Next weekend Solanco High School will stage "Titanic: The Musical," its most ambitious musical to date.
Co-director Richard W. Croyle gives final instructions, as the "Titanic" cast prepares for a recent rehearsal. This is his 35th high school production.
Croyle and his wife, Kathy (left), are working with 100 actors and musicians.
Student Garrett Blair peruses the script, which lays out an intensely moving plot with very grown-up themes, like class structure and honor.
"Titanic" rehearsals started in January, with the 66 actors putting in roughly double the rehearsal time of previous years' shows.
"They've worked harder and longer to get where they are," Croyle says. "I don't think any of them regret it."
Few high schools tackle a production like "Titanic." The Croyles know of no other Lancaster County school that has tried. Cast member Ryan Schoening shows a model of the fateful ship.
And the songs aren't easy to play, says Solanco instrumental director Gary Doll, who directs the show's 28-student orchestra pit.
The budget for the Broadway version of "Titanic" topped $10 million. At Solanco, the show must go on for about $8,000.
The cast of 66 actors and 28 musicians has roughly doubled its rehearsal time compared to previous shows. "Every now and then, you get the feeling we'll never pull this off," senior Matt Croyle says.
Sweating under unforgiving stage lights, the Solanco teens imagine a frigid April night, when the North Atlantic's icy waters swallowed 1,500 souls aboard a doomed ship.
Sometimes after a scene, the young actors crack a few jokes backstage, just to keep from crying.
On April 11 — a few days shy of the 96th anniversary of history's most infamous ocean disaster — Solanco High School will stage "Titanic: The Musical," an elaborate, emotionally charged production that requires uncommon talent and dedication.
"Titanic," which won five Tony awards in 1997, ranks among the most expensive shows in Broadway history. Many of its characters are based on actual people aboard the ill-fated ship.
Like most local high schools, Solanco typically sticks with more lighthearted, fictional shows. Last year, for example, students performed "Cinderella."
"Titanic," Richard W. Croyle's 35th Solanco show as co-director, is his most ambitious production to date — by far.
At 100 actors and musicians strong, it's the largest cast he and his wife Kathy have ever directed, singing and playing more — and more difficult — songs than ever before.
The intensely moving show addresses very grown-up themes, like class structure and honor.
"It's such a powerful, emotion-packed show. It's hard to listen to the music sometimes," says Croyle, the Quarryville school's choral director.
"That's challenging for high-school students."
Not to mention the whole matter of sinking an 11-story ship on a narrow high-school stage.
But the young cast has embraced the show's challenges, clocking twice as many rehearsal hours as usual and forging deep connections to their characters through online research.
"We're playing real-life people," senior Diane Shoemaker says. "We have to do justice to the people who died."
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Whenever Dick Croyle needs a reminder of just how long he's been directing Solanco shows, he only needs to look at senior Kelsey Minnich.
He directed her mother in "Oklahoma."
"Titanic" is the most modern musical the Croyles have ever staged.
"We've done all the standard stuff —everything by Rodgers and Hammerstein," says Croyle, who performed in musicals during his college days.
"We've done them all."
For eight years, he's directed alongside his wife, who starred in her own high-school production of "Bye Bye Birdie."
Mrs. Croyle, a reading specialist at Solanco's Clermont Elementary, actually taught some of the "Titanic" cast.
The Croyles saw "Titanic" on Broadway during their 1997 honeymoon. They immediately wondered if they could pull it off at Solanco.
First they needed a group of students with wide-ranging vocal talents to cover the show's 20 solos.
"You have to wait for that kind of group to come along," Croyle says.
This was finally the year.
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Few high schools tackle a production like "Titanic." The Croyles know of no other Lancaster County school that has tried.
It's a lesser-known show, fraught with challenges.
First and foremost being, How exactly do you sink the ship?
The Croyles don't even try.
"You don't have to be realistic," Croyle says. "That's part of the beauty of the stage: Sometimes ... you have to use your imagination."
The budget for the Broadway version of "Titanic" topped $10 million. At Solanco, the show must go on for about $8,000.
Budget and stage-size limitations even affect some characters' destinies.
The set designers built only one lifeboat. So for dramatic purposes, some survivors of the actual sinking die in the Solanco version.
In most musicals, two-thirds of the action occurs in the dialogue, the rest in the songs. "Titanic" is the opposite.
"Usually the songs enhance the show," Croyle says. "Here the songs are the story."
The music is so touching that he's seen tears trickle down more than a few cheeks during rehearsals.
And the songs aren't easy to play, says Solanco instrumental director Gary Doll, who directs the show's 28-student orchestra pit.
"The opening-number overture is 16 minutes," Doll says. "There's only 30 seconds of dialogue before the next song begins."
"Titanic" rehearsals started in January, with the 66 actors putting in roughly double the rehearsal time of previous years' shows.
"They've worked harder and longer to get where they are," Croyle says.
"I don't think any of them regret it."
***
The Croyles see "Titanic" not as a tragedy but a triumph.
"There are so many stories of gallantry, courage, dignity and honor," Croyle says.
At Mrs. Croyle's suggestion, many cast members looked up their characters' biographies and photos online, strengthening their emotional connection to the story.
The 20th century's strict class structure and code of honor can prove difficult for the iPod generation to fathom.
"It's different to come out on stage pretty much in rags," says senior Emily McComsey, who plays a third-class passenger.
Senior Wes Foley prompts a chorus of "aw"s from female cast mates when he declares that like the wealthy gentlemen on Titanic, he would have let the women and children board the lifeboats first.
Senior flutist Karen Huber marvels at how the ship's bellboys — many even younger than the cast — faced death courageously and without question.
The cast is so dedicated to giving the audience an authentic experience that they designed the show's tickets to look like boarding passes, even organizing a bake sale to cover extra printing costs.
With opening night just a week away and the auditorium's 900 seats nearly sold out, the show's epic challenges aren't lost on the cast.
"Every now and then, you get the feeling we'll never pull this off," says senior Matt Croyle (the co-directors' son).
The Croyles have faith in their cast.
But when the curtains part, the directors, like everyone else, will simply sit back and watch the story unfold.
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