It’s Dress Rehearsal for Marco Island Academy Thespians

Like most superheroes discovering their powers, Marco Island Academy’s (MIA) Chris Dayett came upon the idea for the musical Superhero quite by accident.

 "I stumbled on it a few months ago,” said Dayett, MIA’s performing arts instructor, prior to the cast’s first dress rehearsal Wednesday, April 5, at the school’s Rhine Theater. "I read the description, and then I clicked on the link to listen to some of the music. The music is absolutely beautiful. So then I bought the soundtrack and I'm just like, 'We have to do this.' But I didn't know anything about the show. I hadn't read the script other than the description. The script came right before the hurricane, and then the hurricane hit. Power's out, I have nothing to do. So I sat down with a flashlight on my couch and read the script and then played the music off my phone and just fell in love. I sent it to (MIA principal) Melissa (Scott) and I said, 'Let me know what you think.’"

With Scott’s blessing, Dayett decided to build a little excitement among his students by posting a number of musicals on a wall at school.

“It's the big trend on social media to put up a whole bunch of musicals on a wall,” Dayett said, "and then every week or so take one down.”

Superhero was the last musical standing. Dayett said Superhero is ideally suited to the current size of his theater program.

"I lost a lot of my students last year,” Dayett said. "So my program completely shrunk. A lot of that is just a result of Covid. We really didn't get a lot of new students."

Superhero calls for a cast of seven. Dayett has a cast of 10 working on the show.

“It fits our lower numbers,” he said. 

It appears that this is the first production of Superhero since its off-Broadway run in 2019. That would also make it the high school premier of the musical.

Even though Superhero is a smaller musical than last year’s production of Little Mermaid, Dayett has found himself working even harder on this year’s production.

“After auditioning,” Dayett said, "the majority of our cast are freshmen. So we have a very young cast who haven't necessarily taken one of my classes or learned how to be in a show or something that is of this caliber or this intensity of a show. So it was just a few weeks ago where I realized, 'Why is it that a small show - that should be easier for me - is taking up more time than, let's say, Little Mermaid? And I realized it's because I have to teach them how to act. Wow. So that was a challenge for me.”

Fortunately, Dayett was able to bring in some help this year.

"I was able to hire a music director,” he said. “That allows me to get the set done, get costume props done, and I can just focus on directing.”

Dayett was happy with Wednesday’s dress rehearsal.

“Act One is looking great,” he said. “That’s about as far as I got. I cleaned up a duet and scene in Act Two that needed some work. I still have four rehearsals before we go into tech. We’ve staged most of Act Two, but I still have about three short scenes to block. With four rehearsals plus five tech runs before we open, I’m not worried.”

Dayett hopes the musical touches the audience the way it has touched him.

“Superhero has some depth to it,” Dayett said. “There's some very dramatic parts. It made me cry when I read it. And that's good. It just pulls at the heart. It's got some great material. It's been a lot of fun.”

Superhero opens Friday, April 21 with a 7:30 PM show. There will also be a 7:30 PM show on Saturday. A Sunday matinee will be held at 2:30 PM. Tickets are $10 in advance, and $15 at the door. Order your tickets at miatheatre.com.