Broadway at your doorstep: It's Up With "Curtains" at Laval Liberty High School

Curtains, Canadian premiere, and the first in a high school anywhere is a completely improvised two-act Broadway musical which delighted audiences at Laval Liberty for three consecutive performances. The production stretches comedy boundaries by delivering the story in a new art form of music, theatre and improvisation.

It's the ultimate and consummate marriage of two wonderful worlds – the involving and emotional Broadway musical and the exciting, creative and spontaneously outrageous art of improvisation.

The amply-talented actors, singers, and musicians took the spectators on a journey of discovery punctuated with mystery, anticipation and hilarity, a trip which both engaged and astounded all present, with an original score that was handled with great care and authentic vitality.

All the elements of a Broadway show were there for the asking – heroes, villains, a chorus of normal folk, loads of optimism, plenty of razzle-dazzle, and the obligatory typical happy ending.

The show's director, Stephanie Pitsiladis - founder, teacher, and main force of the Theatre Concentration Program at Laval Liberty - expressed great pride in the cast and crew and the members of the band directed by Music Concentration Teacher Elaine Thomas.

"I'm having terrific fun doing this," Ms. Pitsiladis told Courrier Laval, just after the closing performance. "All our shows have been unique, with each having its own special brand of magic, and Curtains was no exception. What a pure delight! What a fantastic aura cast by everyone on stage, all of it spiced up by the delicious sounds rising from the orchestra pit. There's magic in the air," Ms. Pitsiladis summed up, noting that this was the first year that a full complement of musicians took part in the play.

The story follows Lieutenant Frank Cioffi as he investigates the mysterious death of the talent-less leading lady on the opening night of a show, while the company and the detective work together to save the musical within the musical. Despite the formulaic story line, the performances of Correia, Martin, Petris, Kostoulas, Brown, and of Michael Giannoumis (Aaron Fox), Eric Oljemark-Labrosse (Sidney Bernstein), Christina Skoulikas (Bambi Bernet), and the rest of the cast made Curtains, "A trip of fun and frolic into the unpredictable world of human nature and the beautifully-flawed human condition," in the words of Director Pitsiladis.

Actors, singers, dancers, and musicians all delivered charismatic performances, with the extras all proving that there are no small parts on stage, just different ways of bringing joy to theatre lovers.

Bright costumes, inventive choreography converted into deftly entertaining dancing, brilliant storyline, and songs belted out with passion and pride raised the performance to startling heights, especially when gut-wrenching heart-stopping gunshots rang out at the most unexpected of moments.

Renata Isopo, Special to Courrier Laval