FAHRENHEIT 451 opening in the Knight Theatre

by Ed OToole on May 31, 2012

June 6, 7 & 8 in the Knight Theatre at Barnstable High School

We have everything that we need to be happy, but we aren’t happy. So thinks Fireman Guy Montag in this dystopian society which springs from the fertile mind of Ray Bradbury and has its genesis in the burning of books by Hitler and the burning of the library at Alexandria. With books outlawed and people psychologically and intellectually numbing themselves through continuously watching wall-sized televisions, sometimes on all four walls, and wearing ear pieces that cut themselves off from human contact, it’s easy to see that Bradbury’s cautionary tale may be more relevant today than it was almost sixty years ago when it was published. Even though the government has banned books, it is important to remember the point Faber the displaced college professor makes when he alludes to the fact that people stopped reading prior to the ban. This did not come from the top-down but from the bottom-up. People stopped reading and using their imaginations of their own accord—a chilling thought as we think about what freedoms we willingly give up as a society only to come to regret those years later. Are we careening headlong to the culmination of this vision or are we close to being there already? How outlandish are ideas like those in the Pixar film Wall-E where humans experience life through a screen? Proof that Bradbury’s ideas not only have not gone away over the decades, they have intensified and isn’t that what true science fiction is supposed to do: make us think about the human condition by setting the action in a society that is so different from the present that it’s difficult to get defensive about it, yet it’s really commenting on the society that people are living in at that moment. Similar to Arthur Miller commenting on McCarthyism by setting The Crucible back in time during the Salem Witch Trials, Bradbury cuts to the core of the present by setting his story in the future. What is the role of imagination and free-thinking in our society? In our education? In our day-to-day relations to other people? In our consumption of “dumbed-down” factoids of information fed to us by the internet, the media and others with agendas? How much is purposely left out of the discourse? These are questions that need to be answered, not as a society but by each of us as an individual. Just as people stopped reading, and thinking and imagining in the world of Fahrenheit 451, people need to keep those ideas alive in their day-to-day existence. And isn’t this what theater is all about? Beyond the entertainment value, doesn’t good theater get us to think about the human condition? To examine our behaviors, values and thoughts by holding a mirror up to our own lives. And isn’t keeping ourselves aware and thinking and questioning instead of going with the popular flow, the antidote to the numbed-out, hollow and unhappy existence that Guy Montag finally comes to grips with in F451? A cautionary tale to be sure, but one that doesn’t have to come true. After all our destinies are up to each of us-the individual and not some larger body.

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“Grease” is the word at BHS Drama Club!

by Ed OToole on January 11, 2012

The BHS Drama Club’s production of Grease will open on March 22 and continue on March 23, 24, 29, 30, and 31 in the Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center.  All shows are at 7 PM.

Be there or be square! Wear your black leather jacket!

 

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31st Haunted House!

by Mr. Sullivan on October 30, 2011

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By PAUL BABIN
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
July 09, 2011

BARNSTABLE — The Barnstable Summer Family Theater’s production of “The Reluctant Dragon” has been 23 years in the making. Well, not exactly. But the story, originally penned by Kenneth Grahame in 1898, is a longtime favorite of director John Sullivan’s and his adaptations have evolved steadily since he first staged it in 1988.

That first production featured just three songs. It wasn’t until 2001 that Sullivan called in lyricists Clayton Stang and Andrew Rapo and made the play a full-blown musical. Now, 10 years later, Sullivan has added a new ballad to the mix and dumped one tune in favor of a “snappier number.” The result is one of the funniest children’s plays I’ve seen, and a fitting finale for the Barnstable Summer Family Theater, which will close up shop for good when this show ends July 22.

Sullivan retired as Barnstable High School’s drama coach this year after a remarkable 34-year career. This, his final production, features a cast of many of his former students, including, you guessed it, “American Idol” contestant Siobhan Magnus. She made her Barnstable summer theater debut as Gwen in “The Reluctant Dragon” when she was just 8 years old. This time she plays the disenchanted wife of a greedy innkeeper (Andrew Rapo) who is shamelessly out for profits. Magnus’ singing is extraordinary, particularly her solo performance of “Somehow, Someday,” a song about unfulfilled dreams. The lyric, “Just watch me fly somehow, someday” is ironic considering her meteoric rise to stardom.

“The Reluctant Dragon” frequently surprised me by breaking the so-called “fourth wall” between the actors and the audience. For instance, when a frantic shepherd, played by Dave Sweet, tries to warn the townspeople about the supposedly deadly dragon that lives in a nearby cave, he’s stopped in midsentence. The mayor (Duncan Macallister) calmly reminds him that he must “sing his story,” as he is performing in a musical production in front of a live audience. That sets the tone for the rest of the play, which is shamelessly silly and self-conscious.

Basically the townspeople get caught up in the hype surrounding the mysterious dragon and call on St. George, played brilliantly by Peter Murray, to slay him. Murray, who has played this part before for Sullivan, gives a comedic performance worthy of Mel Brooks. His best moments come when he tries to seduce a “young damsel” — wearing a sundress and carrying a parasol — that’s really just the dragon in drag. (Funny how he doesn’t notice the giant green tail sticking out the back). Sullivan plays the dragon himself, and his banter with Murray is infectiously funny. When St. George asks where the young lady would like to meet him for a lunch date, the dragon retorts, “How ’bout the moon?”

In his program notes, Sullivan makes the following observation: “Saying goodbye is never easy — but I leave knowing I did the best I could, worked as hard as I could, and in so doing gave a few people some fun memories and a lot of laughs.”

This show had me laughing hysterically from start to finish, proving that the old master still has some tricks up his sleeve.

ON STAGE

What: “The Reluctant Dragon”

Written by: John Sullivan and Jim Hill, with music by S. Andrew Rapo and lyrics by Clayton Stang

Presented by: Barnstable Summer Family Theater

When: 7 p.m. July 12-15 and 19-22

Where: Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center 744 W. Main St., Hyannis

Tickets: $10

Reservations: 508-771-6246

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Sheet Music

by Mr. Sullivan on June 12, 2011

(Click on the image and it will take you to the Sheet Music)

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John Sullivan works on last show for Barnstable High

March 25, 2011

By KATHI SCRIZZI DRISCOLL March 24, 2011 Large camels need to lumber down the aisle of the Barnstable High School Performing Arts Center, so John Sullivan needs a sewing machine that works on thick fur. He consults with a team of volunteer seamstresses backstage during a rehearsal of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” then [...]

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Barnstable Drama Club’ ‘Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’

March 25, 2011

By Frank Gibson The Cape Codder CAPE COD — Go see this show! “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” is a testament to the amazing Barnstable High School Drama Club and how they can mount a musical that can rival a Broadway production in all respects. The moment you enter the theatre you know you [...]

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BHS’s Joseph is a show of many colors

March 25, 2011

Contributed Photo REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD – Jeremy Peacock is Joseph in the Barnstable High School Drama Club production of Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, onstage at BHS. Written by Linnea Donnelly From London to New York to Cape Cod, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a smash hit on stage. One [...]

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