Chosen ones take a role

Mike Dumey hates casting day. He always waits until a Friday to announce who got what role in his spring musical so the disappointed have a chance to heal over the weekend.

Sometimes students heal quickly, sometimes they don't.

Today, Feb. 11, he has to hurt some very talented junior high kids, students he really likes. Three volunteer judges have selected 38 students from the 150 who tried out for speaking roles in "Annie."

Mr. Dumey is pleased with the results, but a few of the auditions were so close even he would have had a difficult time choosing one student over another.

That's a little troubling, since it's his job to explain to students why they didn't get the part they wanted.

Every year, Mr. Dumey tries to soften the inevitable disappointment with his own story of on-stage rejection. He gathers the students together and tells them about the time, in seventh grade, when he watched the ninth-graders from his school perform a one-act spring play.

"It changed my life," he tells the students. "I said, 'That's going to me.' In eighth grade, I went to see it again in the spring and it was the same thing. I thought about it all year."

In ninth grade, he enrolled in the class of the teacher who directed the play.

"I kept my nose clean all year, showed her how dependable I was," Mr. Dumey says. "And when the spring came, I got a part all right. I was the stage manager."

He tells the story with humor in his voice, but it's intended to be more than funny for his students.

"I can see now that the experience of not getting the part made me more determined to succeed in theater," he says. "But I didn't know that then. So when your eyes well up with tears, know that I understand."

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This year's task of breaking the bad news has already gotten off to a tough start.

Last night, after callbacks, Mr. Dumey pulled eighth-grader Heath Daniel aside to talk about his audition.

Heath loves to sing and act. He's in the school choir and has performed in adult productions in the past, including "Titanic" and the "Sound of Music."

The 14-year-old was especially excited that this year's musical was a Broadway hit, but he also knew about the limited male roles.

He was the first to audition, trying out for both Rooster and Daddy Warbucks, the two main male parts. At home, he told his mom he was 90 percent sure he would be one of those two.

He was called back to re-audition for both Rooster and Daddy Warbucks, but afterward, Mr. Dumey encouraged him to consider a different role.

"Do you know what I'm trying to say?" Mr. Dumey asked.

Heath nodded. Standing up and breathing at the same time suddenly became a difficult task. He didn't cry, not at first anyway.

Now, Mr. Dumey has to do it all over, again and again.

He is especially worried about the starring role. Two of the girls who auditioned for Annie were very close. It came down to one speaking slightly slower than the other. That's all.

Both Emily Gerlach and Sami Gross are talented singers. Both girls would be adorable as Annie. And both have their heart set on landing the lead role.

Before he makes the official announcement over the school's P.A. system at the end of the day, Mr. Dumey pulls one of the girls aside.

He tells her how close the competition was, how important the role she was selected for is. But it's not the starring role.

The excitement surrounding the musical had saturated Emily Gerlach as much as anyone involved, even though she hadn't originally intended to try out.

In a matter of seconds, the excitement is replaced with sorrow. Emily G. will not be Annie. She cries as Mr. Dumey explains this to her, stops crying, starts again, stops and then starts again. Eventually, Mr. Dumey calls Emily's mom and asks her to pick her daughter up early.

Sami Gross hears about the scene later. She likes Emily, feels bad for her. But simultaneously, Sami is exhilarated. She will be Annie.

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Mr. Dumey starts off the first rehearsal for "Annie" with a disclaimer.

"I'm picky about every syllable in this play, so do not have your feelings hurt," he says to a group of 17 seventh- and eighth-graders.

No amount of warnings will prepare them for the tedious quest for perfection that lies ahead. Mr. Dumey always expects perfection, but this year, in his first attempt at bringing Broadway to the junior high, he is especially driven.

The students practice in Mr. Dumey's room, in the hallway, wherever they can all fit. They won't be able to use the school auditorium until the end of March, after the high school has performed its spring musical.

They begin by simply reading Act I aloud. The songs, props and actions will come later, after the script has been memorized.

