Middle School theater presents ‘Willy Wonka Jr.’ this weekend

WINSTED —  Members of the Pearson Middle School theater department will present “Willy Wonka Jr.” at The Gilbert School Auditorium on Friday, April 7 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, April 8 at 2 p.m.

Twenty-seven children will be part of the performance, which includes music inspired by the 1971 film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

“This is our fourth year doing musicals,” play producer Theresa Padin said in an interview during a rehearsal on Monday, April 3. “In the past we did a lot of Disney productions, including ‘The Lion King,’ ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Shrek.’ So we were looking for something a little different. We saw a couple weeks later that Gene Wilder died and we thought this would be a perfect tribute.”  Padin said that some of the students performing in “Willy Wonka” were in “Shrek” last year and as casting is only open to fifth- and sixth-graders.

“We also have students who started in our first two shows and now go to Gilbert, who participate in both middle-school and high-school shows,” Padin said. “We had some kids that were recently in ‘Bye Bye Birdie’ who started with us in our first year when we did ‘The Lion King.’ It’s been nice to see them steadily grow.”

Alongside Padin, play director Jacqueline Petriello is responsible for music, choreography and staging.

The two work together to put together props and costumes with help from students, friends and staff. 

Petriello, currently a music teacher at Batcheller and chorus instructor at Pearson, has been involved with theater throughout her life and was excited to get a call from Padin about putting on “Willy Wonka.”

“Opening night is always such a magical time,” Petriello said. “All the anticipation of getting there, and all the hard work is kind of paying off. I think the students learned a lot over the course of the rehearsal and it’s great to see it all come together.”

 “We work really hard to make it a community event as much as possible, from partnering with Gilbert to have the show here, to having our kids sell advertising,” Padin said. “We just have so many people who come in and help. My favorite part of the show weekend is being able to celebrate all of the different places in the community that assist us. It’s exciting to see and to have the Winchester Public School students have their opportunity to shine.”

Eleven-year-old Kaiden Munroe is excited to have his first big role in his acting career as he will be playing Grandpa Joe. 

“He’s kind of that stereotypical, cool grandpa,” Kaiden said. “He helps Charlie out all of the time and he’s kind of like Charlie’s savior, because he saves him from feeling sad.”