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Message from the Director

Hello and Welcome to St. Peter's Boys High School,

      This has been a very exciting year for the drama department. After receiving word that we did not get the rights to our original show choice, Mr.Fodera and I went back to the drawing board to find the best show for our program and our students. We spent hours on the phone and reading over what felt like every musical in the world. Yet in the back of our minds was that one show, the show that made me fall in love with theatre, the show I have listened to over and over for years and the show I swore I would never direct…”The Phantom of the Opera”.  After the overwhelming success of “Les Miserables” and winning the St. Genesius Award for Outstanding Musical at the Minty Awards last year, we knew we needed a show that would push our students, our staff and even myself even higher. We definitely had our work cut out for us. We knew that this would not be an easy task at all but we knew with hard work and dedication from everyone involved with the production we could definitely make it happen.  The professionalism from my staff and the students,most importantly, truly blew me away. Each student worked for hours on end all year to make this show what it is and I couldn't be more proud of them. They came together helped each other, rehearsed constantly and sang like seasoned professionals all year. The environment was so creative and amazing. Our students pushed themselves to believe that they could do this show and do it well and in turn inspired me to push myself and to say yes we are doing "The Phantom of the Opera". There is a reason "Phantom" just celebrated its  25th anniversary on Broadway this year and that is because it is the true definition of the magic of musical theatre and we definitely experienced that magic through out this entire production. We pulled out all of the stops for "Phantom" and  it wasn't easy but the incredible amount of support and dedication from the faculty, Staff and parents has made our dreams a reality. First and foremost I would like to thank the faculty and staff of St.Peter's especially Br.James Kelly, Mr.Emanuelsen,Mr. Cafaro, Mrs. Mulligan, Mr.Boylan and Mr. Gault( who still came back this year  to sell our 50/50)  without their dedication and support for our students this show would not be possible. Next i need to thank the parents. We have amazing parents here at St.Peter's including the parents of the young ladies who grace our stage each year. Their overwhelming support for this program and our production is outstanding. From the Fathers who volunteered to build the set to the Mother's, Aunts and Grandmother's who sewed costumes and donated and made our beautiful baskets the support has been never ending and we can't thank them enough. I knew we had an exceptionally respectful and generous cast this year and after meeting their parents I can see why. I have to thank Mr. Greg Newman for overseeing all the finances on this show as well as the entire Newman family for their unending support to the drama program and St.Peter's. Thank you to our absolute biggest fan Br. Louis. We can't thank you enough for all of your wisdom and guidance and especially for teaching the cast the proper pronunciation of all of the French words in the show. A very special thank you goes out to my exceptional staff. Our Choreographer Candice Pignitaro. You are an excellent addition to our team. Your energy, experience, attention to detail and professionalism are exquisite and I can't thank you enough. Josh Sottile our Musical Director and St.Peter's alumni. Your musical talent is amazing I am so proud of the teacher you have become and I can't thank you enough for the time and energy you put into making this show sound as beautiful as it does.