Wheaton Warrenville’s show is part musical, part mystery, part comedy

Swish your red and black skirt. Hoop and holler. Flirt with the cowboys at the bar.

Those are among the meticulous instructions directors of Wheaton Warrenville South High School’s production of “Curtains” drilled into students during a recent rehearsal. The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 17, and continues Friday and Saturday, May 18 and 19.

“Curtains” — by John Kander and Fred Ebb, the team behind “Chicago” and “Cabaret” — is a musical murder mystery set backstage of a Broadway-bound musical.

During the rehearsal, choreographer Linda McEachran jumped onstage to demonstrate her snappy, animated steps for “Thataway!” a number in the “Robbin’ Hood” musical within the musical.

“Keep giving energy!” McEachran shouted to students in a set complete with a towering staircase and glamorous chandeliers.

“We are definitely stretching some of the kids,” McEachran said.

Several of the lead actors are members of The Classics, Wheaton Warrenville’s show choir that recently clinched the grand champion title from the FAME Show Choir National Championship Series.

While they may master ensemble singing in competitions, McEachran said the show choir veterans have to master their characters’ intricacies and quirks in “Curtains” — they must put the “theater” behind their dance steps, a combination that can test their endurance.

“It’s teaching the kids how to perform through sustained movement, something stylistically where they have to own it, not just survive it,” McEachran said.

The production spoofs musical theater, parodying cowboys in “Oklahoma!,” Fred-and-Ginger couples and the disillusioned, cocky Broadway director. But, ultimately, Kander and Ebb have written a full embrace of musical theater, a love letter in all that spoofing, the cast and crew say.

More emotional ballads like “I Miss the Music,” about a composer struggling to write without his longtime lyricist, offer dramatic challenges for the cast. Kander wrote the song after Ebb, his longtime collaborator, died.

“It’s an honest look at needing to move on when dealing with loss,” said John Burlace, the director of the production and The Classics show choir director.

Danny McKee, who plays Aaron, the show-within-the-show’s composer, says the songs weave through a mix of genres, from “country twang” to tributes to Broadway.

As for his own character? He wrestles with his past relationship with Georgia, the lyricist, and may be the murderer in a sea of suspects sequestered at a Boston theater.

“He really opens up and blossoms as the show goes on,” McKee, 17, said.

While actors smoothed their lines and rehearsed numbers repeatedly, Burlace said the cast has made “huge strides” since rehearsals began in March.

“Starting from not even having heard the show to now, they’re owning the show and they’re really living in their characters,” Burlace said.

Catch the show at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $8 for adults and $4 for seniors and children 8 and younger. They are available at (630) 784-7243.

If you go

If you go

What: Wheaton Warrenville South High School’s production of “Curtains”

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday to Saturday, May 17 to 19

Where: Wheaton Warrenville South High School, 1993 Tiger Trail, Wheaton

Tickets: $8 for adults, $4 for seniors and children younger than 8

Info: (630) 784-7243 or www.cusd200.org/wwshs/