Musical revue draws moderate numbers

While it didn’t draw a packed house every night of its four-performance run last week, the Fort High musical revue “By the Numbers” still was considered a success by those involved.
“We had a good attendance the last couple nights,” said producer and teacher John Dutton.
“While opening night the crowd consisted mostly of parents, there were between 250-300 people on Friday and Saturday,” he remarked. “But the box office is secondary. The kids had a ball, the band enjoyed themselves. I think it was great.
“With Grade 12s and OACs leaving last year, we had a lot of kids that were new to the stage. It’s nice to see kids keen to do this,” Dutton added. “And they weren’t just the younger grades, but some senior students who hadn’t done this before, either.”
The show, which the performers and band had been rehearsing for since the second week of September, ran last Wednesday through Saturday evenings at the Townshend Theatre.
The theme—“By the Numbers”— saw 33 songs, all with titles having to do with numerals, performed by a mix of FFHS students. These ranged from the Commodore’s “Three Times a Lady” and “50 Ways (To Leave Your Lover)” by Paul Simon to Brian Adams’ “Summer of ’69” and “When I’m 64” by the Beatles.
“My favourite was the ‘Ladybug Picnic,’” Dutton remarked, referring to a song from “Sesame Street.”
“The nice thing about a theme show is there’s a choice from a lot of styles,” he noted. “Some of the songs were picked by the students, some by the adults involved.
“It’s great.”
“I was pretty happy with it,” said musical director Chris Denby, who also played in the band backing the performers on stage.
“There were a lot of songs to choose from. We tried to balance out the decades from which the songs came with the talent,” he noted, adding in this regard, the revue was similar to last year’s production, “Hitchin’ a Ride,” which was based on the theme of transportation.
The former teacher said he looks forward to being involved in the revue again next year, as well as other Fort High projects, such as the spring musical planned for April.
The chorus and dancers included Christine Badiuk, David Barron, Lisa Barron, Andrew Cousineau, Dayna DeBenedet, Anke Denzin, Ashleigh Dutton, Jason Empey, Rachel Geense, Jennifer Geense, Sarah Hallikas, Casey Halvorsen, Annelise Hawrylak, Brittany Hayes, Megan Hebert, Doug Judson, and Rosalie Loney.
Heater Newman, Allison Ogilvie, Nicole Simmons, Paula Sletmoen, Emily Taylor, Derek Thompson, Dylan Thompson, Tracy Treflin, Allison Williams, and Erin Woodgate rounded out the performers.
“I think we got better every night,” said Grade 12 student Heather Newman, who’s been in numerous plays and musicals since she was in Grade 9.
“As the attendance grew, we got more energetic. By Saturday, we’d reached our peak,” she added, noting while last year’s revue saw a lot of tried-and-true experience on stage, the newcomers this time around brought some freshness to the performance.
Newman sang Meatloaf’s “Two out of Three” and Prince’s “1999.”
“Usually, I do the lighting but this year I decided to go in it,” said Grade 12 student Jason Empey.
Aside from being part of the chorus, he sang “One Jump” from Disney’s “Aladdin”—a number that involved costumes, action, and a bit of acting.
“I really liked the song. It was a lot of fun,” noted Empey, adding he might continue with his high school stage career in this spring’s musical (which is yet to be determined).
Grade 10 student David Barron performed Matchbox 20’s “3 a.m.” and “One is the Loneliest Number” by Three Dog Night.
“I thought it went really good,” said Barron, who also was in last year’s revue and the musical “Oklahoma.”
He added a lot of work went into the revue, with the performers practising for a month and-a-half, and that is was a learning experience. “There’s a lot of teamwork involved,” he noted. “You can’t do it on your own, you have to co-operate to make it work.”
Barron added he’ll likely try out for more productions—musicals and otherwise—in his high school career. “I’ve always liked performing, singing, and dancing,” he remarked.
Barron’s sister, Lisa, a Grade 12 student, also was in the revue as a member of the chorus.
“By the Numbers” also featured Sherree Denby was choreographer. The technical crew consisted of Giordan Zin, Travis Rob, and Natalie Donaldson.
The band consisted of Dutton (guitar, brass), Denby (piano, guitar), Myron Hawrylak (bass), Rob Donaldson (guitar), and Jim Newman (percussion).