By Katie Wagner, Staff Writer
MONTGOMERY — Audiences attending the Montgomery High School musical tonight and tomorrow will be treated to some impressive aerial special effects.
Camille Vazquez-Reyes, playing Annie Oakley in Peter Stone’s revival version of “Annie Get Your Gun,” will swing from a trapeze as she shoots at various targets with several types of guns, during a scene in which she is trying to impress her love interest, Frank Butler, played by Alex Curran.
To learn the trapeze stunt, Camille, a senior who has performed in the annual high school musical since her sophomore year, trained with Flying by Foy, a Las Vegas-based company that also works on professional productions in Las Vegas and on Broadway.
Although Camille has been rehearsing her lines and songs since January, she’s had less than a week to perfect her stunt. “It’s so much fun now, but the first time I tried it was kind of scary,” she said.
To create the effect that she is swinging from a trapeze in a circus tent, Camille is fastened to a steel bar with a harness. Offstage, the high school’s shop teacher, Nick Mylowe, and student Chris Kauzmann control the bar’s height as well as how Camille moves across the bar.
”I hang upside down from my knees and I swing back and fourth to aim at different balloon targets with my guns,” she said. “I’d prefer not to know how many feet above the stage I am in the scene.”
Although Camille admitted that learning her stunts has been difficult, she said that other aspects of her role have been more challenging.
The musical is based on the lives of sharp shooters Annie Oakley and Frank Butler, who eventually married and joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show as performers in 1885.
”I think the hardest thing about playing Annie is that it’s a lengthy play with a lot of songs and I think there’s only two scenes where I don’t have to go on stage,” Camille said. “It’s just a really cool part because it just shows how a woman could do what only men were expected to be able to do during Annie’s time.”
The production includes a cast and crew of more then 100.
The play is the 15th directed by the high school’s drama teacher, Tara Handschin. It features vocal direction by Monica Borger, choreography by Susan Niedt, music direction by Kawika Kahalehoe, set direction by Mr. Mylowe and sound and light direction by Jeff Brooks.
Performances will be 8 p.m. tonight (Friday) and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday at the Montgomery Performing Arts Center in the high school.
Tickets are $5 for children, students and senior citizens and $6 for adults. All tickets are general admission and will be sold at the door. To reserve tickets, call the high school’s box office at 609-466-7602, ext. 6926.
