Just thinking about 'Annie'

In 96 hours, the house lights will go down and a child's voice will cry "Momma, mommeeee" through the darkness.

At that moment, the potential for both greatness and disaster will suspend evenly over the dimly lit stage.

Will the actors remember their lines or stumble over the words? Will the stage crew roll out the right props or forget Miss Hannigan's chair backstage again? Will the microphones work smoothly or pop with static during Annie's solo?

This is it. Four months of nonstop planning and rehearsing have brought the 200 students involved in the Central Junior High spring musical to this point: show time.

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Weeks ago, Mike Dumey laid the success of the performance in the hands of his seventh- and eighth-grade actors.

"After this is over, when you're walking in the mall or the park or at Schnucks, people will stop you and say they enjoyed you in that musical. But how much they enjoy you, how much you impress them, is up to you at this point," he said.

Mr. Dumey has never depended on his students over the course of 14 years as a junior high music teacher as much as he does now.

This year, he stepped away from the traditional Disney-inspired spring musical to his first try at recreating a Broadway hit.

"Annie" has 50 more pages of script, more costume changes, more songs and more complicated sets than Dumey has ever attempted with junior high kids.

On the Monday before the show opens, 13- and 14-year-olds -- 200 of them -- swarm the auditorium. Mr. Dumey's voice booms through a microphone, but the choir teacher is nowhere to be seen, hidden behind the flocks of students and volunteers constantly surrounding him.

"Mr. Dumey!"

"Mr. Dumey!"

"Hey, Mr. Dumey!"

There's a never-ending clamor for his attention.

The cast will go through a technical rehearsal, checking to make sure lights, props and microphones are all in working order. They're not.

One of the major obstacles Mr. Dumey faces is a lack of wireless mics. They're important to the quality of the show, and they make the students feel professional. But he needs between 15 and 20 for a single production and the equipment is too expensive for the school to buy.

This year, Mr. Dumey applied for a grant from the school district's foundation for the mics, but wasn't selected. For now, he relies on the kindness of others to loan wireless mics to the school.

The kindness of others has always been the super glue of Dumey's productions.

Parents, some who don't have children in the musical, help design and build sets. Teachers and parents volunteer to monitor the students and provide snacks. A retired junior high teacher, Pat Renard, helps sew the costumes. Local businesses donate supplies and props to the annual event.

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On Tuesday, the cast runs through another technical rehearsal. Outside the school, the words "hurry, tickets going fast" have been an added to a sign advertising the performance. There are fewer than 500 tickets left for purchase at the door on Thursday and Friday nights combined.

A few students are absent. Allison Wolz, who plays cry-baby orphan Tessie, worries her lines will be drowned by the noise of beds being pushed around.

The Hooverville camp fire prop collapses on the stage mid-song. Microphones pop loudly through the auditorium speakers.

And Mr. Dumey is just trying to get through it all.

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"This is going to be maddening."

The parent Mr. Dumey has just spoken to laughs at his seriousness.

He is serious. By the time dress rehearsal rolls around Wednesday night, a sense of lunacy invades the auditorium.

With 24 hours until show time, props are still missing. There are no mattresses for the orphans' metal cots. Mr. Dumey has asked parents to bring in cushions from patio furniture instead.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Dumey loses two of his cast members. At the start of dress rehearsal, he pulls Heath Daniel aside and tells him he has additional lines for him. The downside is that Heath has less than 24 hours to learn the lines.

It doesn't bother the eighth-grader. He's been asking for more lines since he was first cast as Drake the butler and a hobo.

What does bother Heath is the duet he's supposed to do with Sarah Uptmor, the girl who plays Grace Farrell. "You Won't Be an Orphan for Long" was originally going to be cut from the performance, but Mr. Dumey left it in to give Heath an opportunity to sing.

He and Sarah have practiced the song, but there are still a few tricky spots Heath is worried about.

