Dec. 28, 2006 - Graduates of the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts are home for the holidays. But instead of just visiting old friends and haunts, several are dancing and singing the weekend away.
The musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” featuring MCAA alumni and students plus dancers from Jacque's Dance Expressions of Yuba City, opens tonight at the Marysville Community Auditorium, 1919 B St. Performances are at 8 p.m. today, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with matinees at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
“This is something the Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts has never done,” said director Staci Johnson. The production provides a good look at the students produced at the school, now in its seventh year. “Why just have a reunion when they can strut their stuff?”
The production “is a fruition of everything we have planned in regards to the academy,” said John Skeffington, MCAA arts director. “It shows that academics and arts really work well to prepare kids for college, emotionally and intellectually.”
A 16-piece orchestra accompanies the current and former students as the story, set in the 1920s, unfolds about a young woman from a small town arriving in the big city, ready to try out the modern ideas she's heard about.
With many of the participants now living outside of the area, including Johnson who moved to Southern California in November, the rehearsals have been done in bits and pieces by individuals. “Everyone had their own little assignments,” Johnson said.
“We never really had everybody in one place,” she added. “When we got together on Dec. 23, it was just putting the pieces of the puzzle together.”
While Johnson networked with far-flung actors, choreographer Jacque Dake of Jacque's Dance Expressions began rehearsals in town in September.
Some of the dancers have never been involved in a big production, she said, “but to actually be involved in a musical is a lot of fun. Hopefully by seeing this production and being involved, they'll want to do more.”
