School says the show must go on

After months of hard work and practice, and despite a few bumps in the road along the way, middle school students in Eatontown are expected to raise the curtain this week for their annual winter musical.

Students of the Memorial Middle School Theater Group have been preparing to present the musical "Bye Bye Birdie" for roughly four months, according to the show organizer, Barbra Van Wagner.

"The kids have been practicing since October," Van Wager said, adding that the students' anticipation level has reached a fever pitch during the last few days of practice leading up to their performance.

There are currently three performances scheduled for the show, but due to a dispute between two boards of education that left the theater group performing on a smaller stage, a fourth show may need to be added should tickets sell out. The three shows are scheduled to be held at 7 p.m. on Jan. 29, 30 and 31.

The musical was originally planned to be held on stage at Monmouth Regional High School's state-of-the-art theater, but a billing dispute between the Eatontown and the Monmouth Regional boards of education (BOE) forced the students to move their production to a significantly smaller stage at the borough's Woodmere Elementary School.

The dispute between the two school boards came about after Monmouth Regional officials sought to charge the Eatontown BOE approximately $5,000 for the use of the regional school's stage and facilities, after charging the district less than half that price the previous year, according to Eatontown BOE President Mark Van Wagner.

The fee increase left some borough residents questioning whether the regional high school increased its usage fees in retaliation for Eatontown residents turning down the 2008-09 Monmouth Regional school budget in April.

The Monmouth Regional school budget is voted on by taxpayers from the three towns the school services: Eatontown, Tinton Falls and Shrewsbury.

In April, the budget was defeated by 51 percent of Eatontown voters. Following the defeat, the Eatontown council called for the high school to trim approximately $190,000 from its spending plan.

Monmouth Regional High School Superintendent James Cleary said the decision to increase fees for the usage of the school's theater was made due to concerns over the school's finances, and was not in retaliation for the borough defeating the school's budget.

"With the budget so tight and finances a major concern, we thought that out of fairness to taxpayers of Tinton Falls, we couldn't just give the facility away," Cleary said, explaining that usage fees for the school's theater were also increased for Tinton Falls and Oceanport schools.

Cleary said the $5,000 fee charged to Eatontown's BOE is significantly lower than the fee the regional high school charges for private entities to use its facilities.

"If [the BOE] were a private business, they would have paid $14,000, and we were charging between $4,800 and $5,000," Cleary said.

Further complicating matters between the two boards was the fact that the Eatontown BOE had submitted two separate applications seeking to use the regional school's theater.

The first application was done through the district's nonprofit Eatontown Foundation for Excellence in Education.

The foundation, which makes a small profit on ticket sales to the borough's shows, pools its earnings in order to subsidize future activities for the district, Mark Van Wagner explained.

After submitting its first application and receiving the $5,000 price quote from the regional high school, Cleary said the Eatontown BOE filed a second application naming itself as the primary sponsor of the performance in order to reduce the usage fee.

Monmouth Regional officials did not reduce the fee, because the Eatontown BOE was still seeking to make a slight profit on the sale of tickets to the musical.

"If there was not going to be a charge and there was no money to be gained by the BOE for running their performances, then we would refund them money that was above and beyond our cost," Cleary said.

Mark Van Wagner said the Eatontown BOE later offered to lower the price of tickets so that the district would not see a profit on the sales, but were still told they needed to pay the $5,000 fee.

As a result, the Eatontown BOE decided to rescind its application to use Monmouth Regional's theater, and instead will use the auditorium at the district's Woodmere School.

The move means that borough students will be unable to perform in front of the large crowds they had hoped would fill Monmouth Regional's large theater, and instead will present their musical to a smaller audience at the borough school.

Mark Van Wagner said the fact that the musical production was moved to a different location proved to be a rallying point for the community.

"I think due to the adversity that was caused by the high school's decision, it helped to motivate the persons who traditionally have worked on this show, to bring it up to a higher level," he said.

Using the district's Woodmere School meant that much of the equipment that is built into the stage at Monmouth Regional had to be purchased by the Eatontown Foundation, or hand-built by the musical's organizers.

"We spent a lot more money because we had to buy material," Barbara Van Wagner said, adding that the Foundation had to foot the bill for a sound system for the performance, as well as building material for the set.

She said she believes the effort will pay off in the end.

"We are going to have a really nice stage for production," Barbara Van Wagner said. "I think the challenge was good for us."

Contact Daniel Howley at

dhowley@gmnews.com