Newtown High School will present Lend Me a Tenor, Thursday, November 20, to Sunday, November 23. Written by Ken Ludwig, Lend Me a Tenor is a comedy that takes place at the Cleveland Grand Opera Company in 1934. When the general manager attempts to welcome a famous tenor for a one-night-only engagement, problems ensue.

The school announced the production on Friday, November 14.

Performances on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday are at 7 pm, and Sunday is a matinee at 2 pm. Tickets are general admission and will be sold at the door. Ticket prices are $7 for students and faculty, $12 for adults, and $10 for seniors.

The performances will be held in the Newtown High School auditorium, located at 12 Berkshire Road.

Lend Me a Tenor is being directed by NHS seniors Emily Crebbin and Aidan Petershack.

“It’s a comedy about the theater… the opera, life,” said Emily this week.

Both Aidan and Emily said community members should come see the production.

“It’s a feel-good comedy,” Aidan said. “There’s a lot of humor and… the comedy has a deeper level, where it is about finding out who you are, and accepting that, and trying to strive to be the best person that you can be.”

Emily said the play spoke to both her and Aidan, because they have both been involved in theater.

“We chose this show after going through a lot of other ideas,” said Aidan.

“It was just a show that was going to make people happy and feel good,” Emily added.

Advisors for the production are Janice Gabriel and Brian Tenney.

Ms Gabriel and Mr Tenney said all of the students in the production have been both “awesome” and “fantastic.”

Ms Gabriel also said she feels fortunate, noting, “I think we have the hardest working kids around,” adding that students have been working many hours to make the production happen, including on weekends.

Mr Tenney said students are overseeing “almost every conceivable leadership role.”

Cast members for the program are Kyle Watkins as Max,  Megan Primavera as Maggie Saunders, Cal Creeden as Henry Saunders, CJ Landgrebe as Tito Merelli, Katie Wolff as Maria Merelli, Ian Fuchs as the Bellhop, Juliana Koziol as Diana, and Kylie Gallagher as Julia.

The stage manager is Michael Biancardi, the production manager is Erin Hartgraves, Stef Carr is overseeing lighting and design, Maggie Gorman is overseeing costumes and props, Abby Callary is head of scenic design, the master carpenter for the production is Justin Kaiser, and Tim Mammen is overseeing sound design.