1990 Cast and synopsis on following pages
An original musical drama based on Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" by Eric B. Sirota

cover by Jesse Vezza

Day of Wrath
An original musical drama based on Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" Music by Eric B. Sirota Libretto by Eric B. Sirota and Sharon Sudol R. Centolonza Pat McCall Evelyn Drake Thomas Milburn Jack Johnson Kimberly Fallon Matt Tolbert Mary Homan Kimberly Homan Eric Sirota Cheryl Church Hubert King Andrew Jannetti Michelle Modrick Gerry Hughes Ned Corcoran John Bradley Mike Pluchinsky Rob Woiccak Mary Belfatto Ingrid Pickering C. X. MacIntosh II The Creature Victor Frankenstein Elizabeth Lavenza Henry Clerval (Victor's Friend) Victor's Father Justine (William's nanny) Innkeeper Innkeeper's Wife William (Victor's Brother) Producer & Music Director Director Choreographer Choreographic Consultant Assistant Producer Set Construction Manager Stage Manager Assistant Stage Manager A/V Manager Lighting Design Makeup design Publicity Conductor
Set construction, curtains and props - Marcelino Bernardo, Jim Chludzinski, Carlyn Coe, Kathleen Creegan, Dave Goshorn, Don Melochic, Judy Meyer, Frank Paciullo, Al Ruppert, Steve Russell, Norma Tindall, Paul Tindall, Wan K. Wan. Stage and lighting crew - Marcelino Bernardo, Shean-Jer Chen, Mark Disko, Steve Hinton, Marjorie Holmes, Jackie Hom, Cruise Jones, John Lau, Livia Periu, John Petrozelli, Robert Plano, Manese Rabeony, Yi Shen, Jim Stokes. Makeup - Dawn Elliott, Bonnie Godfrey, Liza Kinney, Betty Mahoney, Dee Redd. Publicity - Barbara Balak, Karen Dobson, Art Van Mil, Christine Varges, Jesse Vezza. Special thanks to the following - Lou Furlong (for his enthusiastic support), Joe Eggert (for facilitating the production at this location), Kent Cottingham and North Hunterdon High School (loan of spotlights), Chuck Daniels, Greg Kost and Eddie Socha (electrical aspects and footlights), Jesse Vezza (logo and artwork) and the following Exxon groups: Clinton Social Club, Laboratory Advisory Committee, Laboratory Management Committee, Facilities Engineering Division (especially Hans Pfister and Jenny McLatchie), and to many others, too numerous to mention. Eric produced the piano score for Day of Wrath using Professional Composer software, and orchestrated it for 64 voices on Roland D-10 and D-110 multitimbral synthesizers. The sequencing was done using Mark of the Unicorn's Performer software on a Macintosh. We request that you observe the following whilst in the auditorium: No audio or video recording, no cameras. No smoking.

Day of Wrath - Synopsis

Late 1700's, outside Geneva. Scene 1: Parlor of the Frankenstein home.
In Victor's Coming Home, everyone excitedly anticipates Victor's arrival from the university. Victor's father, younger brother William and nanny Justine are present, along with Elizabeth, Victor's childhood sweetheart who was orphaned and raised in the Frankenstein home; and Henry, Victor's best friend, who has an interest in Justine. Victor's entrance is followed by Here, In My Heart, a love duet with Elizabeth. All drink a toast to Victor (I've Returned to You), while Victor anticipates setting up his own laboratory to carry out his work.
Elizabeth calls them for dinner and they exit. Night falls. The creature enters through the patio door. Victor returns from dinner and the creature forces Victor to hear his story (Narrative) of what transpired after being abandoned. The duet Why Have You Created Me follows, and they are interrupted by Elizabeth at the door. The Creature hides and in the Trio, Victor and Elizabeth sing a love duet with the Creature contrasting their happiness with his loneliness. After Elizabeth leaves, the creature enters and in Day of Wrath, convinces Victor to create him a mate.

