Freehold Borough cast
ready to take to stage
CHRISTOPHER GUY Sean Barrett (l) and Natalie Nardone rehearse for I Hate Hamlet, which will be presented at Freehold Borough High School, Route 79, from Dec. 5-7 at 8 p.m.
Freehold Borough High School has been performing plays since 1925 and on Dec. 5 they will open another chapter in their long volume of theater presentations when the curtain rises for Paul Rudnick’s I Hate Hamlet. The play was a hit when it was professionally performed in New York City.
I Hate Hamlet is based upon a man named Andrew Rally (played by junior Sean Barrett), who is a young television star that a short time ago moved to New York from Los Angeles and will play Hamlet on stage. The actor has some skepticism over whether or not he made the proper decision to move, while Gary Peter Lefkowitz (played by junior Patrick Ketcham), a producer from California, tries to influence him to come back to Los Angeles and do a TV series.
But John Barrymore (played by Brian McGackin), who used to play Hamlet on stage, tries to educate Rally while acting as a mentor and influencing him to stay in New York.
A drama with comedic moments, the play contains plenty of colorful surprises for the audience.
Joseph Reilly will direct the play. Reilly has been producing dramatic arts at Freehold since 1978, and scenery since 1959. Even though he has retired from teaching, his passion for producing show business at the school has continued. Picking I Hate Hamlet was not a strenuous process.
"You read lots and lots of plays," Reilly said, "and it was different than everything else we have done in the past. We didn’t want to do another dialect play, so we decided to do something a little different."
Realizing that he was going to be short on men, Reilly knew that he had to find a drama that would best fit the group of teenagers he had. Senior Brian McGackin, a returning performer from last year, will play the part of John Barrymore, a producer originally from England.
"Brian is very good with an English accent and he has a presence on the stage as well," Reilly said. "And Brian is the only male returning [from last year] so I had to find something with a strong male lead."
Junior Patrick Ketcham will play the part of Gary Peter Lefkowitz.
"He is very sarcastic and he is very amusing to me, but I do wish that he played a larger role in the play," the director said.
Allison Caiazza, a senior, plays Rally’s agent, Lillian Troy, a woman in her 70’s. That role undeniably was in Allison’s mind and she understood clearly what role she desired.
"She is over the top," Caiazza said of her character. "I was very good with the accent so I knew that part was for me right from the start. This play is very funny and there are a good group of actors here. They just need the chance to get on the stage."
All six actors will get their chance on Thursday night and the hard work and devotion that they have displayed since the end of September will be put to use.
The entire cast includes: Jenna Reycraft (Felicia Dantine), Sean Barrett (Andrew Rally), Natalie Nardone (Deirdre McDavey), Allison Caiazza (Lillian Troy), Brian McGackin (John Barrymore), Patrick Ketcham (Gary Peter Lefkowitz). The play’s stage manager is Rachel Fee.
Performances will be on December 5, 6 and 7 beginning at 8 p.m. in the auditorium at Freehold Borough High School, Robertsville Road and Route 79. Tickets will cost $7 at the door and can be purchased for $6 in advance from cast members.
Christopher Guy is a junior at Freehold Borough High School. He is participating in a Greater Media Newspapers student journalism initiative. Area high school students who are interested in writing news stories about or taking pictures of events in their school may call Managing Editor Mark Rosman at (732) 358-5200, ext. 8278, for more information.