Barrington High performing arts alumni putting on a show
High school homecomings usually revolve around the football team, but at Barrington High School this summer, it's the performing arts students who are getting their day in the spotlight.
Performing arts alumni stretching back more than 50 years will unite next weekend, July 9 and 10, for a trio of performances showcasing the best of their musical numbers of the past.
The three shows are intended to raise money for a new endowment fund that will annually provide an award for the performing arts student at Barrington High School who's given the most to the program.
"The way we look at it is for the alumni of the past to whisper in the ears of students of the future to carry on with what they've learned and continue to be great," said Gary Shaw, a 1973 graduate and operations manager of the new effort.
The whole idea was the brainchild of Shaw's former classmate and fellow alumnus, Marc Parker.
Among those coming back are some who continued to make a splash in the world of performing arts, including soprano Kallen Esperian, "As the World Turns" star Colleen Zenk Pinter, and "The Simpsons" animator J.C. Wegman.
The shows will boast a cast of more than 50 returning alumni, but those coming from out of town will join in various numbers with a core cast of about 30 who have been rehearsing for months.
Musicals that will be sampled include "Guys and Dolls," "Fiddler on the Roof," "Oklahoma," "South Pacific," "Pippin," "Man of La Mancha," "Les Miserables" and "Beauty and the Beast."
Parker said the enterprise was born from an epiphany he had while watching his son in the high school's 2008 production of "Once Upon a Mattress." While the queen character sang the song, "Sensitivity," he flashed back to the 1969 production he'd been in on the same stage.
"It just mesmerized me and brought back a lot of memories," Parker said. "I wondered what had happened to all those people and I started calling them."
His search for old mementos of their time together on the musicals led him to the realization that the high school itself had kept very little before 1995.
"I became painfully aware that there was nothing left except what was mentioned in the yearbooks," Parker said.
His quest for old recordings, photographs and playbills led him to get in touch with alumni from other years as well. Making those contacts eventually led to the idea of an endowment for future students that would be built and supported by these alumni.
While the Barrington Area Library will keep and display all the archived materials they recovered, the upcoming shows will likely be a once-in-a-lifetime experience, Parker said.
All shows will take place on the familiar stage of Barrington High School at 616 W. Main St.
The dress rehearsal performance at 7:30 p.m. July 9 costs $25 per person.
The family matinee at 2 p.m. July 10 will cost $40 for adults and $20 for both juniors under 16 and seniors over 65.
Tickets cost $100 for the main event at 8 p.m. July 10, though donations of $250 or $500 are also being sought.
The goal is to get the new 501(c) 3 charity off to a strong start by raising $50,000 among the shows, Parker said.
Tickets can be purchased at bhstheater.com or by calling (847) 382-6060.