This year, The Morgan School will be putting on the show, Curtains by Rupert Holmes, Fred Ebb, and John Kander. Chorus Teacher and Musical Director John Lampe has been directing musicals for 38 years here at The Morgan School. After many successful musicals such as Little Shop of Horrors, Adam’s Family, She Loves Me, Hello Dolly, Anything Goes, and many more, he will be putting on Curtains, his final one.

Curtains is a murder mystery comedy. In this musical, they are putting on a production however the star of the show, Jessica Cranshaw ends up dying, sending the show into shambles. Detective Frank Cioffi, a musical theatre lover, takes the case and works with the other cast members to find out who the killer is, as well as continuing to put on the production. Throughout search, other members are killed. This musical is filled with many fun songs and dance numbers.

Auditions

Group auditions for this year’s Morgan musical, Curtains, were held on November 20th. Any and all students were invited to these auditions. No experience was needed, and everybody who showed up to the auditions received a part in the show. During auditions, Mr. Lampe asked students to sing in groups, and he chose a few select students to sing a bit on their own so he could have a better idea of what their voices sound like. After singing, our choreographer, Diana Harris, taught the group a dance.

To get a better idea of who is fit for what character and to see relationships between cast members, Mr. Lampe held three rounds of callbacks on the weeks of November 26th, December 3rd, and December 10th. Students were asked to come to the school at different times and groups to sing, dance, and read lines. Mr. Lampe made people read for many parts to see chemistry between cast members, and to verify who works well together. Mr. Lampe put in a lot of a time and work into the cast, and he has been making difficult decisions regarding lead roles.

Changes and Controversy

This year, there are a few changes being made to the Morgan musicals annual practices. In prior years, students who participated in the show were asked to raise money through a patron drive. The budget has always been a problem for the music department here at Morgan, and the patron drive helped gain some extra money to improve the shows. This year, the patron drive is not happening because the department has enough money.

Another change to this year is that the show is single-casted. This change is quite significant, as it cuts down students chances to get more prominent roles. Each character only has one actor, meaning cast members cannot rely on their counterpart if they miss a rehearsal. Scheduling conflicts have been present for many years, but this year they are even more prominent. Mr. Lampe is requiring more commitment from the students. To some, double casts can be stressful and hard to manage, especially to a director; however, for others, one cast is not a good decision.

Senior Eileen Whittel said, “I’m really excited for this musical because it is my senior year, and it is the last time I am performing under my grandfather. I’m really sad, but I am happy that I get to do it.” Freshman Hayden Darr said, “I’ve never heard of this show, but from what I have read and seen so far, it seems pretty funny. I’m excited to be in it. I think it is going to be pretty cool. I don’t really care if it is double or single casted, as long as everyone is in the show. I am trying to fit it in with wrestling, school, and some other stuff.”

Some students believe that a single cast causes too many scheduling problems. Sophomore Lena Flaherty said, “A single cast is not smart because cast members can get sick, and they have lives outside of the Morgan Musical.” Many people in the cast are involved with other extracurricular activities, including sports, making it hard to have time to participate in both the show and their sport. It causes students to have to make a hard choice, causing the loss of many potential cast members. Lena also said, “I think it’s really unfair how he is able to work with other people’s schedules but not the people on the fencing team. For example, he always works around basketball, and that is unfair to our coach.”

Mr. Lampe does try to accommodate for sports teams. He did accommodate the basketball and wrestling schedule, however fencing shares the gym with girls and boys basketball, so he can not work around all sports.

As someone who does not participate in the Morgan Musicals, Freshman Saoirse O’Beirn shared her opinion looking at this situation as a teammate. She said, “I think that the musical schedule is biased and not friendly to every sport. I think that should be changed because no matter what sport, and no matter what person, everyone should be given the same opportunities with the schedule change and being able to attend rehearsals, no matter what.” She also said, “If the schedule is being changed, every sport should be given the opportunity, or there should be no schedule change at all.”

Cast List

Show Dates

This year the show will be performed on Friday, March 22nd, Saturday, March 23rd, and Sunday, March 24th. The shows on Friday and Saturday will both be at 7:00 pm, while the show on Sunday will be a matinée. The same cast will perform at all shows this year.