Get Ready For 'Shrek'

By day they are campers, counselors, summer interns. By night they are actors, pit musicians, stage crew. They are members of the Port Summer Show, and from Aug. 1-4, they will perform “Shrek The Musical” at Schreiber High School.

Recently, the Schreiber lobby buzzed as sixth-to-twelfth graders enjoyed a much-deserved break. Ultimately, they will have fewer than six weeks to collectively master their lines and dances under director/choreographer Jason Summers, learn the Broadway musical score under conductor Solomon Hoffman, and build sets transforming the stage into a swamp under the vision of set designer Nick Gardella.

The swamp is inhabited by fairytale characters: Shrek,an ogre; Lord Farquaad; a talking donkey, Princess Fiona, and a dragon.

The production is a true community effort, with a proud 42-year-strong tradition. Adding to the local flavor: Schreiber graduate Jeanine Tesori wrote the music.

While it’s the students who take the stage, parents and Summer Show alum pitch in with sets, costumes, pit and more.

“The final production is magic,” said Elise May, who serves as the board’s co-president with Susan Hoffman. 

Also on hand: mentorship on many levels, from seasoned parents teaching others how to organize a show to established musicians nurturing younger ones in the pit.

“The music we are playing is not a simplified arrangement, but the same parts the professional musicians played for the show on Broadway,” Solomon Hoffman said. “We rehearse throughout the summer to work hard on mastering this professional level music.”

It’s all part of building a legacy to help keep Summer Show strong.

“With a performance of any sort, there’s a learning process,” Hoffman noted.

That includes new challenges. This year the Summer Show needed additional funds for costs, including custodial fees.

In addition to its long-standing sponsor, Robert Harding, the board has cultivated new sponsorships, including The Horace and Amy Hagedorn Foundation. Other support comes from HEARTS Port Washington, and in-kind sponsors Dolphin Bookshop, Landmark on Main Street and more. The show boosted publicity, including on local restaurant placemats. 

The show serves as a right of passage for many talented Port teens.

“When I auditioned for my first summer show, I was a chubby awkward terrified 12-year-old who could barely keep a beat,” said Delia Van Praag ("Gingy" in the show), who will major in playwriting this fall at DePaul University. “Although my dancing has only marginally improved, these people are now my closest friends and confidantes; they are my family.  I feel like I’ve literally grown up over my time at summer show and I wouldn’t have traded the experience for the world.”  

"My first show ever was a summer show production seven years ago and since then, my friends and I have become so involved in theater both in and out of school,” said Julia Bain ("Fiona"), who will study musical theater at Ithaca College in the fall. It has been so incredibly wonderful to be a part of so many summer productions.”

“Theater has been a part of my life for as long as I could remember,” said Liam Marsigliano ("Lord Farquaad"), who will major in musical theater at Catholic University of America. ”From seeing “Beauty and the Beast” on Broadway about 12 years ago to starring in “Shrek the Musical,” it has been an amazing life changing journey. That is the journey I hope to continue through college and the rest of my life.  

For seniors, performing in their final Summer Show is bittersweet.

Marsigliano put it this way: “I will always remember and miss the wonderfully talented people and actors who I have respected and come to love over the years.”

See "Shrek" Aug 1-3, 7:30 p.m. at Schreiber High School; Aug. 4 at 2 p.m. Tickets: $10; $5 for kids 12 and under. Senior citizens admitted free Thursday, Aug. 1