Show-stopping blizzard hasn't lowered curtain on this high school's theatrical debut
None of the teenage actors on stage in O'Donel High School's version of The Wedding Singer were alive when the movie hit the silver screen in 1998 — but that was the least of the problems facing the production.
January's show-stopping blizzard, eventually dubbed Snowmaggedon, brought down the curtain on rehearsals.
"We lost, I'm going to say, 60 hours of rehearsal time," producer and teacher Brad Jones said.
O'Donel is no stranger to overcoming obstacles to put on a good show.
In 2018, the lead in the show Footloose broke his leg, taking to the stage on crutches to perform a musical that is, literally, about dancing.
For its 2020 production, the O'Donel theatre crew wasn't able to push back the dates for the show, which runs at the Arts and Culture Centre in St. John's this week.
When a storm ground normal life to a halt on Jan. 17, the students were bummed about missing one Sunday rehearsal.
But a subsequent state of emergency turned one day into two, then three.
The next thing Jones and the cast knew, a week had gone by.
Thanks to the Internet, the dedicated teens were able to watch videos of the choreography moves put online for at-home rehearsals.
While they weren't all in the same room, lead Becca Bartlett found a way to work with it.
"It's super different when you're rehearsing at home in front of your pet or your wall," the Grade 11 student said.
"Then getting to come in with a super crazy and fun cast and do the dances together. It's a totally different element."
The story for The Wedding Singer musical is based on the Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore movie of the same name.
It came out in 1998, but is set in 1988 — meaning the production's costumes are ones these teens, born after the turn of the millennium, aren't used to wearing.
Student John Dalton, playing lead Robbie Hart, opens the show dressed in a powder-blue tuxedo accented by a ruffled shirt.
"I think it's definitely an interesting look," he said.
"I personally wouldn't wear it, but I know that in the '80s it was definitely an outfit that people liked to wear at weddings."
His co-star turned to her mother for some fashion advice.
"My mom was a teenager in the '80s and she had some really awesome clothes that she dug out for me," Bartlett said.
"This skirt was actually hers that I'm wearing."
Crimped hair and wardrobe aside, Snowmaggedon may have slowed down the cast, but couldn't bury their dedication to the stage.
"It's very overwhelming, it's very humbling, it's very empowering for a teacher to see how resilient these kids are," Jones said.
The curtain goes up on The Wedding Singer at the Arts and Culture Centre Feb. 20.
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