Of the mindset that in spite of the pandemic, the show must go on, the Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Tower Players are taking the spring musical off the auditorium stage and to the outdoors.
The musical they’re taking to the outdoor stage is Emma! A Pop Musical.
Continue reading Taking RFH Tower Players’ Spring Show Outside
It’s all fun and games until … the RFH Tower Players crew finishes building the set … or show time … or something like that. You get the picture — or pictures.
The RFH Tower Players are playing on Nov. 20 with their pandemic time virtual production of Shuddersome: Tales of Poe.
Continue reading Retro RFH Tower Players Stage Crew Playing
Just one week ago, the RFH Tower Players were opening their final show of the school year — Footloose. The RFH shows of this era are always billed as Tower Players plays, because, of course, it’s the drama club. But, in the age of the RFH Tower Player dinosaur, playing with the Tower Players was a bit different.
There have always been two productions, a fall drama and a spring musical. The fall drama was a Tower Players play. Tower Players only were auditioned and cast. The spring musical a different, more school-wide production. It was billed as an RFH show, with auditions open to anyone in RFH, casting dance and vocal choruses, lead and supporting role actors and all.
Continue reading Retro RFH Tower Players Play Time
Another closing, another show …
They took their bows and exited stage right and down the hall to bask in the success of their show, mingle and strike a few poses. Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Tower Players’ Hunchback of Notre Dame was a success by all accounts.
The cast performed a comedic version of the show, which the audience embraced with lots of laugh-out-loud moments that were the talk of the weekend.
The show closed on Sunday to accolades and bonding moments with the cast, crew and audience.
Take a look for a glimpse into another RFH show …
Photos/courtesy of RFH PAS
It’s almost show time for the RFH Tower Players’ production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The social media posts are flowing, posters showing and actors’ headshots are rearing their professional-looking heads. Curtain goes up at 7:30 Friday night.
Continue reading Retro RFH Tower Players Tech Crew Scene
Photo/RFH
Oh, it’s show time at RFH on Friday with the opening of the Tower Players’ fall production of Sherlock Holmes.
One thing that’s elementary, as Sherlock says, is that going on with the show is a time honored tradition at RFH. Remember?
So, these Retro Pics of the Day offer a glimpse back to rehearsals for the Tower Players’ production of Plaza Suite circa 1976.
Yours truly was in the cast . And it was a “memorable” experience considering that my co-star — a very nice guy who at an RFH reunion told me he was unwittingly duped into doing the show and had no desire massive stage fright — dropped five pages worth of lines and left me circling the stage with a dessert cart rambling like Edith Bunker on an especially menopausal day. Not a cue to be picked up. Ten minutes later, which is eternity for a floundering actor on stage, he picked up a line or two, just in time to end the scene.
Photo/RFH yearbook
Thanks to Dan Olshansky for dropping those lines. It was the start of some hardcore actor improv training and a not-so-glamorous, but nonetheless professional and loads of fun, longtime career in the field. So, it’s not the lines that count, it’s the character — or something like that.
Now, two more nights left for “Line please!”
Cheers to the cast of Sherlock Holmes! And cast, please don’t really break any legs.
Continue reading An Award-Winning Year for RFH’s Tower Players
The successful run of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School’s production of Tarzan came to a close on Sunday afternoon.
For many, seniors, that curtain call would be the last they’d take on the RFH stage.
Continue reading Focus: RFH’s ‘Tarzan’ … After the Curtain Call
The Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Tower Players’ fall production, the farce Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is set for its debut on the school’s stage soon.
Continue reading RFH Stage Set for ‘Sir Gawain and the Green Knight’
The Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School (RFH) Tower Players are setting the stage for a production of the Tony-nominated musical Bonnie and Clyde.
The show will start with opening night on Friday, March 18 with a 7:30 p.m. curtain and a show on Saturday at the same time and close with a 1 p.m. Sunday matinee on March 20.
Bonnie and Clyde, musical by Frank Wildhorn, of Jekyll and Hyde, Civil War and Dracula fame, is based on the real-life adventures of starry-eyed Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and the outlaw Clyde Chestnut Barrow, who embarked on a crime spree across the United States at the height of the Great Depression.
Bonnie wants to escape from her west-Texas town and become a movie star. Clyde has just broken out of prison with his brother Buck. When they meet, their mutual cravings for excitement and fame set them on a mission to chase their dreams.
Teaming up with Buck and his wife Blanche, they commit a string of robberies and become American folk heroes as well as law enforcement’s worst nightmare. Forced to remain on the run, the lovers resort to increasingly brutal crimes. But as their fame grows and the body count rises, the end draws near for the ill-fated duo.
Bonnie and Clyde features a non-traditional score combining blues, gospel, and rockabilly music. The RFH production will showcase a cast of 45.
The RFH production stars Eli Rallo as Bonnie Parker, Matt Hughes as Clyde Barrow, Kate Sustick as Blanche Barrow, and Liam Hughes as Buck Barrow.
Suzanne Sweeney is director, with Kasi Ann Sweeney as assistant director. RFH Dance Team Coach Jen Costa is choreographer. Amy Fredericks, musical director for the Count Basie Awards, will be conducting the pit orchestra and overseeing vocal performances as the production’s musical director.
Costumes and props are under the direction of Carole Malick, and Matthew Leddin is overseeing the tech crew of 50 students providing set construction, sounds, and lighting.
Refreshments and a Texas-style feast, including chili and cornbread, will be available for purchase at the café in the RFH gymnasium before each performance and during intermissions.
Ticket prices are: $10 for general admission and $6 for students and seniors. RFH students with SGA cards will be admitted free.
To purchase tickets online, visit the RFH web site (rumsonfairhaven.org) and click on “Bonnie and Clyde.”
For more information including group discounts, contact Play Production Coordinator Stefania Flecca, [email protected].
The Box Office will be open for ticket purchases an hour before each performance.
Over the years the Tower Players have received numerous awards for acting, directing, choreography, costumes, set design and lighting, and overall outstanding production.
Photo/George Day
‘Tis the season for the tech crew for the RFH Tower Players’ fall show to get to work on building a set.
So, the Retro Pic of the (George) Day revisits the set of the fall show of 1977 — Neil Simon’s Plaza Suite.
The set was quite ornate, in keeping with the decor of the upscale Plaza Hotel in New York City, where the show was set.
In this photo, reflected in a mirror over the hand-crafted fireplace are crew members Jamie Blake and Tom Campbell. Looks like these guys are actually laying a carpet to mimic the lush interior of The Plaza’s rooms accurately. Check out the small detail of the light switch cover. They even wall-papered. These guys did very nice work.
The guys and girls on crew were considered pretty cool and from diverse extra-curricular backgrounds back in the day.
Is it still as widely accepted as “cool” to be on crew? We’ve noticed a dip in popularity of the activity by sheer virtue of the fact that far fewer have signed on.
Tech crew people are an integral part to a show’s success. These guys work very long hours and labor pretty intensely over little-known behind-the-scenes details. Have you thanked a techie lately?
Thanks again, George Day, for this photo contribution!
You must be logged in to post a comment.