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HILLSBOROUGH: ‘Peter Pan,’ ‘Cats’ will grace school stage this year

Theater year is announced at Opening Night

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Hillsborough theater program is bringing members of the family back home to put on another show.
At least five graduates of Hillsborough High School and its theater program will return to help director BJ Solomon stage "Cats," the featured show of the school season.
"I’m sort of the dad on the production staff with all of my kids," said Mr. Solomon.
The alumni will work to make "Cats," a Broadway staple for 18 years, come alive on the Hillsborough stage from March 6-14. It’s a show with which Mr. Solomon is very familiar; he worked in the original choreography and production on Broadway, he said, offering him insights and experience in producing the show.
"I am licensed through Andrew Lloyd Webber to recreate the show," he said. "I even have the Broadway blueprint for the set."
"Cats" will be one of two well-known musicals for the Raider stage. On May 9 and 10, a comparatively smaller cast will create "Godspell" on stage. A classic tale of friendship, loyalty and love from Stephen Schwartz, composer of "Wicked" and "Pippin," the score features popular hits "Day by Day" and "Learn Your Lessons Well."
The year will start with the crowd-pleasing — but production challenge — of "Peter Pan," complete with flying actors, on Nov. 21 and 22. Tryouts and rehearsals start next week.
Per tradition, the theater will year will end May 29 with students getting their chance to write, direct and produce their own short plays in a one-night show on May 29.
" Hillsborough Shorts" turns over the stage to five student directors, who either produce their own written one-acts or already published works by well-known authors. Students get the chance to flex their problem solving muscles working with their peers and a limited budget.
All the shows have a general theme of "family and community," and carry the lessons that no matter how far you go you are always part of your family," said Mr. Solomon.
That certainly the case with Peter Pan," where children learn their lives and parents aren’t quite so bad after all in Neverland. Mr. Solomon said the school will have the services of the company that did the original flying effects on Broadway. The adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s story is a perennial favorite for children ages 4 to 104, especially with Indians, mermaids and pirates led by Captain Hook.
Hillsborough is bringing home the "family" theme in spades with "Cats," where the annual gathering of the tribe convenes to select Jellicle cat is selected to ascend to the Heavyside Layer.
College students and other alumni will return to help produce the show.
To start, Julianna LoBiondo has taken over as the school’s choral teacher, replacing Christine Micu. As a senior at Hillsborough, she was Mr. Solomon’s first assistant in the staging of West Side Story."
Alex Minter, known as the Beast opposite the Beauty a few years back and now a Rutgers student, will be the assistant musical director. Valentine Kuntz, a 2010 graduate, will conduct the orchestra. Kyle Kravette, a Pace University senior, will handle lighting for the show.
Danielle Fairweather, a 2011 graduate now in Princeton in her first teaching job, will work as assistant choreographer. She worked with Mr. Solomon in producing Cats at Villagers Theater in Franklin Township.
Tickets for the four-show season are on sale at $45; each individual show is $15.