Weston High School has launched an array of young actors and singers, specifically members of the student club, WHS Company. Since the 1980s, the club has wowed audiences with both classic and contemporary shows, dramas and musicals.
Emmanuel Church presents its third, annual “Broadway Bound: A Tribute to WHS Company.” This year’s edition will feature the cast from Company’s spring musical, South Pacific, preceded by a short musical program by the Faculty of Weston Music Center. The event will take place on Sunday, February 25 in the Emmanuel Church parish hall, 285 Lyons Plain Rd., Weston, from 4:00 - 5:30 pm. It's a family-friendly outing with door prizes and a bake sale. Admission is free and the community at large is invited to attend. Donations are welcome.
The Faculty of Weston Music Center will kick off the afternoon with performances by Deborah Wong, Allen and Genevieve Brings, Adam Grabois and Jennifer Foster. Wong, a Julliard graduate and violinist, is Concertmaster of the Bridgeport Symphony and a member of the Atlantic String Quartet, The Hawthorne Piano Trio, and New York City Opera Orchestra. Allen Brings, Professor Emeritus at Queens College, is both a composer and pianist, and the Vice President of Connecticut Composers, Inc. Genevieve Chinn Brings is also a pianist, who
debuted at age 8 with Leopold Stokowski and the NBC Symphony; she has been cited as an Outstanding Connecticut Woman of the Year. Adam Grabois is the cellist of the New York Chamber Soloists and both teaches and performs at Kinhaven Music School. Jennifer Foster has sung opera, musical theater, oratorio, recitals, and chamber music throughout the U.S. and Europe. The group’s selections for “Broadway Bound” include Vocalise by Rachmaninoff-Brings and Slavonic Dance in g minor, op. 46 no. 8 by Antonin Dvorak, Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia, and Liebesfreud by Fritz Kreisler, among others.
WHS Company has chosen the classic Rogers and Hammerstein’s musical, South Pacific as their spring show. The play, based on James A. Michener’s Pulizer Prize-winning 1947 book, Tales of the South Pacific, is the story of Nellie Forbush, a nurse on a Pacific Island during WWI who falls for French plantation owner, Emile De Becque, but can’t accept his two, mixed-race children, and ends their affair. The devastated De Becque then leaves for a dangerous mission. Nellie comes to care for his children, yet fears he many not return alive.
WHS Company is a student-run theater organization founded in 1984, and is the high school’s largest club. Their March show is directed by Liz Morris and co-produced by Lauren Rosenberg, Patricia Perez Goodrich, and Paul A. Levin. Company will give attendees a glimpse of their full length play, which takes place March 22-25 (all shows at 7:30 pm, except the 3:00 pm Sunday matinee). Tickets will go on sale shortly ($15 adults; $10 students/seniors) via www.whscompany.com or can be purchased at the door.
“WHS Company is both thrilled to be recognized by the community and grateful to Emmanuel Church for bringing back “Broadway Bound.” We look forward to sharing a stage excerpt of South Pacific, while promoting the arts at large,” said Liz Morris, Director of South Pacific.
Cast members include: Thomas Valenti (Emile de Becque), TBA (Emile’s children Naguna and Jerome), Abby Glasberg (Henriette, his servant), Julia Lawless (Marcela, Henriette’s assistant), Izzy Angeli (Ensign Nellie Forbush), Sophie Lange (Bloody Mary), Lauren Lakra (Bloody Mary’s assistant), Nima Lewis (Liat, her daughter), David Katz (Lieutenant Joseph Cable, US Marine), Matthew Figliola (Luther Billis), Ben Rosenberg (Professor), Josh Ronai (Stepot: Carpenter’s Mate Second Class, George Watts), Xavier Lewis (Captain George Brackett, US Navy), Garrett Landen (Commander William Harbison, US Navy), Lucas Casellas (Radio Operator Bob McCaffrey/Sailer), Will Berger (Yeoman Herbert Quale/Sailor), Jack Hurst (Lieutenant Buzz Adams), Vahn Kessler (O’Brien) and Patrick Betsworth (Patrolman). Sailors and Seabees include: Patrick Betsworth, Vahn Kessler, Jonathan Eiler, Marc Lubliner, Gavin Spandow, Andrew Pappas, Lucas Casellas, Will Berger, Jack Hurst (Opening Numbers: Xavier Lewis and Garrett Landen). The Nurses include: Jane Burdett (Lieutenant Genevieve Marshall), Ellen Relac (Ensign Janet MacGregor), Emma Rogers (Ensign Dinah Murphy), Remy Young (Ensign Rita Adams), Erin Dillon (Ensign Bessie Noonan), Charlotte Relac (Ensign Connie Walewska), Zaina Dove (Ensign Cora MacRae), Aarya Madan (Ensign Lisa Minelli), Peyton Sander (Ensign Pamela Whitmore), and Brooklyn Boehme (Ensign Sue Yaeger). The Islanders include: Lauren Lakra, Lindsey Greenberg, Francesca Moniz, Julia Lawless, Maddie Kovel, Jennifer Purcell, Peri Ferdinand, and Abby Glasberg. The French Maile Guests are: Jonathan Eiler, Marc Lubliner, and Gavin Spandow. The Follies Girls are: Jane Burdett, Ellen Relac, Remy Young, Erin Dillon, Zaina Dove, Charlotte Relac, Lindsey Greenberg, Peri Fedinand, Emma Rogers, Aarya Madan, Peyton Sander, Brooklyn Boehme, Laren Lakra, Franacesca Moniz, Julia Lawless, Maddie Kovel, Jennfer Purcell, and Abby Glasberg.
Emmanuel Church is honored to work with WHS Company on both “Broadway Bound” to highlight South Pacific, as well as a snapshot of their fall drama at “Center Stage.” Other cultural events at Emmanuel include The Arts Bloom in Weston, Connecticut’s longest running Family Fair, and their summer concert series.
“We’re really delighted to present a preview of WHS Company’s latest musical offering, South Pacific. And for the first time, our friends will see and enjoy the extraordinarily gifted Faculty of Weston Music Center in a short concert preceding the preview on February 25,” said John Boys, Emmanuel Church Senior Warden and Program Coordinator.
For details, visit www.emmanuelweston.org or call the parish office at (203) 227-8565. Inquires for WHS Company may be directed to contact@whscompany.com.
Photo credit: Matthew Figliola