Classics fresh for St. Aidan’s director

Richard Tedesco

Even after 50 years in the theater, John Hayes says that guiding the young actors in St. Aidan’s Summer Stage never gets old.

“This is what keeps me going,” Hayes, 75,  said. “I’m just happy that I’m healthy enough to do it.”

Hayes is currently directing the Summer Stage production of “Hello Dolly!” –  the fourth musical he’s directed in as many years.

Hayes, who returned to Summer Stage in 2010 after a 16-year hiatus from the job, said he remembers directing his first professional production when he was 18 years old. 

Hayes had been cast in an off-Broadway of “Arsenic and Old Lace” when the director had a heart attack and Hayes was asked to take over.

“It ran for a couple of weeks. It lost a lot of money but I was happy,” he said.

Hayes directed many successful off-Broadway shows following “Arsenic and Old Lace” before moving to community theater.

In his 37 years as director of the Herricks Community Theater, he has overseen 61 productions.

“It’s been crazy. Trying to keep up with him isn’t easy,” said his wife, Carol Hayes, who is the producer of Summer Stage and has been producing or co-producing the Herricks shows over the past 20 years.

The Summer Stage production of “Dolly” is the fifth production of the play he’s directed. And it represents a particular challenge since the play is set in 1890s New York.

“You have to explain to them what the times were like,” Hayes said of the cast, which is made up of high school and college students.

Hayes’s student actors said they were enjoying their work on the musical – particularly because of what they learn from working with their director.

“He has amazing comedic timing. He knows what he wants and he won’t go on until he gets it,” said Billy Marengo, a Chaminade alumnus who plays Cornelius Hackl in his second Summer Stage play. “He’s a perfectionist and he wants you to understand your character.”

Marengo is currently in a dual program of business at Columbia University and drama at The Julliard School.

Maria Hanophy, an Albertson resident going into her sophomore year at Fordham University, said she’s appreciated Hayes’s help in getting a handle on the lead role of  irrepressible matchmaker Dolly Levi.

“For some reason, he’s more involved in this show. He gives us direction to feel the lines, not to just focus on the words, but to feel them,” she said.

Tabitha Garnica, a New Hyde Park native minoring in theater at SUNY New Paltz, she’s having fun working with Hayes in her third Summer Stage production.

“He seems to know exactly how he wants the words to come across. He knows how to make the lines funny,” Garnica said.

James Agolia, a Chaminade graduate going into his sophomore year at Princeton University, has been the accompanist through the past four years of the St. Aidan Summer Stage.

“John’s been doing this for a long time. He may be hard on the actors but he appreciates the hard work he gets out of you,” Agolia said. “He gets the best out of you.” 

“Dolly” choreographer Barbara Murphy said Hayes is a bit more patient with his young Summer Stage Actors than he is in the Herricks productions, where he is working with adults.

“The kids, they learn so fast. They’re so funny. It keeps you going,” Murphy said

“Hello Dolly,” based on Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker,” goes up in Monsignor Kirwin Hall on 525 Willis Ave. on Friday, Aug. 16 at 8 p.m., with performances on Saturday Aug. 17 at 8 p.m. and a matinee on Sunday, Aug. 18 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for seniors and children under 12 years old. Ticket information is available by calling 516-621-3171.

Reach reporter Richard Tedesco by e-mail at rtedesco@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x204. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.

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