A young Bronx playwright who has been working with St. Theresa School to create magical theater for the past three years is back. He is working with the kids on his own creation based on Disney movies.
Bibbity Bobbity Oops is Philip Degaltini’s play. It is a new twist on Cinderella. The St. Theresa School Drama Club will perform it on Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m., Saturday, April 25 at 7 p.m., and Sunday, April 26 at 2 p.m.
The young playwright is a second-year theater major at C.W. Post College. Degaltini has been volunteering his time in productions with the St. Theresa School Drama Club for the past two years. They produced a Broadway review called Casting Call in 2006 and The Wizard of Oz in 2007.
“We started working on this play with the kids in January and have been rehearsing it for the past few months,” Degaltini said. “The whole show is about Cinderella’s journey with a fairy godmother who accidently sends her to on a journey through different Disney movies. The play deals with Cinderella trying to get back to the ball in time to meet the prince.”
Degaltini is also the play’s director and chorographer. Degaltini said that some of the Disney movies the play’s Cinderella finds herself in during her journey back to the ball are Aladdin, Hercules, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Enchanted.
“I really love working with the kids of St. Theresa School and teaching them about culture through musical drama,” Degaltini stated. “They are really becoming more well-rounded kids.”
Degaltini is assisted in the production by acting coach and assistant choreographer Denise Bryant who is a student at Mercy College, and acting and vocal coach Nicole Roshet, a senior at Preston High School.
The production will feature state-of-the-art equipment such as wireless microphones from Charles Cormier of Technical Assistance Incorporated.
“We have been providing technical assistance at St. Theresa School’s drama club for years,” Cormier said. “We are using professional sound equipment on this production. It is a cut above the typical grammar school play.”
Cormier added: “The school will sell these shows out.”
Set Designer Lynda Donio said that Degaltini’s overall vision for the play made drawing and painting scenery a pleasant experience. The scenery will be as colorful as a storybook.
“Philip wanted to develop the theme of a storybook, where Cinderella would move through different Disney films,” Donio said. “Every scene in this play is like another page in that storybook.”
Tickets to any of the productions are available at the door for $12 per adult and child. St. Theresa School is located at 2872 St. Theresa Avenue.
