To an unforgettable cast and crew,
Musical theatre has been a part of my life since I was 3, and thanks to a group of dedicated students, parents, and faculty, it remains an inseparable part of my life today. As I prepare to conduct West's ninth musical, I am humbled to work with such a talented cast and crew. Thanks to every single one of you who made this musical a reality. To Miss Marta, Miss W, and the entire production staff, you are rock SUPERSTARS! To every West student, I hope the musical experience transforms your life as it did mine many, many years ago! It is, as always, an honor and a priviledge to work with you all.
-Mr. Venutolo
Many thanks to all the wonderful family members and friends who gave their time and talents to help make this show a success! Thank you to our amazing stage managers, Bridget Quealy and Julia Hewitt, to our stage/tech production crew, Kait Fieldman, and Anthony Gagliardi, and to our extremely talented orchestra.
This show would also not be possible without Dave O’Donnell, Jim Perkne, Mark Smetana, and the set build team for our beautiful set, Lisa Gray, Barb Radeke, Alysia Skinner, and our costume team who did an excellent job organizing and making the cast looking fantastic, and Mary Ellen Tolbert for finding all our authentic props. Thank you all so much!
Finally, a very special thank you goes to Tom Venutolo and Lisa Wainwright for sharing their passions with the students and guiding them to this day.
I am so incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to work with this amazing group of young adults. Thank you for working so hard, trusting the process, and making it so much fun along the way.
I am so proud of all of you!
Love, Your Chef (Miss Marta)
The tradition has been established that each year the spring musical directors put a thank you letter into the program, a thank you to all the cast, crew, and devoted volunteers who make the musical possible. Each year when it’s time to write this letter, I struggle to come up with exactly what I want to convey. This year however, I am crystal clear as to what I want to say. Purely and simply, that I am so very grateful to all of you for being in my life and for helping this broken, old fart to remember what theatre, art, and creativity is about. Choreographing Fiddler, as usual, has proven to be a vastly rewarding experience mainly because of the highly talented, kind, and intelligent young adults that are in this cast and crew. It is an honor and a pleasure to have all of you produce the movement that comes from within my somewhat curdled brain and driven soul. I thank you and cherish the time I get to spend with all of you. To the directors, again, I send all my appreciation, gratitude, and respect; you are a wonderful team and I am so humbled by each time I get to do a show with you. Thank you and God bless each of you.
-Ms. Wainwright
