Senior students enrolled in the theatre and music concentration program at Laval Liberty High School outdid even their best efforts last weekend with their latest stage production, Curtains. Written by the same authors who brought the world the musicals Chicago and Cabaret, Curtains is a send-up of backstage murder mystery plots.

Set in 1959 Boston, it follows the fallout when the supremely untalented star of a play-within-a-play, taking place onstage, is murdered during her opening night curtain call. Can a police detective who moonlights as a musical theater fan save the show, solve the case, and maybe even find love before the show reopens, without getting killed himself? An audience pleaser, for sure, and it was also a Tony Award nominee and winner.

Stephanie Pitsiladis, a 2001 graduate of Laval Liberty's previous incarnation, Laval Western High, directed. A John Abbott College dramatic arts alumnus, she received extensive help for production from the college's staff. While the play is set in another era, “I kind of wanted to do a more modern spin on it,” she said in an interview during a break at one of three stagings last weekend.

“I didn’t want anyone to know actually what year it was set in,” she added, noting that the language, choreography and staging are more advanced than were any of the the theatre students’ previous stage offerings. “It’s supposed to be set in the ‘50s, but I kind of make it a little more ambiguous. It’s definitely a modern show.” The whole concept for Curtains when it was written was to combine three elements (music, comedy and murder) which it was felt were certain to spell box office success.

At the same time, it’s also a bit of a satire. So far, Pitsiladis acknowledges, this was the theatre program’s most challenging production yet. While previous ones involved elaborate sets, moderately large casts and ingenious effects, Curtains had an enormous cast, a full orchestra, elaborate choreography, and some stunning visuals, including an onstage hanging, all in the first act. There was even more after the break.

There were 40 people in the cast alone, and there were more involved working backstage. “It’s about a team of people putting on a show and they’re basically blackmailed into doing it,” she said, explaining some of the plot, without giving away the rest. “And on opening night their leading lady dies. Detective Frank Cioffi comes in to try to solve the mystery. And in doing so he meets a group of people, many of whom become suspects.”

According to Pitsiladis, the Laval Liberty student productions “are becoming more difficult. A lot more blocking (a stage term for the positioning of actors), a lot more choreography, not to mention that this is probably the hardest technical show we’re ever done here. I don’t think any other high school would do this. It’s just too hard. And if they did, they’d probably do it without all the other extras like the hanging, the killings, the gunshots.” For these reasons principally, the show was billed as an adult offering and those 12 and under were not admitted.

 

Photos: Scenes from the Laval Liberty High School Theatre and Music Concentration Program’s latest production, Curtains, which was staged last weekend.