Tonight, Mr. Dumey expects the students to do whatever it takes to get through the show.

"The party's over," he tells them. "Make it work. That's what tonight is all about. Regardless of what happens, it's all part of the show."

Maybe it's last-minute bugs being worked out or perhaps just sheer nervousness, but the dress rehearsal does not get off to a stellar start.

A member of the stage crew enters the orphanage at the wrong time. Brett Smith, who plays Officer Ward, forgets his line and puts a panicked hand over his mouth when he realizes he's stuck.

Props needed in a few scenes don't make it to the stage. The actors make do, either pretending the props are there or ad-libbing their actions. A couple of the microphones cut in and out.

The practice, which is scheduled to end at 8:30 p.m., goes on until nearly 10 p.m.

Now, there is only tomorrow.

Tomorrow, tomorrow ... you're only a day away.

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"Where's the duct tape? Has anyone seen the duct tape?"

Mr. Dumey's choir room is permeated with the smell of hairspray and the frantic cries of students searching for one misplaced item after another.

"The duct tape. I need the duct tape."

Nathan Nall, an eighth-grader who plays Burt Healy, is in desperate need of a roll of duct tape.

It's 6 p.m. The audience hasn't arrived, but the auditorium is buzzing with pre-show sound checks and last-minute touch-ups.

"Duct tape. Has any one seen it?" Nathan enters the auditorium. No one answers him.

Backstage, the stage crew sets props near the set entrance.

"I need the duct tape!" Nathan wanders backstage, checking under tables and props.

Back in Mr. Dumey's room, Nathan and two other guys from the cast talk about the show.

"I'm fine. I'm not nervous. I'm fine," Nathan tells his companions.

"Boy, for someone who isn't nervous you all sure talk about being nervous a lot," Cat Goeke, who play Miss Hannigan, pipes in,

Sami Gross, with her hair newly dyed red, wanders from group to group. Heath Daniel is sitting by himself. His eyes move over a page of script and his lips mouth the words silently.

Five minutes until the house lights go down.

Emily Meyer grabs Allison Wolz and shakes her from side to side.

"Five minutes, five minutes, five minutes," she cries.

Mr. Dumey enters the classroom. The students immediately quiet down.

"Tonight, you own that stage," he says. "Tonight, I want you to shine. I want you to sparkle and I want you to have a ball. And if something happens, make it work."

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The house lights go down, and Emily Meyers baby-doll voice slices through the silent auditorium.

"Momma, Momma. Mommeee!"

Back stage, Tyree Pullen, who plays Mr. Bundles the laundry man, searches for his bag of clean sheets. It's nowhere to be found.

He goes on to the stage without the bag. They make it work anyway. During Miss Hannigan's song "Little Girls," the head on a plastic baby doll doesn't pop off when she tugs at it She makes it work. The set crew forgets to bring out a prop radio later in the show. They make it work.

Sami Gross awes the audience with her solo songs -- just as Mr. Dumey knew she would. "You Won't Be an Orphan for Long," the duet with Heath and Sarah Uptmor, is another matter. Heath still isn't quite sure about the song.

But when the time comes, the two nail it.

During intermission, Mr. Dumey steps into his classroom to speak to the cast.

"So far so good. Just don't get cocky," he says.

The second act runs smoothly for the most part. The audience gets an extra laugh when Quitman McBride's stick-on mustache falls off on stage.

There were a few flubbed lines, a few forgotten props and a few microphone glitches. But when it comes right down to it, none of that is important.

Important is Emily Meyers hugging her fellow orphans backstage. Important is Emily Gerlach and Sami Gross, standing on stage with bouquets of flowers in their arms and smiles on their faces. Important is Heath Daniel taking his bow in front of 900 clapping people.

Important is the bond that formed between seventh- and eighth-graders -- 200 of them -- over a little orphan girl and her friends. Important is learning that the sun will come up tomorrow.

cmiller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128