playbill vip

Musical Director’s Notes:

To fully appreciate All Shook Up, one has to understand that its roots lie in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy Twelfth Night (which was also entitled What You Will).  The songs sung by Elvis Presley, with which many of us elder folk are so emotionally familiar, are an exploration of young love: the pains of loneliness (an ironic disease of our social media driven society), the joy of being in love, and the angst of unrequited love. Music works to unlock something that can even make a statue come to life. Like music, love is a matter of the heart and not simply the head.  Human attraction is not easily explained.

Its setting in the 1950s, American, mid-western, conforming society is an ideal context for the tensions between authority and rebellion of adolescence.  The ideas of what is decent and what is not and the amount of societal permission granted is as confused in our 2017 society as it was in Shakespeare’s society of 1602.  What great themes for teens to grapple with in an artistic way, and isn’t that what theatre is really for, to explore life and its complexities?  While the main focus of both plays is romantic love, in both works social strata is challenged and overturned.  Both use disguises (the cross-dressing Natalie/Ed) to reveal who we truly are.

From the over 800 songs that Elvis Presley recorded, DiPietro chose these songs to propel the play.  Can’t Help Falling In Love was the central inspiration.  As Natalie/Ed says “I guess when you think about it all the best things in life seem like magic - music, laughin’ and fallin’ in love”.

Director-Producer's Notes:

When we first started on this wild journey into All Shook Up,  Doug and I both agreed we wanted to nurture in our students a love of singing and performing, alongside discipline and commitment. This has truly been a labor of everything that goes into that powerful four-letter word (LOVE): Passion, affection, pain, effort, tenderness, frustration, exhaustion, yearning, and finally, transcendent happiness. We feel so lucky to share this experience with all of you.

Throughout this process, we have been blessed with a brilliant cast and crew, students who were committed and determined to give it their all, and to trust and respect the roles, the process, and one another. Sarah Kielly, a grade 11 student, was our lead choreographer / stage manager this year. This will be her first time calling a show. Hailey Nicholls also assisted Sarah with choreography. Dawson Wood designed lighting for the first time, and will be filling the role of lighting technician. Katrina Basnett was also a valuable part of our crew. She has assisted students in voice and has worked one on one with students as a singing coach. She is our sound designer and will be in the sound booth at The Port Theatre this year.  We are also thrilled this year to have Angelina Jaeger, Kyla Williams, and Tatum Paloposki working on our production / creative team. Their attention to detail can be seen in the many signs as well as the painting and graphics on our sets. The creative sets are another aspect of our show that we are proud of. Barry Parker worked tirelessly to make these sets on his spare time in tarp city, located in the rear of our home. He endured the cold snap and many wet and miserable days to supply us with the beautiful set pieces. I am eternally grateful of this amazing man, who I am lucky to share my life with. By the way, Barron Kielly, assistant builder is a graduate who is seeking an apprenticeship with a local construction company. We are also grateful to the community volunteers and parents who arrived early on Saturday mornings to sew our costumes. Though we can't see these individuals, these often overlooked roles are crucial in bringing productions to life.  We were also privileged to find the perfect actors for these complex roles. It would take many additional pages to express how much we adore our cast and ensemble (the spine of a musical production) but it goes without saying they mean the world to us. We could not have done this without their incredible commitment to the show. Last, but not least, we want to recognize all of the parents and guardians who supported our cast and crew in so many ways during these past months.