D3

Colin MacNeil

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This is the first time I've written a background series based on a Disney Movie.

Let's be clear, I loved Disney when I was little. I grew out of cartoons when the Road Runner was still violent and the Smurfs were a pilot project. To write a continuing piece on the behind the scenes production of the fourth most popular high school musical in North America, clearly, would take some research.

I discovered recently that Beauty and the Beast grossed over $1.6 billion as a Broadway musical. Impressive. One would be completely in their rights to expect a local version of the same production to be something of an undertaking to say the least.

Enter stage left, Mike McArdle. McArdle is the Moncton High School teacher responsible for the 80 young individuals working tirelessly for the next month to pull off District 2's most ambitious theatre project to date. If you haven't heard of the previous sold out productions of Fame and Footloose, chances are you just arrived in town. This December more than 800 people will pack the Capitol Theatre for five nights to watch one of Disney's more popular movies unfold before them.

But right now, on a Saturday afternoon, four weeks from opening night, rehearsal at Moncton High School is a madhouse, and for the next four weeks, we'll be along for the ride. I'll try to set the scene for you, but if you have at least a passing familiarity with the TV show, 'Fame', you'll understand what I'm talking about. Four or five kids in one corner practising a chorus melody, 30 on stage repeating a dance number over and over. And then there is the young lady who just ran in the auditorium, dropped her book-bag, and started doing cartwheels all the way to the stage. I remember Grade 12, most all of it. I do not remember having that much energy.

McArdle's first production back in Grade 10 (1975), 'Show Boat' at Harrison Trimble High School, had an audience of 500 people with a production budget of $1,000. Now, some 30 years later, the budget and audience has grown 10 fold. A predictable success in start contrast to the fact that McArdle's foray into theatre production came quite by accident. Some years ago he was invited to Moncton High School with the pretense that he would give some consulting advice to the operation.

He was led down the hall to Room 101 where he was introduced as the new director of that year's production of Fiddler on the Roof. What do you say to a room full of anxious onlookers when you've been handed the reigns? You say 'thanks and when do I begin'.

And begin he did. I'm not certain if he had any idea as to the sheer volume of work to be expected of him. I talked to some of the kids involved in the production and they make it very clear, McArdle is fully and completely consumed with his efforts. Late nights, every night, every day, every weekend.

It's interesting to sit back as a spectator and watch the rehearsal follow an unpredictable route through an otherwise lazy Saturday afternoon. Of course it's anything but lazy inside the Moncton High School auditorium. McArdle sits on a stool, center stage, floor level. Beside him is a small portable DVD player with a copy of the Disney musical production.

I wasn't certain what to expect as far as raw talent is concerned. When you consider the size of the talent pool in District 2 and the stellar reputation of McArdle and his previous theatrical efforts, it's no surprise that kids line up for try-outs all over the city. McArdle says the production would be twice as big if the Capitol Theatre could handle it.

Next week we're going to look at the production schedule. Just to give you an idea of the 'size' of the task they have bitten off here, last year the group was afforded weeks of production planning, rehearsal and eight solid days of on-site prep at the Capitol Theatre. This year, the show runs prior to the school holiday. They have a couple of afternoons and one full day of site prep at the Capitol.

Beauty and the Beast indeed.

* Colin MacNeil's son, Connor, has the role of Lumiere in the District 2 production of Beauty and the Beast, which will be performed Dec. 3-7 at Moncton's Capitol Theatre.