The cast and audience applaud play director and revered member of the St. Mary community Frank GulluscioThe students of Ozone Park’s St. Mary Gate of Heaven School put on a hit show last weekend for at least a thousand community members, which included teachers, alumni, parents and area residents.
Running two nights — May 16 and 17 — the play raised several thousand dollars for the school, as it has for the last 12 years. None of this came as a surprise to Frank Gulluscio, a former teacher who has been part of the St. Mary community for 35 years.
As director of this year’s play, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” Gulluscio worked with the students for four months, practicing and rehearsing dialogue and songs. Dozens of volunteers turned out to assist the effort: several alumni choreographed dances and helped with lighting and sound equipment, while parents sewed colorful and intricately designed costumes.
Dedicated students and volunteers rehearsed regularly to bring to life the characters and plot. The play’s dialogue — the same as that used in the Broadway version of the show — added a real theaterical dimension to the school play, according to Gulluscio. St. Mary’s was one of the only schools to receive permission from Disney to use that dialogue.
Everyone involved in the play production, and the audience that has come to expect phenomenal performances, awaits next year’s show. “It’s hard to compete with ourselves,” Gulluscio quipped. But, they always do and they always win.
