Rehearsals Begin for BSS Children's Theatre's 'The Music Man'

Waterbury, CT - Blessed Sacrament Children’s Theatre has begun rehearsals for their annual June production. BSS Children’s Theatre is a community theatre group for young performers run by adult volunteers. The musical chosen for the company’s 16th year is ‘The Music Man.’

Director Bob Tansley told the family members who attended the parent meeting that he has directed a whopping 56 shows in 26 years. He then introduced the members of his directing team. Pat Hearn will once again serve as co-director, John Dressel will be the music director and his wife Lucia Dressel will work with the students as vocal coach. Ben Orlando will return to be the show’s choreographer. Debbie Forchelli will be on hand to supervise costumes and Terri Thompson will be in charge of the set.

The cast for ‘The Music Man’ is slightly smaller than usual, and it is not too late for students in pre-k to grade three to join the show without audition. Mr. Tansley noted that there are a lot of new faces in this year’s cast.
The youngest members of the cast will not begin their 2 ½ hour Sunday rehearsal for a while. The older students in grades 4 through 8 will rehearse from 6 to 9pm.

Parents and guardians are asked to help with fundraising. Ads for the program, both business and personal, may be submitted to cast members. Show t-shirts may be ordered online at a cost of $15; this year’s version features a list of all of the shows produced by the group over the years.

Tickets for raffle baskets will be sold during performances. Ornaments designed by Woodbury Pewter will also be offered at $15 each.

A Go Fund Me page is live with a goal of $5000.

On May 19, the performers will hold a can shake outside of Stop and Shop on Chase Avenue in Waterbury. There will be baked goods at this fundraiser.

After the parent meeting was complete, Mr. Tansley began the first rehearsal of his cast. Grace Altenberger, who has been a part of this group since 2013 and will be one of the actresses playing Marion the librarian, opened the table read with singing a bit of one of her numbers. Marian's mother Mrs. Paroo will be played by Blessed Sacrament student Lexi White.

While all of the children with speaking roles had already accepted their parts, one young man was told that he had been assigned the part of the sheriff. “You will have lines and everything,” said Mr. Tansley.

It was a treat for me to hear Mr. Tansley sing the first Harold Hill song along with Ben Dressel and Luke Audi who have been double cast in the role. ‘The Music Man’ is the director’s favorite show and he admitted that he knows every line and lyric by heart. He recommended to his young cast members that the show’s CD become their CD of choice and to listen to it until their family members know it as well as they do. The students impressed me with how great they sounded on their first try with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Dressel.

Thank you to Mr. Tansley for inviting me to crash the first rehearsal. Performance dates are June 21, 22, 23, 24.