A taste of 1901 Paris will be visiting the Haddonfield Memorial High School auditorium soon in the form of “Gigi.”
The spring musical will be performed in a senior citizen preview matinee on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 2 p.m.
The play opens on Friday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m., with subsequent showings on March 2, 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. and a matinee on Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m.
After last year’s showing of “The Wiz,” director Scott Glading wanted a production with a completely different feel to challenge the student actors.
The show turned out to be “Gigi,” a film that swept the 1958 Academy Awards, but only had a short run on Broadway in the 1970s.
“Gigi” is a “Parisian, quaint story,” Glading said, and is a parlor musical about a young girl being raised by her grandmother in a modest, middle income environment in the early 20th century.
At the same time, he said, there is a world filled with poor and impoverished people as well as aristocrats, known as the beautiful people of Paris.
The play shows all of the elements of different people during the time period.
Gigi has a friendship with a man that develops into something more in the play, but the newspapers would gossip.
“You kind of see it today, which is ironic,” said Glading, of how some people are enamored with others’ private, personal lives.
“The story does have a very happy ending,” he said. “It’s a sweet throwback.”
Auditions for the play began in early December, with a period of reading, talking and listening to parts of the production. Then, for a time during winter break, preparation went dark.
Once back from break in January, students got right into the swing of rehearsing for two months.
“We rehearse every day,” said Glading, with set building and costume design taking place on Fridays and Saturdays.
“With Haddonfield, the kids do so many different things,” he said. “I fit right into that winter sports season.”
The play ends just as spring sports begin, he said, and all the cast members move onto other activities in the school.
Glading, both a high school and professional director, said the difference is the talent pool.
In the high school, he said, “You know your players.”
Two sisters, Allison and Anna Sparrow, will be playing Gigi and her grandmother.
The Sparrows come from a strong acting family in town with professional credits, he said, and all of their sisters have also been leading ladies.
“They have a nice rapport, so we get to see that element,” he said. “They’re just kind.”
For freshman actors, the transition to high school can be startling.
“The expectations of high school run different,” he said.
At the high school, the strongest talent gets the leads. Casting is not based on age, Glading said.
“There are freshman on the stage as well as seniors,” he said.
The play is hard work, but rewarding.
“It is work,” he said. “They will tell you it’s not easy.”
While there are 15 cast members, Glading said, it’s also important to note that there are probably as many as three times as many students working behind and around the stage, in the costume department, in set design, in hair and make up as well as in lights, sounds and the orchestra.
All the while, adults are teaching them skills.
Thus, while the audience only sees a the cast that is on the stage, there is much more to the production.
“Little do they know all that goes on behind the scenes,” Glading said.
