Providence High Arts Presents All Shook Up

Juliette Dube ‘21 and Justin Marlow ‘19

By Dominic Catrambone & Jeremy Kent Jackson Theatre Arts Co-Directors

Over the course of two weekends in April, Providence High Arts presented its spring musical production of All Shook Up to PHS and its neighboring community. Set in a square little town in a square little state in 1955, and featuring a vibrant score comprised of the songs of Elvis Presley, a guitar-playing young man rides into town and changes everything and everyone he meets in this hip-swiveling, lip-curling musical fantasy about the magic of romance and the power of rock and roll.

Featuring a cast of forty students that rehearsed over the span of three months, and another twenty dedicated to crew, this rockin’ musical enjoyed a nearly sold-out run, energizing the house and bringing audiences to their feet. The show included several double-cast roles, two student musicians, and our first ever Dance Captain, as well as introduced the most freshmen to date cast in the spring musical, two of which (Juliette Dube ‘21 & Amila Kapetanovic ‘21) shared the lead role of Natalie/Ed. Our students also had the privilege of presenting the spirited full company number, “Come On Everybody”, at this year’s Gala fundraising event. What an honor it was to showcase our amazing performing arts students in this capacity and to bring awareness to the impact that the arts has on our young people.

Lastly, we were honored to enter our production of All Shook Up into the High School Musical Theatre Awards of Los Angeles competition, known as the Jerry Herman Awards. It is a regional competition run by the renowned Nederlander group and based at the Pantages Theatre. Adjudicators attended several performances and provide critique on a number of categories, both technical- and performance-based. Last year, Providence received four nominations and one win for our production of The Addams Family, walking away with the 2017 Jerry Herman Award for Best Technical Crew! This year, our backstage excellence was recognized once again with another nomination for Best Technical Crew of 2018! Also, two of our cast members, Juliette Dube ‘21 and Sean Hulne ‘20, had the privilege of competing for the Best Actress and Best Actor categories on stage at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre, hoping to advance to the national Jimmy Awards competition in New York later this summer! It’s certainly no small feat to be recognized in this event, as more than 40 productions from over 30 different schools across Los Angeles County take part.

Please visit providencehigharts.org often to stay up-to-date on all the latest news and happenings in the Visual and Performing Arts department. We have a thrilling season ahead for the 2018-2019 school year called Echoes, and can’t wait to share it with you!

Jonathan Flores ‘18

Sean Hulne ‘20 and Amila Kapetanovic ‘21