Carina Donato will be Addaperle in the the high school’s production of “The Wiz.”
“When my mother found out,” Carina said, “she was over the moon.” Mrs. Donato didn’t care how big a part her daughter got. She just was hoping she’d be cast as someone good.
It seems that the Donato siblings (Carina and her older bother Mike, who is now a village employee and a student at SUNY Orange) have always played villains. But this year the trend was broken.
Addaperle is a good witch in the Land of Oz. You don’t remember her from the movie, because she wasn’t in the movie. In the film there was one good witch and two bad ones — the one Dorothy crushed with her house, and the one she liquidated.
But in “The Wiz,” the sides are even. There’s two good and two bad. Addaperle is good, the same as Glinda. But the resemblance, Miss Donato reports, ends there. Glinda is angelic. Addaperle is down to earth. “She’s funky. she’s fresh, and she’s out there.”
Besides having an extra witch, “The Wiz” has its own musical score. You won’t hear the songs you remember from the movie. The production numbers on the stage are different. They’re packed with energy and they’re upbeat. As director Rich Aufiero told us, when the show debuted on Broadway in 1978, people said the story and its music had been urbanized. The original cast was filled with African-American superstars — such as Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, Nipsey Russell and Richard Pryor.
After watching the video, Corina Donato admitted she was scared — or skeptical about being able to pull it off. But the drama club got a great response earlier this month when it performed a scene from “The Wiz” at the Middletown Galleria.
The cast will present the entire show at the high school on April 7 through April 10. The curtain rises at 7 p.m. for the first three performances and at 2 p.m. for the finale on Sunday.
It will be Carina’s farewell appearance on the high school stage, as she graduates in June. She’s glad that she finally got to play someone who’s good.
CAST
Characters: Dan Aalfs, Kianna Batista, Gio Brice, Ethan Brondum, Madison Cleeves, Lindsey Cochran, Darcy Conley, Will Corby, Cara DiMedio, Carina Donato, Michael Doulin, Mikayla Greene, Brynne Growney, Julia Hughes, Alec Hydos, Jillian Larson, Shauna Lawrence, Charles Longueira, Samantha Malvey, Sara Mintz, Olivia Perrone, Brooke Reilly, Cristiana Reyes, Emma Schilling, Zach Shrem, Will Snyder, Rose Tommasi, Alex Vega.
Company: Brendan Ahmed, Elisabetta Aversa, James Bailey, Julia Brice, Lauren Brondum, Diamond Burley, Kayla Caoili, John Cascino, Janine Clancy, Ryan Danahy, Ethan Davis, Sarah Desgraviers, Bailey Dewsnap, Jaclyn Doherty, Hendrick Ducasse, Joseph Giardina, Juliette Gomez, Denver Gray, Mikayla Greene, Cameron Growney, Jessica Henry, Robbie Hess, Megan Hughes, Maggie Kelly, Max King, Michaela Kirwan, Akhilesh Kootala, Rheonna Koss, Alyssa Lamica, Jade Lee, Hannah Logerfo, Mirna Louis, Elizabeth Manderson, Sydney Mayo, Kelsey McCoy, James McGill, Hannah Mellino, Arianna Morales, Sean Mosca, Katelin Mrekva, Meghan Nielsen, Victoria Paoloni, Angela Pepe, Jackie Prunier, Elizabeth Quinn, Sahana Rao, Tara Rao, Deidra Rene, Andrew Richardson, Claire Ruotolo, Aniya Russell, Sophia Scala, Lauren Sharp, Serena Smacchia, Logan Soss, Skylar Strauss, Anneliese Stuerke, Brianna Taylor, Maia Tice, Alyssa Vence, Kelsey Winstanley, Jake Wu, Jessica Wu, Emma Zyla.
