Even the Nazareth Academy students who have been in many plays, had challenges performing in the school’s spring musical they never experienced before, such as finding a quiet spot in their house with a blank wall.
Kim White, the school’s public speaking teacher and drama director, anticipated the students would do some sort of remote performance when she chose “Annie” as the spring show.
Last year, the teenagers had been rehearsing the play, “Footloose” for two and a half months, when they learned in mid-March the schools would close and the show was canceled due to the coronavirus.
“I’ve never had a play canceled before,” said White, who has been Nazareth’s drama director for 31 years.
This year, she and her “magnificent postproduction person,” Anthony Bartucci, were ready for a different type of show, one the audience would watch online at home.
“We had no contact for rehearsals,” which began the second week in January, White said. “We did everything on Zoom until mid-February,” with the students participating from their own houses.
Having a live Zoom performance of “Annie” that way would not work, however, because of the timing delays and latency issues, Bartucci said.
So he asked each student to use their iPad to record him- or herself saying their lines at home, while listening via earphones to a recording Bartucci had made previously of one the cast’s Zoom rehearsals. That way, the actor could hear the other characters’ lines, but the microphone would only pick up their voice.
Bartucci said he gave them specific directions about how to position the iPad camera.
The tricky part was the student also could hear his own voice saying his lines from the rehearsal.
“That just tripped me up,” said sophomore Gavin Dimit from Burr Ridge, who plays Daddy Warbucks. “When I heard my own voice, I started to stutter.”
Dimit also found it hard to do an “energetic performance” alone, without the other characters present to interact with.
Bartucci sent the cast the recorded music for the shows, and each student recorded him- or herself singing their part at home.
White asked the actors to record themselves in front of a plain wall, which is not as easy as it sounds, with light switches, staircases and door frames inadvertently appearing in the background.
“One family told me they had to move a couch, but they did it,” Bartucci said.
Dimit recorded himself in his basement, “so I could be completely secluded,” Dimit said.
Even so, his mother at one point told his father, who was working on a project in the garage, to stop hammering, because the noise was too loud. Without Dimit telling her, his mother must have assumed he was recording his part for Annie.
“I’m not walking around with a suit and tie on for nothing,” Dimit said, meaning his costume for Daddy Warbucks.
Dimit said it took five to six hours to make the recording of his dialogue and songs in Act 1, although the running time of the entire first Act is only about 45 minutes.
Mary Calabria, a senior from Darien, who plays Annie, said she spent about five hours recording her part in Act 1.
Bartucci then put all their parts together as seamlessly as possible.
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“I had to make sure everyone looks good and sounds good,” he said. “It was a lot of work to get everything to line up.”
Audiences at home will see the actors in Act 1 in individual boxes on their screens.
As the year progressed, the state loosened the capacity limits on gatherings and Nazareth’s drama students were able to perform the second act together on stage, albeit wearing masks and without any scenery or sets, because there wasn’t time to make them.
Dimit said it was a worthwhile trade-off to have the cast performing together.
Calabria said, “Masks are so normal to us now a year into the pandemic.” Even so, acting with a mask covering half your face is a challenge, she said.
“We had to do our best with our body language and enunciation . . . and smile with your eyes,” she said.
“I was so happy, especially for the seniors, who were able to be on stage one last time,” Bartucci said.
The public can see Nazareth’s Drama’s prerecorded production of “Annie,” the weekend of April 16-April 18 by buying tickets for a specific show and then watching that performance via the showtix4u website. The showtimes are 7 p.m., Friday, April 16; 7 p.m. Saturday, April 17, and 1 p.m., Sunday, April 18. The show will be streamed in real time so you must watch during your ticketed showtime. Tickets are available at nazarethacademy.com, under the heading, “Nazareth Spotlight.” Tickets cost from $18 to $40, depending on the number of viewers.
Dimit said his parents are inviting relatives over to watch the online performance together. “My older family members have all been vaccinated, so my great-grandmother is coming and all my aunts.”