Released: April 6, 2005

CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts is First High School Selected to Perform Cats

April 6, 2005

The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization Releases Rights to Magnet School

(Greater Hartford) – The CREC Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts is the first high school in the country selected to perform Cats, the long-running Broadway musical that closed September 10, 2000.  Pre-production is underway for the show, slated to be the magnet school’s annual spring musical, with performances set for May 12, 13, 14, 19, 20 and 21.

Directing the show will be academy theater teacher and New Britain, Conn., native Billy Johnstone, a member of the Broadway cast from 1997-2000.  Johnstone first saw Cats – his first Broadway musical – at age 13.  “I sat in awe as the actor playing Coricopat crawled along the railing of the mezzanine to fix his eyes upon mine, hypnotizing me with his words,” Johnstone said.

Thirteen years later, Johnstone made his Broadway debut as Coricopat and performed as part of the cast that broke the longest-running Broadway musical record in 1997, as well as in the closing company of 2000.  Now, he’ll bring a show with some of the most unique and difficult choreography to his academy students.

“I have 100 percent faith these kids can dance every step in the show,” Johnstone said.  “The amazingly talented students never cease to amaze me with their deep passion for learning the craft, their drive for doing it over and over again until they ‘get it right’ and the deep respect they have for the people who came before them in the industry.”

Johnstone and Andrea DeCarli, assistant to the director at the arts academy, began inquiring at The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization about rights to the show in May 2004, when production wrapped on that spring’s musical, A Chorus Line.  At the time, Cats was not available to amateur groups.  The duo persisted and finally obtained the rights in August.  Students were let in on the secret in late September.

Auditions were held in December, and the students who landed roles will add significant rehearsal time to their already packed schedules.  The arts academy is a half-day magnet high school, which means the students all attend core classes at their hometown high schools in the morning, then travel to the academy in Hartford for classes until 4 p.m.

“What’s exciting to me is seeing these kids so dedicated,” Johnstone said.  “They are following all the rules we’ve put in place – a dress code, professional behavior – their focus, commitment and discipline at this stage of the process is impressive.  They are acting like true professionals already.”

Becoming the Cats

Make-up sessions will take place on Saturdays beginning March 26, and a local hairdresser is creating all the wigs for the characters.  Barbara Parafati, owner of Reflections salon in Newington, Conn., has dedicated an entire work station to the project.  It is littered with long manes, and on most Thursdays, she and Johnstone are working on the wigs, sometimes even huddling in the back alley spray painting them the perfect color in the cold winter weather.

“Seeing the students at rehearsal was really inspiring,” Parafati said.  “They are just so good.  I am so happy to be able to do this for them.”

New Characters -- Toireasa’s Story

Johnstone created two additional characters for the Greater Harford Academy of the Arts’ production:  Academia is named for the academy itself, while Toireasa is named for a little girl who once came to a performance while he was on Broadway as part of the Make-A-Wish Foundation program for terminally ill children.  He quickly developed a friendship with three-year-old Toireasa Barry and her family.

Toireasa was born with four kidneys and a balloon in her bladder.  Following surgery at nine weeks old, she grew to be a normal, happy kid.  But at age three, in 2000, she was diagnosed with the most aggressive and least curable form of neuroblastoma.  While undergoing treatment at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, Toireasa wore out two videotapes of the musical Cats because she watched them so many times.

Soon, representatives from the Make-A-Wish Foundation visited her.  Though she initially wouldn’t speak with them – or anyone else at the hospital – when Toireasa heard that Cats was closing, she said her wish was to see it before it closed.  Her mother called the foundation the next day and a month later, Toireasa got her wish.

Johnstone met Toireasa in August of 2000, and the little girl who wouldn’t speak to anyone in the hospital returned from New York City with Johnstone as a friend and, according to her mother Julia Barry, full of life and hope.

In October, Toireasa’s health began failing.  Johnstone visited her in full costume on Halloween.  She went into a coma that night.  Two weeks later, Cameron MacIntosh, the producer of Cats, faxed a letter to the intensive care unit telling Toireasa he loved her and that he hoped she would get better soon.

“The first time that my daughter responded to anyone was when I read her Cameron’s letter,” Julia Barry said.  “She was taken off the ventilator the very next day.  We found out three weeks later she was in remission.”

Toireasa moved to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and continued to improve until October 2001, when she relapsed.  In January 2002, she flew to New York City to again see Johnstone and to meet Macintosh, who flew in from London.  Toireasa lost her fight on April 24, 2002.

Julia Barry wrote a letter to the academy’s students to share her daughter’s story and to tell them how much the show and the character of Toireasa means to her.

“You are the next generation of Cats,” she wrote.  “It’s more than just a musical.  It’s a story of hope.”The student portraying Toireasa is committed to making her character as memorable as the little girl who loved Cats.  “I’m so honored that I was chosen for the role of Toireasa,” Miller said.  “I want to be able to do it justice because this is going to have special meaning for several people off-stage, and I think it’s so good to honor her in this way.”

“It’s so rewarding to see high school students with such an enthusiasm for this show,” Johnstone said.  “I want to recreate this as close as possible to the original New York show.  At the academy, we always strive to provide a realistic experience for our students.”

Though the musical’s setting – a junkyard – might sound low-cost, the scenery and the costumes actually make Cats an expensive show to produce.  Johnstone and the crew are localizing the set to feature Hartford-related items and tapping area sponsors.

“In New York, the set itself was a piece of art,” Johnstone said.  “Every night during the performance, I found a new piece of ‘junk’ that I hadn’t yet seen.  While we don’t know yet exactly what our set will look like, we have a number of ideas to pursue.  Audiences can count on seeing cats popping out of all sorts of surprising places in the dark.  From the musicians in the pit to the crew behind the scenes to the actors on the stage, I already know our students are going to wow everyone, including me.”

About CREC

CREC is a non-profit, regional educational service center serving 35 Greater Hartford public school districts.  It was founded in 1966 by local school districts working together to solve common problems.  Today, CREC administers more than 100 programs and services spanning the entire educational spectrum with the same goal in mind.  CREC’s Division of Magnet Schools strives to offer the highest quality educational opportunities that reduce racial, ethnic and socio-economic isolation of students by initiating, developing and managing innovative educational programs.  For more information about CREC and the Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, please visit www.crec.org/academy.

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