Published: 4/4/2021 6:12:02 PM
Modified: 4/4/2021 6:12:01 PM
A musical has a script, but Hartford High School’s upcoming production of The Drowsy Chaperone has been an improvisation from the start.
Usually, the school stages its musical in November, but this year moved it to this month, Andrea Nardone, the school’s choral director and musical producer, said in an email.
Everything about this musical was different. Auditions took place at the end of September, under the high school’s portico, “as we were not allowed to sing inside.”
Rehearsals took place outside under a tent, with power for an electric keyboard and an amp provided by a 100-foot extension cord plugged into an outlet outside the superintendent’s office.
“Every day we had to set up the chairs outside six feet apart and the students would rehearse for two to three hours, with their masks on, as I taught the music until the middle of October,” Nardone said.
As the autumn sky darkened, “our rehearsals typically ended with the last 30 to 40 minutes being lit by headlamps and cellphone flashlights.” They rehearsed next to field hockey games and in pouring rain. Skunks occasionally trundled past.
As much as they did in-person, online meetings were crucial to developing the characters. And in January, still unable to sing inside, Nardone and her collaborators decided to have the students record their singing parts and lip sync to themselves during performances.
They did all the recording on Feb. 11 and 12, again under the portico. Soundtown Music, in Stockbridge, Vt., polished the vocal tracks to good effect, Nardone said. “You can’t even tell that we couldn’t feel our faces from the wind!”
During February break, her husband built the sets out of materials left over from previous productions. Without much revenue, the production had no budget for new materials, Nardone said.
Each actor will wear a custom mask with a clear window, so the audience can see their facial expressions and their mouths as they lip sync. An improvisation, to the last.
Hartford High School’s production of The Drowsy Chaperone will be live-streamed at 7 p.m. on April 9 and 10, with help from CATV. Tickets ($10 for a single viewer, $25 for a family viewing) are available at showtix4u.com/events/hartfordhighschool.
— Alex Hanson