REGIS

The beauty of the cabaret project is that “anything
goes” (that is almost anything . . .). Students who
would never think of auditioning for the Regis Rep
dare to go on stage, even cross-dress, perform in
German and English, sing and dance . . .and learn
without noticing that they are learning . . . Seniors
who do not continue with German 4, help out behind
the scenes with food set-up and bratwurst grilling
which is always spear-headed by a Grill Master from
our faculty – in more recent years Mr. Barona and
now for the second time Mr. Amatrucola and Mr.
Watson. There are other countless helpers behind
the scenes, whether it’s Mr. Phillips standing by for
music transcriptions, Mrs. Walsh and now Ms. Tursi
for costumes, the Regis tech guys for more and more
sophisticated lights, all the Rep people for giving us
time and space to rehearse when they are preparing
for their musical. – The miracle is that we put all
of this together in two and a half rehearsals: one big messy one, trying
out everything for the first time, a so-called dress/tech rehearsal two days
before the show and an emergency scene rehearsal just a day before to fix
what needs last minute fixing. The rest is trusting my students’ creative
instincts and believing in the magic of theatre that it will all come together
eventually.
Each year’s program emerges from a collective effort by students in the
German Club, more brainstorming and small-group collective scene writing
by my German students, my feedback and corrections and finally the
rehearsals. All I do is provide the students with some general ideas and a
framework, for example, this year “let’s exploit the Arnold Schwarzenegger
situation.” I suggested to a student to do the MC as Arnold – Rory Malone
Assistant Headmaster Jim Lyness leads the
audience in a show stopping rendition of
“New York, New York”
did a phenomenal job – and we developed “Arnold for
President” with the Junior class, where Arnold goes back
in time to Philadelphia in 1787 to change the constitution
so that he can run . . . I read the Grimm’s fairy tale Die
Bremer Stadtmusikanten with the Sophomores and then
this year simply asked “So who are the outcasts today
and who are the robbers today?” It was the students who
came up with Gore/Bush, Clinton/Lewinsky, Chirac/
The American People, Michael Jackson/Bill O’Reilly
respectively as Outcasts and Outcasters and then with
an Enron Guy, Martha Stewart, Charlton Heston and
J.Lo. in the Robbers’ House. All the “outcast animals,”
i.e. the street musicians/politicians spoke German with
the rest of the characters replying in English, except for
Chirac, of course!
There is always audience participation of some sort including
brave teacher volunteers from Mr. Jackson to Fr.
McClain and many enthusiastic new teachers; often singing (this year the
Juniors and one Senior outdid themselves by imitating with their original
lyrics the German a-capella group The Wise Guys imitating Britney Spears
with “Schlag mich Baby noch einmal . . .”). In previous years, we had
Oktoberfest Singers who did anything from German folksongs to songs by
the Comedian Harmonists of the 1920s. And, of course, there were those
first German Raps by Ryan “Da Hubermensch” and Steven Wyszinski
and by our beloved unforgettable Terence “T-Bone” Leary (class of 2001)
whom we lost tragically just 10 days prior to this writing. Terence, your
spirit will be with us forever and we will certainly dedicate next year’s
10 th Annual Oktoberfest celebration to you. Any alumni out there come
and join us for that one!!!
“Umlaut, Umlaut! Ich bin sehr laut!”
Still Swingin’
A Regis Legend Turns 90
By Fr. James R. Carney, S.J. ’43
On August 31 st Father Steve Duffy, SJ celebrated his 90 th birthday. In
attendance were Connie Corroon, his sister, and her husband, Larry.
Also present were Pat and Jim O’Rourke ’51, long time friends
of Father Duffy who brought Father Jim Carney, SJ ’43 up to join
the festivities. After a celebratory lunch at which a huge cake was
available to the whole Murray-Weigel community, Steve posed
for this picture for his sister Connie. This snapshot surely shows
that Father Duffy is still in the swing of things. Although Father
Duffy’s memory is failing a little bit, he is still very much with it,
as evidenced by the fact that he has begun instructing one of the
Murray-Weigel staff members in Latin grammar! Father George
McCauley, SJ ’48, who published this same picture in the SJNY
(an in-house publication for New York Province Jesuits), noted that
Father Duffy’s stance could well be emulated by many a golfer.
Father Duffy, in a chat with Jim Carney, noted that Jim didn’t know
his (Father Duffy’s) name. “Steve, you and I lived on the same
corridor for 30 years. I couldn’t forget your name,” Father Carney
replied. Father Duffy’s next comment stopped Father Carney cold.
“My name is pusher,” Father Duffy went on to explain, “I push
wheelchairs.” And with that he pushed his friend, Bishop Martin
Neylon, out of the rectory, along a corridor and brought him to his
room. Father Duffy is definitely alive and well at age 90.
10 REGIS ALUMNI NEWS