Steve RobinsonI have to begin this column with an apology and an explanation of sorts. That is hardly the best way to begin a column I know, but I think, if you’ll bear with me, it will be understandable to all why I am starting this way.

Since beginning this column last fall, I have short-changed my alma mater, University High, one of Illinois State University’s two lab schools. I’ve short-changed U-High in terms of the press it should have been getting. I have bounced between Unit 5’s junior highs and high schools and had not been able to get back to U-High in this column but once – way back in October! – and I hope folks who support and attend U-High will excuse my not getting around to them sooner.

But let me tell you: There is plenty to celebrate in Pioneer-land these days. For one thing, Ruth Stroud Auditorium, closed since the end of the 2008-2009 school year for renovation is reopening this weekend with the school’s spring play. And the production U-High Theatre Teacher Sue Thetard had in mind is, to my thinking, adventurous. But as she sees it, it came at the right time and she, her students, and the renovated auditorium are ready for it.

April 8, 9, and 10, U-High will present Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom Of The Opera.”

When I first got wind of what U-High was debuting the Stroud revamp with Webber’s “Phantom Of The Opera,” — a tale about a disfigured musical genius who terrorizes an opera house for the benefit of an unsuspecting protégé whom he loves and is training – I was left wondering about the choice. But Thetard reassured me there was good timing and good instincts involved in the selection of the drama.

As for the grand re-opening for the auditorium, Thetard said there was still some tweaking needed before she can say the renovation is finished. They will open on April 8 with an opening “gala,” for all those who have contributed, as Thetard explains, “either financially, or structurally through the University. They are invited, as our guests to the gala opening, which is also the opening of the auditorium.”

Thetard said that, together with her technical director Terry Dawson; and vocal and orchestra directors, Jason Landes and Christine Corpus, respectfully, they decided for something different to present to the public for Stroud’s coming-out celebration.

“The four of us looked at light comedy and so forth,” Thetard said. “But, as we sat discussing it, we said we wanted to do something that no one else in the area had done. We were asking ourselves, ‘what could we do?’”

Thetard further explained: “Lo and behold, the next day, Rogers and Hammerstein Theatricals, who own the rights to the musicals” came out saying they were offering “Phantom Of The Opera” to junior colleges and high schools.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s corporation was licensing the release of the play through Rogers and Hammerstein, Thetard explained.

Up to this point, Rogers and Hammerstein music had only been available to national touring companies, not high school or junior college productions, Thetard said. That offer to high schools intrigued Thetard and company.

“As for the show itself, there’s very little tweaked in it,” Thetard said. “Musically, it is pretty much still the same. There are some things in terms of staging that we have simplified.”

When Thetard pitched the idea of doing “Phantom” to her students, she discovered that she and some of them had discovered the production’s availability simultaneously, and were asking about doing it in emails to her.

That was all it took — She said her charges were excited to do the production. In fact, “Phantom” is playing currently in New York City. A number of U-High Chorus students were in New York on a school-sponsored trip recently and were able to see it performed live there.

Dr. Jeffrey Hill, U-High’s Principal, said he trusted Thetard’s instincts and judgment regarding her selection of spring production.

“She knows her kids well and yes, it’s one of those situations that is ambitious,” Hill said. “But I think we have ambitious kids and because it is the reopening of Stroud, I think there’s a desire to kick it off with a bang.”

When folks settle in for an ambitious production, they will also be taking in a renovated auditorium.

The old Stroud Auditorium had a maximum of 750 seats and some cushioned folding chairs that could be added if more seats were needed. It was, with stairs separating every aisle, hardly considered handicapped accessible. Thetard said the new configuration is totally accessible and in the process of making it so, the auditorium only lost about 25 seats that it had before. There is handicapped access for performers, as well, Thetard said.

In an email to me, Dr. Robert Dean, Superintendent of ISU’s Lab Schools, said ISU’s Board of Trustees budgeted $2.7 million to renovate Stroud during its two-year closing. Dean said “the total cost will be very near that number.”

Dean added, “I’m very thankful that Illinois State University included Stroud on its capital projects list as this renovation was sorely needed. The new Stroud is visually and artistically appealing and will once again be an outstanding performance venue for our students.”

I have no doubt that the new Stroud will be a far cry from its predecessor, but, if you’re reading about the renovation and are concerned about comfort in the new seats, Hill assures me the new seats are bigger and a little roomier than the old seats were. Normally, such productions can rehearse in the space where it will be seen. But with Stroud receiving finishing touches, Thetard said the production has had to rehearse in one of the larger third floor classrooms or the school lounge while waiting for opening night.

“We’ve been kind of nomadic,” Thetard said of her cast of wandering thespians. “We go wherever there’s space.

The cast and crew did finally, recently, get some rehearsal time in Stroud. According to Thetard, “The minute the kids got on the stage for the first time during rehearsals, they just suddenly and finally, had a sense of being ‘home.’”

It’s a good bet anyone who had been in the old Stroud Auditorium before who is going to any of the “Phantom” performances this weekend will have the same feeling: That they have arrived at a remodeled theatre home U-High has been looking forward to for two long years.

As they say in the theatre to wish performers luck…”break a leg,” Pioneers!! My best to all in the cast and in the audience this weekend.

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