St. Mary's Turns School Play Into 'Community Event'

Boasting a class of 70 local students and months of hard work, theater came to life in Queens Saturday night at St. Mary Gate of Heaven School.

"This isn’t just a school play, it’s a community event,” said producer Frank Gulluscio. 

Students of all ages took the stage for an updated retelling of Disney's Aladdin, a story that has become very familiar since its debut as an animated film in 1992.

“We’re all volunteers. We did this because we all have a passion and a history with the school and theater. I did the shows when I went here and it was what made me decide to go into theater to begin with," director Vinny Napolitano said. "So if I can have that influence on one of these kids, then I know that I did something good.”

Leading man Diego Arellano talked about on his pre-show techniques to deal with  nerves and what he hoped to improve from the previous showing.

“I usually do my vocal exercises and go over the script [right before the show]. I still get nervous, but once I get out there and do the first song, it all goes smoothly from there,” he said.

Arellano is no stranger to the stage as an ensemble member of the TADA! youth theater group in Manhattan. He described his favorite part of being on stage as the lights and the exhilarating feeling of having the audience's attention on him.

Another marquee character, Genie, played by Justin Vega also shared his hopes for his performance. “I want to make [my performance] funnier. I’m trying to include more jokes and really just get the audience laughing," Vega said. Just as in the film, Genie's performance was a scene-stealer, with updated jokes about "tweeting" included in the dialogue.

Some of the highlights of the night included the performance of “Friend like me” sung by the Genie, which featured almost the entire cast on stage with intense choreography for young children.

The most anticipated performance was the song “A Whole New World” with the two leading characters, Aladdin and Jasmine, played by Allerano and Kelly Marin. This performance was the most visual effects-heavy of the night since it required the couple to perform on a "flying carpet."

The props used for this scene included a platform with wheels and a sheet to look like the night sky, as well as a smoke machine to create the illusion of clouds.

The play concluded with the entire cast singing a modified version of “A Whole New World.”