It's a much larger script than Mr. Dumey has ever expected his student to memorize. Nearly 50 more pages to learn by heart. Eleven songs to learn instead of the usual five or six. And 64 days in which to do it.

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Heath Daniel didn't talk much for a few days after learning he wasn't chosen for either of the two principal guy parts in "Annie."

He doesn't want to be anyone but Rooster or Daddy Warbucks. If he couldn't be one of those two, well ...

But the production of a musical is always bigger than just one person. Heath knows that. He takes a look at the parts he's been assigned. Drake, Oliver Warbuck's butler and Hobo No. 1, better known as Eddie.

There are quite a few lines and he even sings a song -- "You Won't Be an Orphan for Long."

Emily Gerlach's disappointment in not landing the role of Annie dissipates in much the same way. Her character, Duffy the orphan, has a couple of solo singing moments and several lines.

She may not be the star, but she'll still shine.

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The first few weeks of March are used for blocking -- positioning students on the stage. The kids are crowded into a hallway in the basement of the school, the only place they can rehearse without interrupting the high school's production in the auditorium.

There are a few key players out today. One is sick, another has a track meet, someone else is at a soccer game.

When someone is absent or misses their cue, Heath Daniel is the first to ask to read their lines. There's always a chance someone will drop out, and Heath doesn't want to miss an opportunity for an additional part.

Not too many kids skip out, though. Before students audition for the spring musical, Mr. Dumey requires them to fill out a contract of sorts agreeing to attend the auditions.

Many of them give up participation in spring athletics and family activities during the three months of practices.

They do their homework in between scenes and eat dinner out of paper sacks from fast-food restaurants. By mid-March, "Annie" is their life.

Tickets for the show go on sale March 23. Within two weeks, more than 900 are sold. People in the community start asking Mr. Dumey how rehearsals are going.

"As good as can be expected," he answers.

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The opening performance is less than two weeks away. Rehearsals have gone from two hours to three to 3 1/2 hours. Students are now staying after school five days a week and coming in on Saturdays. They've yet to get through the entire musical in one setting.

While the first part of the play is solid, the last 40 pages of script are what Mr. Dumey calls "dangerous territory." But he's not too worried yet. His musicals always look like potential disasters right up until opening night.

Some of the students are frustrated.

Heath is struggling with the duet he sings with the girl who plays Grace. Originally, Mr. Dumey decided to cut "You Won't Be an Orphan for Long" from the play, but the song was one of Heath's few opportunities to sing, so it was left in.

Emily Meyers, who plays Molly, is worried about missing props. For now, the actors pretend to clean the floors of the orphanage with imaginary sponges and brooms.

Volunteers have been working hard on the set, but it's taking longer than anticipated to finish. A local discount store had only 20 of the 40 yards of gray fabric needed to create the orphanage's plaster walls, so Mr. Dumey drove to a sister store in Sikeston, Mo., to buy the rest.

There are nearly daily trips to local hardware stores for paint and other supplies.

"Everybody please bring your patience and your willingness to work hard with you to practice," Mr. Dumey says.

That's getting harder and harder to do.

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By April 20, Mr. Dumey and his students are spending more time in the junior high auditorium than at home. Just seven more days until opening night and the first costumes are just now arriving.

The orphan girls pull their jumper-style outfits on over their school clothes to make sure they fit. Most do, but a few need to be altered.

"Oooh, bloomers! Can we wear these to school? They're hot," Emily Gerlach says as she examines Duffy the orphan's lacy underpants.

There are 38 characters with lines in "Annie," but nearly 200 students make up the total cast through the choir, orphans and other non-speaking parts. All 200 are now attending rehearsals.

Getting 200 junior high students to do anything in unison for an extended period of time is an accomplishment in itself.

There are still props missing. Students continue to stumble over their lines. And they still haven't run through the entire play from start to finish.

Mr. Dumey has seven days to make it happen.

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128