They’ve got a ton of great talent at the school who bust open the show with some Jailhouse Rock led by the funny and charismatic Chad (Charles Osborne turning in a great performance as the over-the-top and cocky Elvis Presley-type character) who is getting kicked out of jail. Next thing we know he’s a Roustabout kickin’ the dust up in a small town, violating their new decency laws and driving the local girls crazy. Except for the one girl he wants, the museum bombshell Miss Sandra who thinks Chad is rather dull. And, admittedly, we don’t get the impression that Chad has published many scholarly historical treatises. But who cares as long as he’s leading such big numbers as Roustabout and All Shook Up?

A bit more infatuated with the newcomer is Natalie, the tomboy girl-next-door auto mechanic eager to jump on Chad’s bike and leave her little town behind. But Chad doesn’t know she’s alive. Or, at least, he can’t remember her name. Natalie’s real name is Emily Witte, and she delivers some great rock vocals throughout. The two leads share many great scenes together, especially once Natalie disguises herself as “Ed” so she can get closer to him as a buddy. “Ed” convinces Chad to tutor him in the fine art of seduction, which ends up in some romantic tension that results in Chad kissing what he thinks is a man – leaving some trauma and serious soul searching for a guy who hadn’t searched his soul all that much.

The story features several couples, most of whom keep falling for the wrong person without realizing there’s someone nearby that fits them even better. Alex Kelley is a total hoot as Dennis, the nerdy guy with a crush on Natalie, who ends up at first jealous of Chad, but then becomes his enthusiastic sidekick. He delivers one of the show’s most amusing lines when he tries to hint to Natalie that her true love might be right under her nose, just an average guy…“maybe below average.” Highly talented Mary Grace Hammond is the town’s gorgeous new museum curator who finds herself quickly overrun with infatuated men, rejecting her suitors with confidence, style, and great vocals.

Kel Williams helps ground the show as Sylvia, the local bar owner who dishes out sassy wisdom while consciously barely aware of her own loneliness, singing a nice solo of There’s Always Me when she finally realizes it. Adam Burkhart is Natalie’s widowed father Jim who does realize his loneliness, leading him to also gets some lessons in the fine art of seduction from Chad in their amusing duet Don’t Be Cruel. Ariella Akeza as Lorraine and Joshua Mapstead as Dean play roles from another Shakespeare play, star-crossed young lovers with parents deeply against the union – Sylvia chasing Dean away from her daughter at gunpoint and Dean’s mom Matilda (the town’s high-strung, ultra-conservative, party-pooper, “Devil in Disguise” mayor courtesy of Lyndsay Burch) is determined to see them split up even if it means trying to use her loyal and silent sidekick Sheriff Earl (Zachary Laws).

Performs November 29 - December 1, 2007.

Rob Hopper
Executive Director
National Youth Theatre

~ Cast ~