“Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” reminisces – in a light-hearted manner - on growing up as a student in a traditional Catholic school when priests ran the school, nuns taught class and kids learned catechism during their school day. Photo by Donna Manz.
For children who studied in Catholic school in the 1950s and 60s, a burning question that perplexed young minds was, “do black patent leather shoes really reflect up?” John R. Powers explored the parochial school culture in his novel of the same name. While teens debated the accuracy of this contention for a decade, live theatre took it a step further in a light-hearted musical, “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” The Vienna Youth Players, in partnership with the Town of Vienna Department of Parks and Recreation, tackles this period piece in its production scheduled for Aug. 1, 2, 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. and at 1 p.m. on Aug. 10. The musical is presented in the auditorium of the Vienna Community Center on Cherry Street.
“When you come to the play, you’ll be treated to an entertaining evening with tons of reminiscences of grade school and high school,” said production director Babs Dyer. “It was a very different world then. “This is an opportunity for the youngsters in the audience to experience what Catholic schools were like 50 years ago.”
The play follows the Catholic school careers of a group of youngsters from their admission to St. Bastion’s to their graduation from there. A young man, Eddie, returns to the school and reflects on his failures and hopes. There’s nuns teaching the school’s students and a hierarchy of priests running the school and church. There’s catechism classes and masses in Latin.
In some communities from Chicago to Boston, parochial schools served every economic strata. “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes …” reflects the middle-class lives of the children attending these schools.
There’s lots of music and dance by a talented group of children, some as young as nine years old. Don’t be fooled by age: One nine-year-old is the 2014 Vienna Idol and the other performed in last summer’s rocking hit, “Aida.” Many of the current cast are “Aida” alumni, in fact. Neil Going, a Madison High School rising sophomore, played an “Aida” lead, and is cast as funny-guy Louie Schlang in “… Black Patent Leather Shoes …”
Chris Chapin, a George C. Marshall High School student, performed in “Aida” and was looking forward to doing a show more “upbeat” than the dramatic, tragic “Aida.”
A James Madison High School student, Stuart Orloff, started doing amateur shows since he was nine years old. He does public service announcements and advertising outside his classwork.
About a third of the cast is from Vienna. Kelsey Loesch attended Catholic schools for ten years and realizes that a Catholic school education has changed dramatically over the years. “I know this is how it used to be,” said Loesch. “I heard stories from my grandma.”
The Town of Vienna sponsors the Vienna Youth Players. St. Michael’s Catholic School in Annandale lent VYP school uniforms for the production, and volunteers produce the presentation. Ihsaan Singleton and Mary Chapin produced the Vienna production.
Dyer said she chose “Do Black Patent Leather Shoes Really Reflect Up?” because she wanted to do a show that focused on an ensemble cast. “And I wanted the younger thespians to have an opportunity for greater roles.”
Purchase tickets - $14 per person for any age – at the Vienna Community Center front desk or at the door at showtime. Performances run Aug. 1, 2, 8 and 9 at 7:30 p.m. and at 1 p.m. on Aug. 10 in the auditorium of the community center on Cherry Street, adjacent to the W & OD trail.