Director to get starry eyes

Tom Titus

Who better to direct a musical centered in a high school than a high

school theater director?

Robert Rotenberry, a faculty member at the Academy for the

Performing Arts at Huntington Beach High School, is at the helm of

“Stars in Your Eyes,” the Huntington Beach Playhouse’s upcoming

production, opening Jan. 10. The show will be a West Coast premiere.

The timing, according to Rotenberry, was fortuitous.

“I had been busy focusing on acting for the last couple of years

when I thought I should get out there and direct a show outside of

the school,” he said. “Then out of the blue, Bettie [Muellenberg]

called me asking about directing ‘Stars in Your Eyes.’

“Once I heard some of the songs, I was won over. The score is

incredible, especially considering that this is [author/composer]

Chip Meyrelles’ first musical. Former students of mine working on

Broadway had auditioned for the New York production, so it is a small

world.”

The idea of doing a West Coast premiere musical also appealed to

Rotenberry, who said “That type of thing is all too rare in the local

scene. The small cast idea also appealed to me, as well as the

conservative nature of the story, set in small town 1962.”

The play unfolds in Milford, a small town in middle America, and

blends young love and astronomy. When an all-boys school gets its

first female student, hearts and heads collide, along with science

and romance.

“The story is about being open to the possibilities that will

change our life,” Rotenberry said. “From the first girl at an

all-boys school to finding love after the death of a spouse to the

dawn of the space age -- these are not the normal plot elements for

musical theater.”

The cast of the Huntington Beach Playhouse production includes

James C. Mulligan, Kurt Jarrard, Robert Purcell, Nicole Weber, Kim

Short, Karen Merrill, Susan Scanaliato, Ryan McCarthy, Courtney

Gates, Dani Kerry, Rich Moss, Nathan Singh and Neil Starkenberg.

The story revolves around Reginald Barclay (Jarrard), an astronomy

teacher at the local high school, whose star pupil, Jo (Weber), wants

to be the first girl accepted at the Bloomfield Academy. A central

plot element is the local observatory -- scheduled to be torn down

just as man is about to land on the moon.

“The cast is made up with a nice combination of veterans from the

local theater scene to newcomers making their debuts,” Rotenberry

said.

When the original production of “Stars in Your Eyes” opened off

Broadway in 1999, one critic noted that “You’re likely to be amused

and entertained, but unlikely to be stimulated, intrigued, enthralled

or, on the other hand, bored.”

“Stars in Your Eyes” will run for three weekends on the usual

chock-full playhouse schedule, with one final holdover performance at

3 p.m. Jan. 31 in the Library Theater, 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington

Beach. Tickets range from $12 to $23 and may be ordered by calling

the box office at (714) 375-0696.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.