Notre Dame High School - Titan Yearbook (Riverside, CA)

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The Notre Dame Musical, Fiddler on the Roof Fiddler on the Roof, this year's musical production, was the twelfth show since Notre Dame began presenting shows in 1972. Sister Bridget Marie, the principal of Saint Francis de Sales at the time, con- tacted Shirley Vander Linde to direct the first show, She chose to do Little Mary Sunshine because she thought it would be fairly easy. She didn't forsee the trouble she would have persuading the Notre Dame boys to audition. They heard the title and knew immediately they didn't want to be in any sissy musical. But Sister Bridget stopped boys in the halls, told them they were going to be in the play, and produced one of the best male choruses we've ever had, accor- ding to Mrs. Vander Linde. And so began Notre Dame's tradition of ex- cellent musicals. When Notre Dame and Saint Francis merged and became co-educational, Mrs. V. ap- propriately chose to do Guys and Dolls. Other productions included: t'Damn Yankees, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Mame, Hello Dol- ly, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Li'l Abner, Finian's Rainbow, Oliver, and last year's The Music Man. Professional sets from San Ber- nardino's Civic Light Opera have been used since 'Help Dolly in 1977. Before that the sets were made of cardboard. Most of the other materials are rented from New York. A few alumni faculty members, in- cluding Mrs. Luksich and Miss Dolan, have been in Notre Dame's produc- tions. Romances have blossomed from the musicals. Alumni Cindy McKay and Tim Richardson, who played romantic leads, met on the set of The Unsinkable Molly 168 Activities Brown. They dated during the show and got married two or three years ago. The response to the musicals wasn't very good until about five years ago. Since then it has become much more accepted. Abbey Dickey, who has conducted the or- chestra for the past five years says that musicians call her to ask to be in Notre Dame's musical orchestra. The audience is building every year. This year, Fiddler, was performed to an almost full house both nights. Miss Tirabassi received a letter from some people she doesn't even know praising Notre Dame's wonderful productions and telling her they never miss one of Notre Dame's shows. Mrs. V. chooses which show to do by having preliminary auditions and deciding what kind of talent there is. Her number one factor in casting a show is voice or singing ability, then acting ability, and then the look for the part. Mrs. V. said there was a lot of talent this year. She chose Fid- dler on the Roof because it had a lot of leads and a lot of crowd scenes so everyone could be involved. Miss Tirabassi raised money to produce the show by selling ads in the program, patrons spaces, selling candles as a fund raiser, and selling tickets. Mrs. V. gave one of the best reasons why Notre Dame puts on these shows year after year. She said it gives a person a feeling of their own self worth when they can get up in front of a large audience and sing and dance and act. Father Wilczek showed his appreciation for all the hard work of putting the musical together by giving the cast and crew a day off of school for the first year ever. Mrs. V. said, When students from Notre Dame go away to college is when they realize how good the shows were.

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