By Cortney St. John
Round Table reporter

Middletown High School is sponsoring a Hope for Haiti dance benefit concert with a collaboration of the Dee Buchanan Dance Studio on April 21, 7pm at MHS.

Admission into the dance concert is free, but all are encouraged to donate. 100 percent of the donations go to “Village of Hope” in Haiti.

There will be performances from the Dee Buchanan Dance Company, MHS Dance Team, and NDA Dance Honor’s Society.

The dancers hope to have a great turn-out and raise a lot of money for Haiti.

Anticipation rises as the cast of “Grease”, which includes almost 70 girls and 20 guys, attend hours of music rehearsals, blocking rehearsals, and even dance rehearsals. For many members of the large cast it is their first time participating in the spring musical so they are experiencing things that are totally new to them such as; sheet music, stage directions, and partner dancing.

 Ever since Marcia Nicklas, MHS English/drama teacher, and Susan Thornton, director, announced at last year’s drama banquet, “We’re going to Rydell High. Baby.” students all over the school have been excited about this year’s musical.

 As soon as MHS sophomore Matt Carlstrom heard about the musical he went up to his drama friends and said, “I’m definitely doing Grease this year it’s going to be so fun.”

 This reaction was shared by many people who have never participated in the musical before. They have come up to experienced drama student saying things like, “That sounds like fun, maybe I’ll do the play this year.”

 Marissa Machak, MHS Senior and Dance Team captain, excitedly tells her friends about her new experience. “In the ‘Summer Night’s’ scene we got to actually stand on the tables to dance. I had so much fun at that rehearsal it was very different then our normal dance rehearsals.”

“Grease” attracts other students who don’t usually participate in the show because it is a classic story that most high school students know. Last year’s show “Oliver” didn’t have the same effect.

“Oliver” took place during the late 1830’s while “Grease” takes place in the 1950’s, a time of poodle skirts, drive-in movies, and the hand jive. It’s easy to see why “Grease” is more popular with the high school crowd.

MHS junior Maggie Doherty is also a first time musical participant. Doherty is an ensemble member and a “Beauty School Drop-out” girl. Her favorite part of the musical is “all the dances and just being able to hangout with everyone. It makes the rehearsals a lot of fun.”

The performance is on April 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th. It is sure to be a swell time with sweet Sandy, the sassy Pink Ladies, the arrogant Burger Palace Boys, and a high energy ensemble. 

Middletown High School prepares to perform “Grease” as the 2010 Spring Musical. Students in the drama department are working hard to put on the best performance Middletown High School has ever seen.

MHS seniors Kelsey Swann and Justin Beard play the lead roles, Sandy and Danny.

“This is the only show I have done where I feel like I’m ready. I’m so excited for this show, it’s my senior year and it’s going to be great,” said Beard.

“Grease” has been the talk of the school.  While the cast and crew make their final adjustments, the community anxiously waits to see the musical.

“The show is going to be great; we’ve worked so hard on everything and I know that it will come out great” said Swann.

Get ready to see the Pink Ladies, who consist of freshman Amy Hoffman playing Jan, senior Sarah Biggs as Rizzo, senior Jordan Dumars as Frenchie, and senior Emily Hughes as Marty.

Who could forget the Burger palace boys? Senior Matt Thomas plays Doody, senior Eric Looney plays Sonny, senior Nick Etheridge plays Roger, and senior Kelly Delameter plays the infamous Kenickie.

Not only does the cast have to work their best to make this performance worth the wait, but the crew is working hard as well. The pit crew and the tech crew are the ones that make the show come together as a whole.

MHS junior Ash Maia said, “I’m very excited about the show. Everyone is putting a lot of effort and it will definitely pay off.” Maia, who is part of the tech crew, has been working hard for weeks to make this production come together smoothly.

Students part of the tech crew, or “techies,” are very important to the drama department. Without the tech crew, there wouldn’t be props or lighting, and the scenes would not be as realistic. For the past month the tech crew has been contributing several hours a night to get the set built and make sure everything is prepared for opening night.

“Being a part of the tech crew is a lot of fun. We work hard on the set, painting and building and in the end our work shows.  It’s great knowing that we helped to contribute to the show even if we are not on stage performing,” said junior Samantha Rowland.

Grease is nothing without the lively music. The pit crew helps to make this happen by working their best to practice and perform their music to the best of their ability.

“Practices are fun because the music’s interesting and to have someone like Mr. Shearer leading us is great. My favorite part about being in the pit is playing music from the 1950’s” said junior Bryan Goodyear.

Some of the songs that they will be playing are; The Finale, Those Magic Changes, There are worse things I could do, The Rydell Alma Mater-Parody, Summer Nights, All Choked Up, and Shakin’ at the High School Hop. Some of the musical instruments that the pit plays are the keyboard, guitar, bass guitar, and the drums.

The cast has been practicing diligently and is excited to see the show come together. They love the choreography, the songs, and the help they are getting from the pit and tech crew to make this show great.

The goal for each cast and crew members is to make this production great – for themselves and the audience who comes to see the musical.

Come and see the show April 16 and 17 at 7p.m. and April 19 at 2 p.m.

Maia said, “I think the show will be a great success and will be remembered for a long time.”