Ocean City High School Drama Guild stages comedic musical this week
OCEAN CITY — “You can do however much preparing you want, but when it’s time to perform, it’s time to perform,” said Charlie Costal, leading man in the Ocean City Drama Guild’s upcoming production.
Costal plays J. Pierrepont Finch, a window washer who works his way to the top in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” a 1961 stage musical.
Director Rob LeMaire said the comedy involves a large cast and timeless jokes, but at its core is about the characters finding ways to get what they want through manipulation.
According to a synopsis of the plot, Finch buys the book “How to Succeed in Business” and rises to the top by following its advice.
He joins the World-Wide Wicket Company and begins in the mail room. Soon, thanks to the ethically questionable advice in the book, he rises to vice president of advertising by having each person above him fired, moved or transferred.
“He’s not talented at business, he just has people skills, he manipulates people,” Costal said.
Finch falls in love with secretary Rosemary Pilkington and finds out that J.B. Biggley, president of the company, has made advances toward Hedy LaRue, a beautiful but incompetent woman the company has hired. Finch uses that information to assist his climb on the corporate ladder.
Biggley’s annoying nephew, Bud Frump, also takes advantage of the situation and tries to get to the top before Finch. By story’s end, however, Finch has
become chairman of the board.
Costal, a senior from Upper Township, plays lead character Finch, while his best friend in real life, Ryan Mulraney, a junior from Upper, portrays his rival Frump.
Performing in his eighth and final performance at OCHS, Costal said his favorite part of the show is “breaking down the character and saying everything in a way that has meaning.”
Mulraney said his favorite part is the character interaction and how that generates a reaction from the audience.
“The laughs are the best part of it,” he said.
Both said they enjoy rehearsal but the performance is the payoff for the effort.
“We wouldn’t do it every day for two months if we didn’t like it,” Costal said.
“The audience adds a whole different aspect that you don’t have in rehearsal, so there’s a lot of different things you are trying out,” Mulraney said, noting it requires timing and patience.
Costal said he has mixed feelings about the upcoming shows.
“I don’t know how I am going to react because it’s been part of my life so long; I can’t really imagine my life without it. It’s going to be weird taking that last bow on Saturday night. I don’t know what kind of emotions I am going to feel,” he said.
It’s not just the men in the musical maneuvering for what they want. Vivian Maucher, a junior from Upper, plays Rosemary Pilkington — soon to be Mrs. Finch — a secretary striving for her dream of becoming a housewife.
Maucher said the play, her sixth at OCHS, pokes fun as the gender roles imposed on women in the 1960s.
“There is not a single conversation a woman has with another woman that is not about a man,” Maucher said of the production.“Obviously as a woman now, that is kind of disturbing to me but I recognize that it’s making fun of the time.”
She said the comfort and security of marriage are Rosemary’s “entire universe.”
“In the 1960s, to be a successful woman was to get married and have kids. Now women can make their own money, but for the time period that was a successful woman,” Maucher said.
E.J. McKnight, a senior from Ocean City, plays secretary Hedy LaRue, who is seeking her dream of financial security through different means. She is having an affair with company president J.P. Biggley, a married man played by senior Nate Ginet of Ocean City.
McKnight said she’s a “secretary that is not very qualified” who knows Biggley outside the company. He gets her a job as a secretary so they can continue their affair.
“It’s very backdoor,” McKnight said.
She said the two leading women are seeking the same thing in different ways.
“I do think that our characters both have similar motives in that we both want to live financially successful lives. She’s looking to Finch because she believes he’ll be a successful man and Hedy LaRue is climbing by multiple people in the company. They both want that financial security, they just get it in different ways,” she said.
McKnight said she has been in 17 productions but this is just her second at the high school. She was in “Zombie Prom” with the Ocean City Theatre Company and rekindled her love of performing.
“It is the rush of being on stage — I get horrible stage fright but it pushes me — and there is nothing I do that makes me as nervous but in a good way,” McKnight said.
“I have to say this is by far the most unique show I have ever been a part of, and I have been in 14 shows,” said Isabello Pero, student president of the OCHS Drama Guild. “Although I am in the ensemble, there is never a dull moment. Next to ‘Chicago,’ this is the most ensemble-heavy show this school has seen. Most of my time is spent on stage or off stage doing a quick change to get back on stage.
