Millstone says ‘Hello, Dolly’

By louis c. hochman

Cast members of the Millstone Township Middle School production of Hello, Dolly rehearse a scene from the show that will be performed this week.

MILLSTONE — When Millstone Township Elementary School music teacher John Sullivan was casting the Millstone Township Middle School’s production of Hello Dolly, he was faced with a dilemma. Two girls who auditioned for the lead role seemed perfect for the part and Sullivan didn’t know who to choose.

So he cast them both.

When Hello, Dolly opens at the middle school at 7:30 p.m. May 18, eighth-grader Jessica Tomasella will play Dolly Gallagher Levi. And when the cast takes the stage for a second time, on May 19 at 7:30 p.m., eighth-grader Meghan Algeo will fill the role.

"They were both just that good," said Sullivan, director of the seventh- and eighth-grade production. "Everyone else just seemed to fall naturally into their part, but I couldn’t choose between them."

Playing against the Dollys will be eighth-grader Robert Rothchild, as lovable miser Horace Vandergelder.

The cast includes more than 40 students, a group Sullivan said can sometimes be hard to coordinate, "especially when you’re dealing with seventh- and eighth-graders."

He said because many of the students are involved with other activities, the cast generally kept to a schedule of only two rehearsals per week.

The students have been rehearsing since January.

Sullivan said things have gone pretty smoothly through rehearsals, with tensions beginning to rise only as the crew entered its tech week on Monday.

"I’ve been calm, which must really mean something. Only now I’m going a little crazy," he joked.

Admission to the show both nights is free, but tickets will be required.

Serving as assistant director for the production is middle school teacher Joan Slothus. Laurie Eccles, mother of seventh-grade cast member Shannon Eccles, is heading up set design. Resident Barbara Shulze and Julia Algeo, mother of Meghan Algeo, are heading up costume design.