Young actors present historical musical '1776'

Saint Genesius Productions will present the historical musical "1776" for four performances July 25-27 at the Doris White Auditorium at Willowbrook High School, 1250 S. Ardmore Ave., Villa Park.

Performances will be at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 3 and 7 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for seniors or those 12 or younger. For tickets, visit SaintGenesiusProductions.com.

This new production follows last year's staging of "Titanic the Musical."

With music and lyrics by high school history teacher Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone, the seminal event in American history comes to life in a most unconventional Broadway hit.

Featuring a 30-minute scene between songs, "1776" captured the 1969 Tony Award for Best Musical and paved the way for the megahit "Hamilton."

Saint Genesius Productions' cast of 55 young actors will be backed by a 25-member orchestra comprised of student and professional musicians. Together, they'll perform a score replete with a mixture of patriotic martial music, comic vaudeville turns, a satiric political minuet, a haunting anti-war ballad and wistful love tunes.

Bob Di Leo of Palatine tackles the central role of John Adams, portraying a character who is by turns obnoxious and disliked and passionate and admirable.

Other featured actors include Eric Rundgren of Villa Park as Benjamin Franklin; Michael Poirier of Lombard as Thomas Jefferson; Emily O'Brochta of Villa Park as John Dickinson; Genevieve Corkery of Villa Park as Richard Henry Lee; Leela Wolgemuth of Villa Park as Martha Jefferson; and Sasha Graf of Lombard as Abigail Adams.

Schaumburg's Christian Gustafson sings Edward Rutledge's repugnant "Molasses to Rum to Slaves."

Other cast members are Rose Bonarek, Ella Borho, Luke Borho, Carrington Breckenridge, Kathleen Cicero, Emma Cismesia, Jack Corkery, Katie Corsini, Mia D'Amico, Thomas Danielson, Mary Di Leo, Shea Downer, Andrew Ernat, Matthew Ernat, Rebekah Ernat, Gill Falco, Nate Falco, Nolan Ferris, Amal Ghanimah, Mary Goodhart, Julia Gergen, Kayli Gergen, Henry Hinley, Benjamin Judd, Leo Kamm, Joe LaPointe, Bella Ledonne, Vincenzo Ledonne, Emily Maher, Lauren Maher, Dylan Malec, Jessica Matasek, Jack May, Liz Michael, Claire Mitchell, Logan Mulholland, Jason Nelson, Jonathan Nelson, Sean O'Brochta, Vickie Strzezewski, Amelia Tortorici, Eric Veal, Tim Wagner, Will Walsh, Imani Ward and Sami Worden.

"1776" is directed by Sara Corkery and Erin Sulla, with music direction by Kevin Mikol, choreography by Bella Ledonne and Kim Petrella, costumes by Kim Petrella, set design and technical direction by Marcus Petrella, lights by Daniel Moses, sound by Andrew Spiedel, and assistant direction by Genevieve Corkery.

Founded in the spring of 2010, Saint Genesius Productions brought the experience of professionally produced children's theater to local Catholic elementary schools in the Western suburbs. It put on its first show in April of 2011.