and our talent grows. I am so proud of our students. They deserve the best because they are the best." Special thanks are given to the Superintendent of Waterbury Schools Dr. Ouellette and the Board of Education for making this production possible. The principal also clearly supported the tradition when he took to a theatrical box on the stage with Mr. John Orzechowski to act as commentators on the show a la The Muppet Show's curmudgeons Statler and Waldorf. The audience loved them.

The opening number featured eight students in a long medley of songs from classic Disney movies like Pinocchio, Cinderella, Mary Poppins and Pete's Dragon and they set the bar quite high. Next The Muppet Show was represented with "Rainbow Connection." The Grease triple play included "Magic Changes" with Peter M. Kershaw on electric guitar singing with Joshua Zaragoza, Marta Betancourt singing "Freddy My Love," and a spirited rendition of "Greased Lightening." Mr. Zaragoza, an eighth grader, had some great moves in his leather jacket and sang well.

Three couples danced a pretty impressive tango; kudos to eight graders Mr. Zaragoza, Gabriel Peireira, and Mr. Kershaw for taking on that dance with Jaleesa Bellamy, Rebecca Broadrick and Ms. Betancourt. "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray was fun when performed by a large group in bright t-shirts.

A highlight for me was the double play of songs from a show that will always be close to my heart: Schoolhouse Rock. "Conjunction Junction" was great and the full cast doing "Interjections" equally well done. "King of New York" from Newsies featured some great dancing.

The full cast came together to sing "Good Man, Charlie Brown" and three "special guests" named Mrs. Summa (the show's vocal coach,) Ms. Veneziano and Ms. Foy teamed up for "I Know Now" from the show. All three did a great job.

The show closed with the entire cast performing "One" from A Chorus Line...seriously. It brought down the house.

Robert DeRosa served as musical director and Dr. Burzler produced the show assisted by Ms. Foy and Mr. Orzechowski. The wonderful costumes were designed by Nancy Cocchiola and the fine lighting was by Matt Kershaw. A myriad of video projections were by Kristina and Andrew Kershaw and they served as a great backdrop for the various scenes. The taped music worked well, as did the handheld microphones and the fine lighting by Matt Kershaw.

Every single one of the 26 member cast was well-rehearsed and clearly was having a terrific time on their impressive school stage. Congratulations to everyone involved in this challenging production and special thanks to the adults who worked with them, especially the happily retired Mr. Gardino. I was so gratified to see that he continues to work his theatrical magic with young children in the area.