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carlynton- Montour school news
arlynton-Montour
ori Dedola and MaryKay
Smith have been producing
Carlynton High School musicals
for 23 years. In fact, Smith has
held some connection to all 26
Carlynton musicals, beginning
in 1982 when she was cast in a
supporting role in Oklahoma as a
sophomore.
The closing performance of The Wizard of Oz this past April
marked the end of a legacy of these two dedicated ladies who
made magic every spring in the high school auditorium.
It began in 1992. Following a 9-year hiatus and three successful
shows in 1982, 1983 and 1984, choral teacher Mary Lear saw so
much talent in her classes she decided to bring musicals back
to Carlynton. Kurt Cerny, a friend from college who had toured
nationally in A Chorus Line agreed to do the choreography. He
initially committed to work with Lear again, then learned he had
won the lead in the Broadway show A Chorus Line and was on his
way to New York City.
The 1992 show, Oliver, incorporated grade school children
and the huge cast was making for chaos behind-the-scenes. Lear
contacted former student Mary Kay Smith to help with make-up
and hair because she was enrolled in beauty school. Sensing a
need for additional help with make-up, Smith called upon Lori
Dedola. Dedola, a hair dresser, co-directed the church choir with
Smith and the pair had become good friends.
Because the three worked well together, Lear asked Smith to
work with her on the following year’s 1993 production of Godspell.
Lori Dedola was asked to come on as assistant director. Smith
knew the show well because she had held a lead role in the 1984
production of the same musical as a senior in high school. And the
rest is history.
When Kurt Cerny returned from his Broadway gig, he again
joined the musical staff as choreographer. Cerny gained much from
his Broadway experience and Smith jokingly admitted, “I learned
everything about musicals from the “Kurt Cerny School of Musical
Theater.” Dedola took on more of the business end of the show
but remained involved with rehearsals and the overall aspect of
managing a large scale musical.
44 Carlynton-Montour