This Oliver Ames High School Team Brought Its "A" Game

On Sunday afternoon, I saw one of the best performances ever by an team.   It was splendid – an exceptional demonstration of talent and all players working together, cooperatively, and in synch.

I am not sure that Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers ever executed the power sweep, or the Boston Celtics executed the fast break, as fluidly and skillfully as the kids from OA played that day.

It was something – and it had the spectators at a sold out venue on their feet and clapping and hollering and cheering wildly. 

Now, what the OA team did on Sunday afternoon, and also on Friday and Saturday nights, did not take place on a basketball court, ice rink, field house, or inside a stadium. 

No, what I’m talking about happened in the Oliver Ames High School auditorium – which, again, was sold out, every one of the 1,200 seats filled. 

It was not a sporting event, but a musical.  And, it was awesome.   

The Oliver Ames High School music department’s production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – which played out over this past weekend – was the result of devotion, talent, sharing, and hours and hours of hard and smart work – and it encapsulated all the elements of a championship team.

I think it was the first play or musical I attended in which there was a standing ovation prior to intermission.

Think how difficult it must be to coach a basketball team in a game in which you might use 10 players, or how tough it must be to coach a football team in a contest in which you might use 30 players.

Then think of how difficult it had to be to coach the players in Beauty and the Beast.  By my count, from the start to the end of the musical, more than 90 performers saw “game time.”  

Under the direction of the highly professional production team led by Charlene Lorion Dalrymple – who by the way, directed both my sister, Suzy, in the lead female role, Rosie DeLeon, in the 1984 OAHS musical Bye Bye Birdie, and my mother in a chorus – the OA team brought its “A Game.”

Sure, I could point to the splendid individual performances of the leads – Sarah Kawalek, who played Belle, and Jonathan Raduazzo, who played the Beast.  I could trumpet the acting … and I’m going down the cast list in the program booklet … of Jared Wise as Gaston, or Josh Wise as Lumiere, or Kevin Swanson as Cogsworth, or Meaghan Morris as Mrs. Potts … or, well, everyone was excellent, all the main characters.  

But the true, if I may, beauty, and value of this Beauty and the Beast performance was the teamwork – with equal emphasis on “team” and “work” – of every main character, every dancer, every ensemble member, and every musician and member of the production team and behind-the-scenes crew.

In Jen Tonelli’s excellent Easton Patch review and , she had this comment from Ms. Dalrymple:   "Auditions started in December. There are three people who had input into the casting and there are three parts to the audition: singing, reading, and dancing. When we decided who had what part, there was some drama and disagreement, but after a while the cast saw our vision too”

Ms. Dalyrymple's words speak to one of the most important traits of members of a great team – that is that they check their ego at the door and work through the conflict. These kids did that.  They had to do it to get so many working so well together.

There was a scene which brought on stage an ensemble of performers and cast members – numbering about 50 in total – and in they which all sang, danced, and moved in synch and with enthusiasm and passion. 

It is tough to estimate what is involved and the energy and sacrifice needed to deliver a championship performance like this.  I mean, the orchestra itself, which was just great, had 25 players.  Thirteen people were on the stage crew. 

Designers and painters and artists created the impressive stage set, visuals, and scenery.  Costumes were designed, and lighting and sound planned and produced. 

And a note here about the technical and electronic elements of the musical.  Great teams, whether they be a sports team or a business team or a performing arts team, need to intelligently and strategically harvest and implement technology to win.  This is what the Beauty and the Beast team did. 

I wanted to do a call out to the OA auditorium.  Yeah, I know – and I'm fairly conservative in my politics – some may bemoan the auditorium as being overly grandiose, opulent, and one more befitting a university than a high school.  But, if this facility continues to host art and performances even close to what I witnessed on Sunday, then the expenditure is worth it.

Great teams need support structures.  OA's rendition of Beauty and the Beast relied on the love and the support of mothers and fathers, other mentors, brothers and sisters, friends, and teachers and administrators.

Also, let’s be forthright and pragmatic here – money is always a great help.  Big kudos to the taxpayers, and the businesses and individuals who donated generously (e.g. the program booklet was loaded with ads), who helped bring about this championship performance.   

To the kids – the boys and girls who did what you did on the stage and under the lights on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – take the experience with you and hold it close forever. 

You did something very special.

What’s more, you did something very special, together. 

And I don’t know if a championship trophy will be placed in a trophy case to recognize and honor your victory.  But I’m thinking that maybe it should.