Tap-dancing and drinking honey for ‘On The Town’ at Calhoun

The On Tour Company presents annual Spring Musical

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“New York, New York, it’s a hell of a town!” the cast and crew of Calhoun High School’s On Tour Company agreed. This spring, the company’s musical “On the Town” followed the adventures of sailors Ozzie, Gabey and Chip, on leave during wartime, all trying to find romance in New York City.

Director Salvatore Salerno said he couldn’t help but pick this fun and upbeat show for his students, with its many “crazy and strange characters” and an abundance of both “tap dance and song.”

“It has a lot of opportunities for the talent,” said Salerno. “This has four or five good female characters, plus there are a lot of male characters too, and we have a lot of strong men, so this works out for us.”

According to Salerno, the company was able to use actual video projections from the Broadway revival thanks to designer Beowulf Borrit. The cast also honored veterans and service members in the audience before they started the show.

Salerno said his favorite part about doing musicals each year is getting to see what his students will bring to them. “There’s an energy that you get in the musicals that is just a little different,” he said. “Every show is enjoyable and when we chose a show there is an enjoyment factor, but there’s a little heightened enjoyment from the students in the musicals. I don’t know why, because it’s harder and there’s more risk involved, but I think the final product is what [the students] think about with the audience and that’s, I think, why they like it more.”

As nervous and anxious as the students were, they agreed, with smiles on their faces, that they were mostly just excited to be putting on their biggest show of the year.

Dedication and hard work are key parts of preparing for a musical — and both are clearly evinced by members of the theater company. Jolie Sangiorgio, 11, said that the students rehearsed every day after school, from 3 to 10 p.m., to get everything right, and would drink honey to coat their throats and make belting out those high notes a little easier.

The On Tour Company’s busy schedule and long hours also brought the students closer together and allowed them to share special moments as friends. Before they hit the stage on opening night, they had a cast dinner with each other at the school. In the green room, right before they took their places, Salerno gathered them in a circle, having them all put their hands in the middle, and gave them a pep talk. And on closing night, the entire cast wore a ribbon hidden under their costumes as a personal sign of unification, community and good luck.

Even after the stress of losing a day of rehearsals due to inclement weather, the students agreed that they were going to be ready for opening night.

“The reward in the end is so amazing, because obviously we’re in a crunch time right now, but somehow — we call it “the On Tour magic” — everything comes together,” said Jessica Ehrlich, 12. “And when you get on that stage and everything pays off, [we know] the stress and nerves were all worth it in the end.”