Returning to the Stage | Palatka Daily News, Palatka, Florida

Musical theater students, alumni reuniting to perform the hits

Members of the Palatka High School Musical Theatre Department rehearse ahead of a previous production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
Cast members of a previous production of “Newsies” promote the show while dressed in character in downtown Palatka.
Positively Putnam FL

This weekend, current and former students of the Palatka High School Musical Theatre Department are asking the community to “Seize The Day” and “Be Our Guest” to support the arts in Putnam County.

The entertainers and organizers want no “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables,” so they are encouraging music theater fans to purchase tickets in advance of Sunday’s show featuring these songs and other Broadway favorites.

The show’s cast includes 60 students, including 43 former students and 17 current students performing musical revue numbers from 15 Broadway shows, including “Beauty and the Beast,” “Les Miserables,” “Hairspray,” “Guys and Dolls,” “Matilda,” “Newsies,” “Sister Act,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and others.

According to Director Jim Pignato, the one-day show is titled “All Together Now!” and was designed by Music Theatre International to help theaters worldwide recover from the loss of performing and revenue due to the COVID shutdown. The New York company is granting the rights to Broadway musicals, royalty-free.

“Many theaters shut down for about 18 months because of the pandemic,” Pignato said. “There are strict guidelines for the show. All 15 slots must be performed and in the order they tell you. It is designed to be done with minimal costumes and sets.”

Showtime is 3 p.m. Sunday at the Jim Pignato Theatre at the C.L. Overturf Jr. District Center, 1800 S. 18th St. in Palatka. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door. Tickets are on sale at Ralph’s House of Flowers, 605 St. Johns Ave. in Palatka. For details, call 325-4734.

“The show will be performed over 6,000 times this weekend by theaters in 43 countries and all 50 states,” said Pignato, who is in his 32nd year with Palatka High musicals and almost 60 shows. “We will be adding a few costumes just to dress the show up a bit.”

Many of the former students are coming from Georgia and other places in Florida, but among the former students is Taylor Smith Schultz who still lives here. She played the role of Millie Dilmount in the 2014 production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” and will be singing “Gimme Gimme” from that show.

“It feels good,” Schultz said of readying for the weekend show. “It feels like I’m getting to do my childhood over again. It’s been a lot of fun and I love it.”

Schultz said she gets a little nervous when she thinks about Sunday’s show, but it has its plusses, too.

“Definitely one of my favorite parts is getting to see old friends and everybody again,” she said.

The Palatka High School Musical Theatre Department began in 1989 by then-drama teacher Sarah Munday.

“They asked me to be in charge of the music and now they can’t seem to get rid of me,” Pignato said, smiling.

Rehearsal for the Sunday show hasn’t been easy, Pignato said, since the majority of the cast does not live locally.

“It has been a challenge to rehearse because we will not have a full cast until the day of the show,” Pignato said.

Besides that, Pignato said, this is the first time his students have been rehearsing two shows at the same time.

The theater department’s fall show is “Elf” and will be performed Dec. 9-12. Tickets are also available at Ralph’s House of Flowers.

Pignato said one of the highlights from Sunday’s show will be a video tribute from several former students who are far away and could not be at the show in person.

“We have some students not performing but flying in from as far away as Washington, D.C.,” he said. “For those audience members who have followed the program, there will be many familiar faces on stage and some great show memories. All in all, it should be an incredible afternoon.”