The Stony Hill Players drew a full house on Friday night for the first of six sold-out performances of "Annie," the classic Broadway musical.
"They did a great job for their first night!" said Jayne Myers, the director of the show and mother of one of its cast members. "I'm proud of these kids."
The all-child cast is comprised of local aspiring actors who range in age from 9 to 14. Cast members vary from those without any previous theater experience to performers who have acted at other community theaters, performing arts centers, in school plays, and even some TV spots.
"I see some future stars right now," commented one of last night's audience members during intermission.
Annie is the heartwarming story of an ambitious orphan who has the unique opportunity to spend the Christmas holiday with a billionaire named Oliver Warbucks. An unlikely friendship grows between the two and soon "Daddy Warbucks" finds himself heading a search to find Annie's real parents.
"Jayne and I had talked about this probably around last June or so… She wanted to do a musical for us and she thought about several but she really thought this was the one she wanted to do," said Randy Parker, the show's producer and sound designer.
From the technical side of the production, one of the most challenging aspects of this show is that it was double cast, explained Myers and Cindy Jung, the show's choreographer.
This decision was partly due to Myers' fear of the swine flu, but it additionally allowed for a larger number of kids to get involved.
"We had 150 auditioners and had to turn down 60. That was the hardest part," said Myers.
As a result, select principal roles are to be played by different actors on different days. "Cast A" is scheduled to star on January 29 and 31 and February 6, while "Cast B" takes the show on January 30 and February 5 and 7.
One cast member who is not double cast is Annie's shaggy dog Sandy, played by a 9-year-old mixed-breed pooch of the same name.
Sandy was adopted from St. Hubert's Animal Center as a puppy and has since made several acting and modeling appearances, including a previous role in "Annie" at Madison Junior School.
Twelve-year-old Hannah Skoken played the show's title lead on Friday night. She teamed up with Sandy the dog in Act One for the optimistic song "Tomorrow," which brought a huge round of applause.
"It's amazing! It's incredible!" said Skoken of her current role. "It's what I love and it kind of was always my dream role. Everybody said I would work as Annie because I have the red hair."
"My dad, he's an actor," the curly-haired rising star who hails from Bedminster said. "So I kind of grew up listening to show tunes and dancing, singing, and acting,"
Skoken drew a standing ovation from the audience at the close of the Friday night performance.
Although the "Annie" cast includes actors from Mountainside, New Providence, Far Hills, Berkeley Heights, and Short Hills, it certainly has its share of Summit stars.
Matt Mahoney, who plays Oliver Warbucks in Cast A, is a freshman at Summit High School and is performing in Annie alongside his 8-year-old sister, Grace, who plays one of Annie's fellow orphans.
"There're great role models in all the leads so a lot of the younger kids look up to the older kids," said Matt of the group dynamic.
By the end of the night, the audience had laughed out loud at the miserable Miss Hannigan, played by Kyra Morling in Friday's cast, cheered for the heroine and her friends, and had been invited to sing along during the familiar chorus of "Tomorrow" as the lyrics magically appeared on the center stage wall.
"It was great!" said one audience member who had traveled with her goddaughter from Bridgewater to see the production. "It was so well-done for a local community theater. They really did a fantastic job."
"What's so amazing," Jung said, "is that tomorrow's performance is going to be just as good as this one."
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