It’s been five years since East Union High last put on a musical.
That was until the special performance of Thursday’s “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
Annette Taser, who is a longtime teacher at the school, credits the addition of Gary Fritzen for helping to change that.
A playwright, composer and lyricist, he recently arrived at East Union from Southern California as the school’s new music and choir teacher.
The cast of “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” is made up of drama and choir students – 26 in all, making up this Playbox Theatre Production – performed in front of faculty and board members at the special VIP Reception.
The public can enjoy the play that gained attention as the second-longest running off-Broadway musical beginning at 7 p.m. Saturday.
General admission is $8 and $7 for seniors and children age 13 and under.
Performances are also scheduled on Thursday (Oct. 27), Friday (Oct. 28) and Saturday (Oct. 29) at 7 o’clock.
The box office at the campus located at 1700 N. Union Rd. will open at 6:15 of the evening of each performance.
One of the stars of the East Union production is sophomore Kayla McConnell.
In “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change” – comedy and book by Joe DiPietro and music by Jimmy Roberts – she plays two characters in the series of vignettes addressing the truth and myths behind the contemporary conundrum known as relationships.
“I tried to make my characters as realistic as possible,” she said prior to the final dress rehearsal.
McConnell is no stranger to the black box theater, having done “Almost Maine” last January followed by “10 Ways to Survive a Zombie Attack” and the Romeo & Juliette spoof.
She first appears in Scene 4 (Men who talk and the Women who pretend they’re listening) of the first act, ‘A Stud and a Babe.’
“I play ‘The Babe,’” said McConnell.
She also plays the role of the wife in ‘On the Highway of Love’ in Scene 5 of the second act.
McConnell and her fellow drama students were introduced to the play and sound track late last school year by her teacher Taser, who also directs “I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.”
She spent some of her summer months listening to soundtrack via iTunes.
“Those songs were fun to listen and sing,” said McConnell, who looked forward to doing the actual play.
As for Fritzen, he previously taught at Thousand Oaks High and was music director and commissioned music composer at Santa Monica Community College.
He’s credited for his work in plays such as “Metaphasia,” “Alice and the Trials of Wonderland,” “Thumbelina,” “Dracula Continuum,” “Tibet,” and “Toy Camp.”
Taser is thrilled to be working with Fritzen.
“He’s not just the music and choir director (at EU) but an award-winning composer,” she said.
Information on the musical can be obtained by calling East Union High at 209.858.7270.