\n\t\t\t\tMt. Carmel School Theater Club veterans and White Christmas cast, from left, Michael Ortizo, Markel Toves, Cathryn Javier, director Jonathan Pangelinan, Brent Ortizo, Lance Deleon Guerrero, and Brianna Hunter pose for a photo after Saturday’s production.\u00a0(Thomas A. Manglona II)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n
\nThose wishing for a white Christmas this year had their dreams come true during Mt. Carmel School\u2019s musical adaptation of the holiday classic White Christmas last Friday and Saturday at the Saipan World Resort in two nearly sold-out shows.<\/p>\nThe school club\u2019s 38th production in 20 years featured Christmas music and swinging jazz hits by the Guam Territorial Band. The band performed in the school\u2019s previous productions and will be celebrating its 40th anniversary next year.<\/p>\n
The play\u2019s director, Jonathan Pangelinan, hopes that those in the audience felt the \u201cjoy and happiness that Christmas embodies and realize that it is not the gifts\u2026that makes Christmas happy, but the people in our lives\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything about the play was perfect,\u201d he added. \u201cI am very proud of the cast and crew and everyone who put this together.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the success of this production, Pangelinan is already thinking of starting auditions for the school\u2019s next production, Disney\u2019s The Lion King, in May, which will conclude Mount Carmel\u2019s 20th anniversary celebration.<\/p>\n
Erin Camacho, the original floor manager for the school\u2019s first White Christmas production in 1998, marveled at how the latest production incorporated changes to the script.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was new. They did a new take and made it more local and I really enjoyed that aspect of it,\u201d she said. \u201cAfter all these years theatre continues to be a big benefit for everyone who becomes a part of it. I really enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brianna Hunter, who portrayed the character of Betty Haynes, took the stage with fellow veteran Theatre Club members and lead actors Lance Deleon Guerrero, who played Bob Wallace, Markel Toves, who played Phil Davis, and Cathryn Javier, as Judy Haynes, in last week\u2019s play.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am actually happy, not because it\u2019s over, but because of the reaction of everybody and I just wanted to give everyone a happy Christmas,\u201d Hunter told Saipan Tribune. \u201cTheatre Club changed my life because the people I work with become friends and later on they become family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Board of Education representative Tanya King had nothing but high praise for the cast. \u201cI know all of the players involved [in the production] and I am so incredibly impressed by the talent of our students from the CNMI and I know unequivocally that they can go out in the U.S and make it big,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mount Carmel School president and production producer Galvin Deleon Guerrero continues to be \u201cgenuinely surprised\u201d by the success of every show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we started the Theatre Club it was just to put on one show. I never thought we would keep putting on plays,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026It is surprising but also some ways not surprising because we have great kids that I feel\u00a0 really humbled and privileged to work with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
MCS\u2019 performing arts program began in 1996. The school was also the first to have a concert band in the 1970s. Its annual Christmas program, which began in 1952, is the longest running performing arts program on island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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