Sometimes No News Really Is Good News

It was Friday night in North Hills and the New York Yankees were in town to play the Washington Senators. Outside the spartan Monroe High School auditorium, there were wieners on the grill and peanuts and Cracker Jack for sale. Alas, there was no beer, so we had to wash it down with soft drinks.

Earl Draimin, a 79-year-old songwriter and member of the Monroe Booster Club, had invited me to the school musical. Had it been anything other than “Damn Yankees,” I probably would have said thanks but no thanks.

Actually, I’m still not sure why I was so quick to accept. Maybe it had something to do with last week’s headlines. A few teenagers were convicted of murder and others pleaded guilty to paint-ball attacks. It’s axiomatic that most news is bad news. An airliner landing safely is not a story. Neither is a bunch of high school thespians putting on a show.

Earl had been to the dress rehearsal and knew where to sit. There was no orchestra pit, so the orchestra sat up front. We were sharing our Cracker Jacks as the theme music rose, the curtain parted and we found ourselves in the living room of middle-aged Joe Boyd, long-suffering Senators fan, and his long-neglected wife, Meg.

Before long, the familiar story took off, as the white-clad Mr. Applegate mysteriously appears and persuades Joe to sell his soul for the chance to become the slugging phenom who could lead the hapless Senators to the pennant. They shake on the deal, and out through the door steps not Joe Boyd, but young Joe Hardy.

You can’t tell the players without a program. It was Daniel Freeman as Joe Boyd, Julie Parocua as Meg, Kristin Finley as Applegate and Ian Dale Gabriel Layosa as Joe Hardy. Before the play began, this viewer thought it was rather progressive for Monroe High to have a female devil. This viewer, then, was disappointed when the actress appeared in goatee. Boxer shorts helped the female cast members depict ballplayers.

If you know the musical, you know how infectious the tunes are. Soon we were in the Senators locker room, listening as manager Benny Van Buren (Shadi Haddad) and his squad sang about how ya gotta have heart.

Next to me, Earl hummed along and helped teacher Dennis Clancy conduct the orchestra. Then brassy sportswriter Gloria Thorpe, played with gusto by Melinda Johnson, was singing about shoeless Joe from Hannibal, Mo. And the temperature rose with the arrival of the sultry Lola, the devil’s own temptress, recruited to lead the virtuous Joe, longing for a reunion with Meg, down the path of moral ruin.

The things they teach in school these days. There was Christia Castillo, a 15-year-old sophomore, introduced to Joe as Senorita Lolita Banana and then, like a banana, peeling away her dress and singing about whatever Lola wants, Lola gets.

Oh my.

The audience numbered about 200, mostly students, and everybody seemed to be loving it. But nothing got more applause and cheers than the appearance of the Joe Hardy Fan Club of Chevy Chase, Md.--a chorus of faculty, administrators and staff belting out their own rendition of “Heart.” This was just before the intermission--or rather, as it was called here, the seventh-inning stretch. We dutifully stood and sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” before heading out for more peanuts and Cracker Jacks.

I would have cared if I never got back. During the intermission, Earl introduced me to principal Joan Elam, who’d just been on stage with the Joe Hardy Fan Club. She introduced me to Daniel Freeman, the English teacher playing Joe Boyd. All that time I thought he looked a little old to be a high school student.

Joan Elam, in her eighth year at Monroe, gave me the 15-minute tour during the intermission, showing off the school’s replica courtroom that is the pride of the Law and Government Magnet. We talked a bit about the police academy program the school is launching and how many students won college scholarships.

Then we were back in the ballpark for Act II. In the end, of course, everything works out for the best. Lola, inspired by Joe’s goodness, turns on Applegate and, as punishment, reverts to being the ugliest woman from Providence, R.I. The Senators win the pennant and Meg Boyd is reunited with the regretful husband who disappeared months before.

The curtain brought hearty applause. The young cast glowed as family and friends presented bouquets.

“It was great!” gushed Julie Otero, who had watched her daughter Christia play Lola. Otero said she had complained about the long hours Christia spent at rehearsal, but now she could see it was all worth it.

Drama teacher Amanda Swann, the director and choreographer, collected plaudits as well. The most difficult moment, she said, was some drama the audience never saw.

Backstage, toward the end of the first act, a heavy curtain rod had fallen and conked student Michael Day on the head as he pushed a girl out of the way. A Booster Club member who happened to be a nurse tended to Michael. There was so much concern that an ambulance was called and paramedics placed Michael in a neck brace before taking him to the hospital. “The kids were pretty shaken up,” Swann said. But the news from the hospital was good: Michael was doing fine.

So it was a bit frightening, but the incident certainly didn’t elevate this Monroe High musical into anything newsworthy. What happened at Monroe High the other night wasn’t really extraordinary at all, just a nice, healthy, charming slice of Americana. You can probably find a play at your own neighborhood high school. It’s not such a big deal.

Still, I’m glad I accepted Earl’s invitation, even if I couldn’t get a beer.

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Readers may write to Harris at the Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Please include a phone number.

Backstage, toward the end of the first act, a heavy curtain rod had fallen and conked student Michael Day on the head as he pushed a girl out of the way.