Palmer High theater department tackles complex production

PALMER — As he dashed back into the Palmer High School theater to finish getting ready for rehearsals, John Snelders couldn’t help stopping to talk about his mustache.

“This is real. Nobody believes it is,” he said of his recently acquired cookie duster.

The mustache is part of his costume as Munoz, the tough, corrupt detective who is the protagonist of one of two storylines that will play out on the high school’s stage each night that the Tony Award-winning musical comedy “City of Angels” is performed. The show opened Thursday, with weekend performances through May 3.

Veteran director Grant Olson said “City of Angels,” which enjoyed a run of 879 performances on Broadway between 1989 and 1992, is complex at times. It’s a play-within-a-play — or, rather, a movie-within-a-play — telling the story of a novelist adapting his work for the screen.

The action of the novel is played out by characters wearing black-and-white costumes, but the characters in the “real world” are in color. And if that doesn’t seem complicated enough, sometimes the lines blur — movie characters duet with real-world characters — and when the novelist rewrites his work, it changes the action in the movie world.

“Many times I’ve said, “argh! Who picked this play?’ because it’s so difficult,” Olson said.

But, he said, the kids are up to it. There are many very good singers at Palmer High, and a good percentage of them will be on stage during the run of “City of Angels.” Having directed community theater and PHS plays, Olson said he sometimes worries about the tight schedule of high school productions, but soon realizes he shouldn’t be concerned.

“High school kids have really good heads, and they can put it together really quickly,” he said.

Sara Graffeo plays Donna, a character she described as “too much for anyone to handle — very high maintenance.” Is she enjoying it?

“Loads. This is my first actual musical. I’ve kind of been waiting since freshman year to do it,” the high school senior said.

Malena Showalter plays Bobbi, an aspiring actress. She, too, said she is enjoying being in the play. Jazz is her favorite type of music and she loves to sing.

“I like being able to relate the character to yourself,” she said.

Seth Blohm said that he likes playing Stine because the character is always aggravated, which means he gets to be very big and demonstrative in giving his lines.

“I like the different characters and stepping outside yourself, doing things you don’t do day-to-day,” he said.

Mariah Lamb plays the show’s femme fatale, Alaura Kingsley. She said she’s been in plays before, but never as the villain.

“I’ve never been a bad person before,” she said. “It’s so

much fun.”

Snelders said he’s also really enjoying the acting. He gets to talk with a Mexican accent and punch another character in the gut.

He said it’s a stage punch — they make contact but it’s a soft punch. Well, usually it is. A few times his aim has been off. He said he loves how expressive his character is.

“Most of my lines are just yelling at the top of my lungs.“

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.