“This is the most involved show we have done in the past four years,” Pero said. “This most definitely is the most talented cast I have ever worked with. Even those in ensemble with myself shine. Every single member in the cast and crew has a special place in my heart. I couldn’t have asked for a better senior show.”
A pair of seniors who have known one another since “before birth,” Ginet and Lauren Knopp play Mr. Biggley and his secretary Ms. Jones.
This will be their eighth performance together at OCHS.
“It’s bittersweet because we’ve both been waiting for it and now it’s here and it’s really sad,” Ginet said.
Knopp said it’s great that they work so closely together in the show.
“The fact that we get to do two roles that really interact with each other a lot, I feel like that’s the best part of it,” she said.
The stage crew, which is responsible for props and sets throughout the production, includes Lily Mammele and Elise Becker, two juniors from Upper.
Mammele said the production poses some different challenges.
“It’s a little different from other shows we’ve done. There’s less couches and chairs but more stuff on ropes with big pieces coming down,” Mammele said.
LeMaire said it’s business as usual ahead of the production.
“As usual, we’re rushing to get through sets and still working out a few kinks but pretty much on task. The cast is strong — they have put a lot of work into it — so I think we’re all set,” he said.
Performances are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, March 30-31, and 1:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday, April 1, at the Hughes Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available at the door or online at our.show/H2s. The cost is $16 for adults, $13 for students and seniors and free for children under 12.
CAST AND CREW
J. Pierrepont Finch is portrayed by: Charlie Costal
Gatch: Robby Neville
Jenkins: Noah Baker
Johnson: Christian
Horning-Finneran
Matthews: Charlie Drain
Tackaberry:
Adam Wertzberger
Presentation Secretary 1:
Kari Mora-Lloyd
Presentation Secretary 2: Kristiana Bauer
Peterson:
Mario Lucas Lara
J.B. Biggley: Nate Ginet
Henchman 1/Davis/Policeman: James Swan
Henchman 2/Secretary:
Fergie Kurilko
Henchman 3/Secretary:
Gianna Molinari
Henchman 4/Secretary:
Malia Belles
Rosemary Pilkington: Vivian Maucher
Smitty: Ava DiBabbo
Bratt: Vincent Piraino
Bud Frump: Ryan
Mulraney
Miss Jones: Lauren Knopp
Mr. Twimble: Chris Katity
Hedy LaRue: E.J. McKnight
Scrubwoman 1: Fergie
Kurilko
Scrubwoman 2: Kristiana Bauer
Miss Krumholtz:
Joey Mangam
TV Announcer: Kiera Reilly
Toynbee: Charlie Drain
Ovington: Chris Katity
Wally Womper: Elijah
Watson
Ensemble: Erin Cantwell, Siena Eden, Amanda Goudie, Taylor Mulford, Liv Schmidt, Avery Silva, Brielle McDowell, Lyla Ginzberg
Robert LeMaire: director
Ellen Byrne: Assistant director/costumer
Donna Scharfetter: Pit orchestra conductor
Brian Schkeeper: Vocal conductor/accompanist/set design
Joshua Handshaw: Set construction/stage crew adviser
Steve Trauger: Lighting and tech adviser
Caroline Byrne: Props/production assistant
Stage crew/construction: Shannon Donnelly, Elise Becker, Caylee Borman, Naomi Cich, Asher Dolinsky, Lauren Dwyer, Leo Grey, Arvyn Madden, Lily Mammele
Props crew: Elise Becker, Naomi Cich, Asher Dolinsky, Callie Lenko, Teya McCabe
Costumes, hair and makeup crew: Alina Karayiannis, Julie Mangam, Katherine “Rain” Smith, Madison Ferretti, Teya McCabe, Taylor Pontari, Matt Murray
Lighting and tech crew: Keely Calloway, Jenna Hubbi, Jack Hellein, Addison Guest, Harrison Holmes, Daniel Gardner
Drama Guild student board: Isabelle Pero, president; Chris Katity, vice president; Vivian Maucher, social media coordinator; Shannon Donnelly, stage crew representative.
Class representatives: Nate Ginet, Vincent Piraino, Siena Eden, Taylor Mulford
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
