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HILLSBOROUGH: Middle school troupe staging ‘Wizard’

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
   More than 70 students will help Dorothy down the yellow brick road in the Hillsborough Middle School’s Musical Theater Troupe production of “The Wizard of Oz.”
   This year’s musical isn’t just middle school students, however. Since Auten Road Intermediate School will not host a show this year, approximately 20 students from the school joined the middle school cast, Director Barbara Doyle said.
   ”We and HMS have had a long tradition of inviting children of staff members here at HMS to participate in our productions and, where that continues, many of our middle school students have ‘adopted’ younger siblings from Auten Road during this production,” Ms. Doyle said.
   Though it’s a school production and often the students’ first time on stage, Ms. Doyle fosters an appreciation for the arts in both the students and the community.
   ”It has always been my hope that Hillsborough would become the cultural center for Somerset County,” Ms. Doyle said. “I believe that cultural enrichment is best introduced as early as possible. It is my hope that our productions help to foster that. We are a very large town with a richly diverse blend of cultures.”
   ”The students participating in our productions over the years have reflected our diversity as a community,” she added. “Those participating in the production become very close, and friendships are forged between people who may not find one another in a classroom. These friendships, however, often find their way back to the classroom, and new community of friendships are born.”
   Ms. Doyle’s and co-Director Barbara Szabo’s shared love for the musical coupled with the show’s recognizable story prompted them to choose it for this year’s school musical.
   Though casting began in November, regular rehearsals did not start until January, Ms. Doyle said. Ms. Doyle credited Ms. Szabo, the vocal music director at the school, with perfecting the students’ singing.
   ”She has been working with these students religiously since January and has brought them all a very long way in a very short period of time,” Ms. Doyle said. “She has been our ‘yellow brick road.’”
   In addition, adults help produce the show, and the production team’s grown as the musical’s progressed, Ms. Doyle said. Ms. Szabo’s husband, Wayne, Jim Ryan and Eddie Gunia built the sets for the production. Debbi Redling, Dianne Sireci, Maggie Ryan, Susan Van Pelt and Carol Zimmerman handled costumes for the show, and local artist and art teacher Doreen Lorenzetti created the artwork for the production’s sets.
   Performances will be held in the middle school cafeteria at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 3 and April 4 and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $7 and will be available at the door.