Broadway Night at West Orange HS wows crowd, showcases musical talent

WEST ORANGE, NJ — Vocal talent was front and center at the annual Broadway Night, held Oct. 25 at West Orange High School and featuring the popular glee choir.

“When I started the glee choir back in 2015, we only performed as part of the regular choral concerts,” Director John Hellyer said. “Because many of the students involved in glee are also in the spring musical and theater classes, I decided to have the group do its own night of musical theater songs.”

The atmosphere for the event, which is held in the Tarnoff cafeteria, is casual. 

“Our first concert was in 2017 and I was hoping to raise some money to buy the students new glee T-shirts, but we had such an amazing turnout and response that in 2018 we decided to make it a fundraiser to benefit a charity with strong ties to the Broadway community: Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS,” Hellyer said.

Hellyer is no stranger to the theater. He spent several years working in theater and music in New York City, and has directed musicals in West Orange for the past 17 years, first at Liberty Middle School and now at WOHS.

“I teach a class at WOHS called ‘History of the American Musical Theater/Broadway Classroom,’ so it seemed like a natural evolution to have a night dedicated to Broadway show tunes,” he said.

This year’s lineup featured some outstanding group and individual performances. The concert opened with a lively medley from “Hair.” Other group performances included “Unruly Heart” from “The Prom”, “30/90” from “Tick, Tick … BOOM!” and “Light” from “Next to Normal.” The soloists hit all the right notes with soaring vocals and interpretations of popular Broadway tunes, bringing the audience to its feet more than once.

“The solos, duets and trios that the students perform are selected in several different ways,” Hellyer said. “Sometimes I’ll think of a song for a dedicated, talented standout and tell them about it in the spring so they can get it ready. Sometimes a student comes to me with a song and auditions to see if it will fit the program. And sometimes I’ll hear a new student and think of a song that would work for them or a small group. So, it’s a combination of inspirations.”

Hellyer, district media coordinator Lauren Grof-Tisza and WOHS fine arts musical Director William Farley impressed the crowd and students with a rousing version of “Louder Than Words,” from “Tick, Tick … BOOM!”

“I think the evening was a huge success,” Hellyer said. “The students performed so beautifully and with such heart and talent. The students should be incredibly proud of themselves for how professionally they performed. What I love about these students is how supportive they are of each other. Every solo, duet and trio was met with genuine kudos from peers and audience alike. Broadway Night is special because it is the only thing we do all year that is dedicated just to this group and show tunes. West Orange has many residents who work in the theater industry and I think that spirit trickles down to the students and they really work hard to put on a great show each year. Adding the online Facebook fundraiser has doubled the amount of money we are able to raise for Broadway Cares. This year we topped $3,000.”

  Broadway, West Orange High School