Live from Charlo...

CHARLO — There’s just a small break between winter and spring sports but Charlo High School English teacher Keith Grebetz and former student Spencer Shafter make the best of it.

For the past seven years, the two have combined forces to put together Charlo’s winter production. Despite minimal time to rehearse the show, Grebetz and Shafter always seem to create a product for which parents, siblings and community members fill Charlo’s gymnasium.

“We always pull it together,” Grebetz said. “It’s kind of a stressor for me. We do our own production just because of logistics. We try to focus in on a theme. We found this is the best approach for getting the kids on stage and it’s just easier for us to do on our own.”

Unlike other high school productions where students may perform a famous play written by a big name, Charlo’s productions are all made in-house. Shafter wrote and co-directed previous productions and, despite having the busy schedule of being a student at New York University, he also wrote this year’s incarnation which wowed the crowd last Thursday night.

After spoofing reality television last year, Grebetz and Shafter mixed it up and went with a Saturday Night Live theme this time around. In order to reach a wide audience, they combined new and classic skits from the show.

From the Coneheads to Weekend Update, the show didn’t disappoint as laughter filled the gymnasium. Grebetz said it’s particularly rewarding seeing the high school students who take his drama class get on stage and display their theatrical talents.

Pete Dumont hit an impression of Chris Farley spot on, while Stephen Delaney and Rachel Hoyt cracked the crowd up as they played an overly enthusiastic couple getting ready for a surprise birthday party.

“Kids you don’t expect to be on stage go out there and they turn out to be excellent,” Grebetz said. “I think it makes them feel more confident. With art being the first thing cut from schools, I enjoy seeing the kids go up there.”

Hoyt also played Taylor Swift, portraying the country singer with an inability to tell good jokes.

Much like Saturday Night Live, the Charlo students had minimal time to put the play together. Grebetz said they had time for just two run-throughs of the production and that they had to become familiar with a show that isn’t as popular as it once was with the younger crowd.

“It really depends on who is hosting the show,” Grebetz said. “Unless someone young hosts it, it’s just not as relevant as it has been in the past. Now the talk on Friday morning is what happened on Jersey Shore.”

Three classic Saturday Night Live skits, the Samurai Deli, the Cheeseburger skit and the Coneheads on Wheel of Fortune struck a chord for those familiar with older episodes of the TV show. The new skits were also done in wonderful comedic fashion.

Weekend Update had three special guests with Webb O’Neill playing a pathological liar Tommy Flanagan, and then Tyler and Dalton Delaney doing a hilarious impression of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. Perhaps the red hair helped.

“Why is Hogwarts so clean? Because everyone has a broom,” Tyler Delaney proclaimed to the audience.

Ross Fullerton sang two country songs for the audience and aptly passed some time while the crew set up for another skit.

“Hurry up you guys, I’m running out of things to say,” Fullerton joked.

Grebetz got lots of help from 10 senior servers who delivered drinks and dessert to the attending crowd. Kasey Savage made all the desserts for the evening.

“Every year she’s just a great volunteer,” Grebetz said.

He gave thanks to them and Sharon Hertz, who did all the props for the play.

Scheduling this year allowed the Charlo school administration to attend the play and they made it apparent in the announcements the next day at school that they we’re pleased with the efforts of the students.

“They just loved it,” Grebetz said. “For as much practice we did, it was an enjoyable experience.”