Every year in March, the Niskayuna Music Department puts together a stellar musical production and this year, the tradition continued with the trailblazing 1970s hit: “A Chorus Line”. It is a Broadway musical set on the stage of a Broadway theater itself, in which a director (Zach) is casting some of his final dancers for a chorus line. Through the course of the audition, the diverse group of Broadway hopefuls share their life stories and struggles, united by their love for dance and theater.  

When choosing this year’s musical, show director Mr. Hughes and orchestra conductor Mr. Neubert were drawn to “A Chorus Line” as the school hasn’t performed a musical drama in a few years. Mr. Hughes says, “we wanted to give students an opportunity to work on something that’s challenging and ground-breaking.”

After last year’s sensation “Mamma Mia!”, the cast and crew of “A Chorus Line” have been working hard since early December to bring us another hit musical. The staff began preparing for the musical in October, and in November, the auditions were held.  Since then the cast has been busy rehearsing dialogue, songs, and dances. Mrs. Pizzino-Catalano prepared the cast vocally for the demanding musical numbers, starting with practicing for the chorus, then the solos. As a vocalist, she says she “love[d] the many varied styles [of songs] in the show” and also enjoyed the dances, as they were not her expertise. The orchestra practiced intensively as well starting in January, to ensure all of the instruments would come together before joining with the singers. Greta Merrill and Cristina Rojo, both seniors in the orchestra, say “it was a great experience and [they] learned a lot from Mr. Neubert!” They believe that over time the pit musicians became a really solid and coordinated orchestra. Simultaneously, the crew worked on making costumes, planning the set and lights to bring the performance to life. 

Mr. Hughes explains that his favorite part of every musical is when the cast, crew and orchestra come together for the first time. Mr. Scranton, designed the musical’s set and supervised the student crew in building it, saying he was impressed with the crew’s “high level of capability, enthusiasm and professionalism”. He claims “They’d put any Broadway union crew to shame!” Lucy Szpila, a sophomore part of the costumes crew, was excited to return for her second year. Sophomore Matt O’Keefe, part of the makeup crew, was drawn to work on “A Chorus Line” because of his love for musicals. The crew worked through many challenges, from having trouble finding parts to costumes, to maintaining the large cast. “During the last show, a few of the pants were mixed up and we didn’t have time to change them so someone had to go onstage with a pair of pants that was a bit too big!” said Ella Lovegrove, a sophomore on the costume crew. Nonetheless, they were able to pull through!

There were four shows in total: starting with a preview performance on Thursday, March 2nd, and followed by three ticketed shows on Friday evening, Saturday matinee and evening. The musical was a memorable and transformative experience for all involved. “I am most excited to be onstage with some of my best friends and to be able to perform for the school!” said sophomore Stella Myers, who played Maggie Winslow. She urged the audience to look forward to the “glittery gold outfits”. Robbie Titsworth, a junior who played Greg Gardner says that his favorite part of preparation for the musical has been “spending time with and getting to know everybody in the cast”. He looked forward to “being able to show off how hard everyone in the cast and crew worked on this show”.  The crew were excited to see their work come into action as well. Ella Lovegrove adds that her favorite part of the production was “watching the show each night and setting up the costumes in the changing room as well as backstage.” 

The musical production was only possible due to the collaboration of many groups within the cast, orchestra and crew. Mr. Scranton was impressed with the cast’s “high caliber of performance”, as they overcame personal challenges including injuries and schoolwork. Mrs. Pizzino-Catalano adds that “to see this come together is very rewarding- everyone has their own role in putting this together”. She appreciates “everything that happens behind the scenes and offstage to help this come to fruition.” Mr. Hughes was incredibly proud of all the students’ accomplishments after preparing for so long. And so, in the words of the show itself, Niskayuna’s “A Chorus Line” production was truly “one singular sensation”!