By RACHEL SHUBIN/Special to the Sentinel
Joanne and Anne Reagan of Joanne Reagan Dance Studios in Lower Township were involved with the 2010 movie ‘Standing Ovation.’
Set on location in areas around Cape May County, the film “Standing Ovation” marks its 10th anniversary in 2020. The family-friendly movie is a comedy about a group of girls competing in a national teen music video contest and chasing their dreams, including a few side-story antics that keep audience members on their toes.
“Standing Ovation” featured 20 original songs and 14 dance numbers. The film cost $5.6 million to make and took in less than $550,000.
Dupree Performing Arts Center in Linwood allowed many aspiring actresses and singers to become involved in the film. Owner Sal Dupree played Mr. Wiggs in the movie.
Dupree brought “Standing Ovation” writer and director Stewart Raffill to a dance recital put on by Joanne Reagan Dance Studios in Lower Township. Mother-and-daughter duo Joanne and Anne Reagan were hired to choreograph the dances for the main teenage girl group, the Ovations.
“My mother and Sal have been friends for over 40 years; they have a long rapport together,” Anne Reagan said. “They worked together previously and a lot of us in this area took voice lessons from Sal.”
Anne Reagan said for one of the bigger performances, she talked Raffill into bringing local children from the studio for the dance scene shot on the beach.
“It gave local kids an opportunity to be in a movie,” Anne Reagan said.
The Reagans had never created movie choreography, although Anne’s professional dancing experience in Las Vegas was a useful asset.
“I had experience with television but it was quite challenging,” she said. “I went on instinct and experience I learned with my many years of dance and professional experiences. I was always in position there to make everyone else look good, that was part of my job.”
Filming on location is a different element from filming in a building, Joanne Reagan said. Some of the filming took place in a vacant building at the Acme shopping center in North Cape May. The space was made into a faux sound studio and a sports betting business.
It was a surreal experience for local talent to participate in a box office movie and to film on location at the beach. The former Beach Theatre, Southern Mansion and the Wildwood Boardwalk are a few of the local spots featured in the film.
“It’s pretty cool that the movie was shot here,” Anne Reagan said. “Ten years ago, Cape May wasn’t on the rise the way it is now.”
The Reagans both said long production days gave them another perspective into theater films.
“People don’t really understand what it really takes when you look at movie stars, models and dancers being filmed,” Anne Regan said. “You’re looking at a 15-hour day.”
Creating the choreography included the added element of considering camera angles, Anne Reagan said.
“We did a scene on the boardwalk in Wildwood that had to look like a dance-off,” Joanne Reagan said. “[Cameras] are not always going to shoot straight on for a live performance. Scenes were shot over and over again.”
The movie had a red-carpet premiere at the Frank Theatres in Rio Grande. Released during the height of “High School Musical” popularity, “Standing Ovation” received only a 6 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, 3.2/10 on IMDB and 22 percent on Metacritic.
Despite the poor reception from the public, the local cast members saw it as a success.
“All the time, effort and paying your dues in this business paid off at this time,” Anne Reagan said. “Seeing all the hard work and putting yourself out there like that was pretty surreal. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and we got to see our students on the big screen.”
In between the song and dance numbers, two of the main characters solve a mystery and navigate a family drama. One of the characters, Joei, was played by Joei DeCarlo of Philadelphia.
“I am 23 now and I was 12 years old when we started filming and 13 when the movie came out,” said DeCarlo, who started taking vocal lessons at age 7.
Dupree told his students there would be an audition in his studio for “Standing Ovation.”
“I hadn’t thought about acting, but [I] went from there,” DeCarlo said. “We had to halt vocal lessons when we started filming.”
She said filming at the shore in the summer was like mixing work with vacation.
“I had no idea how many houses there were in Cape May,” DeCarlo said. “As a kid, you don’t really appreciate it until you’re inside one like the Southern Mansion.”
After graduating high school, DeCarlo attended Temple University. She is currently finishing up her master’s degree in higher education. She still sings as a hobby and has done a handful of projects since “Standing Ovation.”
“I’m appreciative of the opportunity so I can say I was a part of the movie,” DeCarlo said. “It was a unique experience.”