They say it takes a village. And what a village it is.
As you may know, Disney's FROZEN is a beautiful story with a fabulous mix of great music, memorable characters, and youthful energy. From the beginning, it sparkles with joy and appreciation for two sisters. One is silly and distractable and the other is dignified and serious ... but the love they have for each other at the beginning is what invests us in their emotional journey throughout.
It's been great to see our young performers do so much with their voices and their spirit to elevate this story from a simple animated adventure to a fully-realized Broadway-level production.
Along the way, we've had some help. Max Corbett returned to lend his technical knowledge to our student set designers and propmakers. Laura Darling, referred to us by our student lighting designer Mackenzie Cady, stopped by to show us what we were missing from a high-tech-lighting perspective, and loaned us some gear that we were able to test-drive.
I can't say enough about our GP families and alumni, who chipped in to support our Snap! fundraiser, helping us raise twice as much as we did in a similar campaign last year - and which may be enough to buy us our own wireless microphone system, saving us thousands of dollars each year. GP has become a family, and I am honored to hear from so many alums who have such fond memories of this place, this process, and this energy.
And in a show about family, I'm proud that my son was able to help GP again with his technical wizardry, and you should know that that's my son-in-law on Keyboard 1.
Thanks for coming to the show tonight, and we hope you'll enjoy the emotional journey toward true love. That's what we all feel for this project.
Congratulations to last year’s Fred Heitkamp/Guilderland Players’ Alumni Award winner: Emily Cataldo, who was as much at home onstage as behind the scenes.
Special thanks are due, as always, to the parents and families of The Guilderland Players for their patience and support; Mr. Daniel Mayberry, Superintendent, and his administration for their support of this program and the Arts in general; Board president Blanca Gonzalez-Parker and The Board of Education; Mike Piscitelli, High School Principal; Alex Finsel, English Department Supervisor; Bob Winans, Music Department Supervisor; Ann Marie Holmes, Crystal Martin, and Brian Mazza, Assistant Principals; Ryan St. John and the administration at Farnsworth; Inho Suh and the Transportation Department; and of course the administration and staff of Guilderland High School. Special thanks are also due to Cliff Nooney and the district Maintenance staff; and to Melissa Drislane, Lauren Mahar, Mitch Carkner, and the rest of the high school custodial staff.
