Who doesn’t love a good Broadway play?  But that can be expensive, and inconvenient.  How about a little bit of Broadway closer to home?

The Westfield High School Theatre Department is getting ready to present Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Anyone Can Whistle,” an upbeat, fun, catchy stage performance that appeals to all ages.   Performances will be Thursday, March 13^th, Friday, March 14th and Saturday, March 15^th, all at 7:30 PM, in the auditorium of Westfield High School, located at 550 Dorian Road.

Westfield High School has one of the most successful high school theater departments in the state, with the cast and crew of its spring musicals frequently among the top nominees for the Paper Mill Playhouse’s prestigious Rising Star Awards. The Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Awards encourage and reward exceptional accomplishments in the production of high school musical theatre. The Rising Star Awards is a statewide competition of New Jersey high school musicals modeled after Broadway’s Tony Awards.

“Anyone Can Whistle” is a  fun, dance-filled, musical, romantic comedy, about small-town mayor Cora Hoover Hooper (played by Madeleine Rosenthal), whose scheme to profit from a local “miracle” is sidetracked by an idealistic nurse (Kim Roth), a charming doctor (Fraser Weist), and the patients of the town’s mental hospital, known as the “cookies.”   Directed by Daniel Devlin, the show also features Daniel Coelho as Treasurer Cooley, Colin Barry as Police Chief Magruder, and Frank Guerriero as Comptroller Schub, who aid the crooked Cora along with her chorus of “boys” played by Alex Cestero, Julian Mone, Tony Peer and Jack Ritter. Other roles include Elena Arida as the Narrator; Connor Wynne as the Sandwich Man; Sophie Hurwitz as Baby Joan; Jackie Daaleman as Mrs. Schroeder; Jill Rosenfeld as Dr. Detmold; J.D. Kelly as George; Lauren Echausse as June; Michael Poyntz as John; Katherine Ko as Marta; Abbie Paone as Velma and Victoria Guerriero as Osgood. Also appearing in various roles are Lizzy Allen, Luke Altman, Marissa Alvarez, Sarah Boyle, Catherine Bruno, Gabrielle Dunn, Alan Fang, Samantha Hahn, Lucy Hale, Steve Heron, Maddie Hudelson, Alexandra Jackman, Hasitha Kakileti, Jack Kirkland, Olivia Kuzman, Victoria Napolitano, Meagan O’Connell, Andrew Orenberg, Megan Pinna, Lisa Morgan Simon, Sydney Stewart and Jesse Zimmermann.  The show also features a live orchestra of Westfield High School students, led by musical director John Brzozowski, chorus teacher at the high school.

Reserved seating tickets are $12 each,  and can be purchased in advance at the web site www.ShowTix4U.com. Any tickets not sold in advance will be available for sale at the door. Questions can be emailed to WHStickets@Westfieldnjk12.org.

And, get this . . . . in honor of the “cookies” that appear in the show, at each performance one lucky audience member will win a free tray of cookies, courtesy of Bovella’s Bakery in Westfield.  How much fun is that?  I wonder if anyone can whistle while chewing cookies . . . . without spitting crumbs on the people around them?