Katherine Robertson usually spends her spring semesters at Morristown High School concentrating on the high jump.
But in her senior year, she has made a leap of faith–and landed onstage, in the lead role of Sweet Charity.
Katherine will sing and dance as Charity Hope Valentine, a dance hall girl determined to carve out a better life, on March 23 and 24 at 7:30 pm and on March 25 at 3 pm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and children.
“This isn’t something I do all the time,” she said after a jaunty preview performance on Thursday. “Dancing and singing at the same time? I can sing anything. But dancing…”
The cast is full of seasoned veterans of the MHS stage, including seniors Danny Dones, Carolina Alvarez, Jenna Becker and Cole Stukane and junior Dane Glynn.
But Katherine did not explore her theatrical side until last fall, when Danny and Carolina, friends from a student mentoring program called Peer Group Connection, convinced her to try out for Fame. Katherine played Phenicia, a supporting character.
“I had about seven lines,” she said.
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Although her oldest sister and a pair of uncles have done some acting, Katherine said she never gave it much thought before this school year.
“I didn’t think I would be that good,” she said.
That’s hard to believe for anyone who saw her eloquent, confident speech to a packed Calvary Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Day. The New Jersey Nets recently honored her at center court as a “Hometown Hero.” She was scheduled to sing the national anthem, too, but got bumped by a video tribute to the late Whitney Houston.
Singing has been part of Katherine’s life since pre-school days, when she sang Toni Braxton’s Unbreak My Heart to anyone within earshot. Over the years she has sung in choirs at the Union and Calvary Baptist churches. And she has balanced class work and track and field with after-school jobs, first at Cold Stone Creamery and now at the Morris County Golf Club. She also finds time to date Cesar Coronado, captain of the MHS basketball team.
Next year, Katherine plans to study biology as a pre-med student either at Howard University or Rutgers–and maybe pursue singing and acting as well.
In Sweet Charity she portrays a wise-cracking dancer with elastic morals and enough one-night stands for a Hollywood autobiography. An unlikely suitor, the exceedingly earnest Oscar Lindquist (Dane Glynn), prompts Charity to re-think her priorities.
Gwen Verdon played the lead when Sweet Charity, written by Neil Simon and scored by Cy Coleman, debuted on Broadway in 1966.
Does Katherine share any traits with Charity, who in two scenes finds herself at the bottom of a lake?
“The comical side, yes,” said Katherine. “I have been in love before. But I’m not that naïve to get thrown in a lake twice.”
Sweet Charity is directed by Joe Wohlegemuth, in his fourth year as theater director. Skip Yingling is vocal director, Robert Lavagno is technical director, Kevin Johnson is choreographer and Maria Anne Ross designed the lighting. MHS seniors Erin Anders and Molly Dugan are the stage managers. Tickets for Friday, Saturday and Sunday may be purchased at the door or by calling 973-292-3733.
