Students Ready to Sing 'Bye Bye Birdie'

The 38 members of the cast and crew of Triple Threat Productions' "Bye Bye Birdie" took a deep bow to the applause of an audience of Green Brook students and Girl Scouts from Middlesex at the close of a Thursday morning dress rehearsal.

The final run-through at the Irene E. Feldkirchner Elementary School before tonight's opening went smoothly, although a cast meeting after included a few reminders about timing and cues among the praise from director Tori Clemens and producer Laurie Wood.

For Warren and Watchung Hills Regional students in the cast, the show is presenting some challenges—Taylor Giamundo (cast as "Rosie" in the show) said the backstage is smaller than she's used to from WHRHS productions she's been in (including last falls' "The Mouse That Roared"), and she and Jackie Adams noted the shows many costume changes.

On the other hand, the students noted working with a large cast with many younger students presents some opportunities for leadership.

"Whe you're working with kids, it's a really fun experience because they have a lot to learn form us," Nick Buonvicino said.

The hardest part, sometimes, is getting younger kids "to listen," James Ford said.

The show will be presented tonight and Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at the IEF School gym. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door.    

The show also includes stage assitance by local students Sophia Bosdanjian and Aria Fonte.

Clemens and Wood, both drama teachers, launched the theater company two years ago, and have staged two productions each year since—their most recent project was "Midsummer Mayhem," presented in May.

For "Bye Bye Birdie," they called upon area students they'd worked with before, or knew they wanted on the show. James, Taylor and Jackie said they'd been in a previous staging of "Bye Bye Birdie" and were anxious to do it again.

Other cast members are Joe Mondi as Conrad Birdie, James Johnston, Emani Simpson, RJ Clemens, Allie Gallo, Kelly Freeman, Liam Connery, Courtney Zawodniak, Brandon Giovanni, Stephanie Ciampa, Nicole Semon, Jessi Clark, Katie Strang, Andy D'Amato, Sarina Redzinski, Carina Farrah, Kyra Anthony, Alexa Farrah, Allie Fenlon, Bryce Oels, Catherine Cooney, Chrissy Neu, Courtney Dreyfus, Danielle McClish, Hayley Kyllonen, Ileana McCabe, Jamie D'Amato, Kayleigh O'Brien, Maya Castro, Nicole Strang and Carissa Cooney.

Crew members are Sophia, Maite and Jessica Bosdanjian, Aria Fonte, and Alex and Justin Iuliano; with Darryl McClish on the lightboard, Addison Heulitt on projection operations and Tori Clemens handling the soundboard.