It really isn’t fair to review a dress rehearsal. So, I’ll say that they worked hard to get the kinks worked out.

I really enjoyed the live band for this show. It is quite unusual to have a live band in a high school performance. Although the music was too loud to hear the singers, which is one of those kinks that they were working on. I have been in several Christmas and Easter cantatas and I know how difficult it is to hear the music when singing. When the music is good for the chorus, it’s too loud for the audience to hear the words. It’s a delicate balance, which is difficult to achieve.

These kids are good actors and they can really sing, too. Blair Gill has a voice that is like a crystal bell. She has great projection and vocal clarity.

Michael Kammer stepped in to the Danny Zuko role like a pro. Riley Smith was supposed to play Zuko, but broke his jaw playing baseball two weeks before dress rehearsal night.

Smith was on stage with the other cast, his jaw wired shut. Mel Hall joked that the Burger Palace Boys had an extra member: Jaws.

“We had prayer for him after we heard about his jaw. His dedication was incredible. He felt like he was letting us down.” Hall praised Smith.

Kammer had two weeks to learn all the lines and marks. He had practiced since November with the band as the bass guitar player. I asked him if he had most of the lines memorized already because he was in the band.

“Not really,” he said. “When I’m into playing the music, my whole concentration was on that. I wasn’t paying attention to what was happening on stage.”

He did extremely well in spite of only two weeks rehearsal.

Dinner was excellent. There were some green beans that had a light kick that I wish whoever made them would send in that recipe. I highly recommend the Dinner Theater.

For this event, the cast and crew mingled with the crowd, introducing themselves and chatting about the production. I found this most refreshing. It is very rare that teenagers have the poise to meet strangers so graciously as did these.

Hall said we were seeing behind the veil, recalling how Toto pulled the curtain back revealing the Wizard of Oz as a regular man. We did get to see behind the scenes and the different last minute wrinkles that had to be ironed out.