Intermission (15 minutes) Scene 4: Victor's Laboratory. A short time later.
Victor is working on creating a female companion while the Creature anticipates his bride awakening (I Can Dream Too). Victor weighs his responsibility to his creation over that to mankind and fears the creation of a race of monsters. He stops work on the female and an altercation ensues. Henry hears noise from the lab and does not heed Victor's calls to stay out. Upon seeing the Creature he draws his gun and the Creature throws him against the wall where he hits high-voltage equipment and is electrocuted. Victor then flings the unfinished bride from the table and tells the Creature to leave. As the creature departs he vows to return on Victor's wedding night. Victor, exhausted falls asleep beside Henry's body and the tone poem Nightmare depicts his dream.
Scene 2: Victor's laboratory. A short time later.
Victor contemplates the quest for the secrets of life, believing he has found the answer (Once in a Dream). He then tries to vitalize the creature using storage batteries, during Working Music, but is unsuccessful. The sound of thunder in the distance gives him a idea. In God in Heaven, he calls on the Almighty to deliver the final stroke needed to create life. The lightning strikes and the creature slowly comes to life. In Heartbeat, Victor sees his creation become hideous looking, as life overtakes him and his muscles spasm. Victor flees his laboratory in horror, leaving the creature alone. In Wandering, the creature awakens and ventures out into the world alone. He is either shunned or attacked by everyone. By watching a family, he learns the language and how people live. He then returns to his birthplace to seek out his maker. He encounters William and while trying to silence his screams, accidently kills him. Justine is convicted of William's murder and hanged.
Scene 5: Bridal Suite at an Inn. A few months later.
The Innkeeper and his Wife are readying the room for the couple (Wedding Night). Elizabeth and Victor enter and sing a reprise of their duet now as a Quartet along with the innkeeper and his wife. Elizabeth changes her clothes as Victor, remembering the Creature's threat, leaves to look around. Elizabeth sings a Reprise of When Will It End and the Creature enters through a window. Elizabeth is not afraid of him, as she sees her Victor inside of him. In the duet Elizabeth Forgive Me the Creature, though realizing that she has not wronged him, is compelled to kill Elizabeth in order to wreak vengeance on Victor. The creature leaves and Victor rushes in throwing himself in despair over her lifeless body.
Scene 3: Parlor of the Frankenstein home. A year and a half later
Following the deaths of William and Justine life has eventually returned to some degree of normalcy for everyone but Victor who knows that his creation was responsible for these tragedies and is still wandering around. Nevertheless, Victor and Elizabeth have announced their wedding plans. The father enters with the guest list and in a reflective moment (More Than a Mother) Elizabeth recalls how Victor's mother had brought her into their home, and died from an illness she caught while tending Elizabeth during childhood. The father exits and Henry bounds in. He notices all the eligible girls on the list and then makes fun of the various notables who are to be invited (Guest List). Elizabeth sings of her concern over Victor in When Will It End and then leaves to call Victor. Victor enters looking depressed and in Life Must Go On, Henry tries to cheer him up.

Scene 6: Victor's laboratory, A short time later.
In the Prelude to Scene 6 Victor's sorrow turns to contemplation. The only thing left is to destroy his creation and evidence of his experiment, even though he realizes (I Tried to Fly) that man's quest for knowledge and eternal life will one day lead another along the same path. The creature enters and in the duet, Evil Fiend, the creature mocks Victor's suffering. Victor shoots and wounds the Creature, who strangles him. The creature first addresses his lifeless creator and then the Almighty in Creator's Creator. Not wanting anyone to continue Victor's work, he destroys the lab and himself.

Day of Wrath - Who's Who

Pat McCall (Victor Frankenstein) has sung in concerts and stage productions, mostly in Monmouth County, for many years. With the Monmouth Civic Chorus, he played Leonard Merrill in Yeoman of the Guard, the mailman in Most Happy Fella and Baron Mirko Zeta in The Merry Widow. He is currently an active member of the Garden State Singers. At CR, Pat will be remembered for his role as Milton Milton, the offstage radio announcer in Don Pietro, which he also coauthored. Evelyn Drake (Elizabeth Lavenza) is a research associate in the Polymers and Fluids Laboratory of CR. She has enjoyed singing ever since her first performance as an angel in a Christmas play when she was 4 years old. Although singing comes naturally to her, she has studied voice with Catharine Akos at Southern Methodist University and Garyph Nair in New Jersey. She currently performs as a soloist for several area churches and choral groups. She also gives recitals of period music for special occasions and social clubs. Her role as Elizabeth in Day of Wrath is her first major acting experience. R. Centolonza (The Creature). He was last seen.probably painting your office! He is the foreman painter here at the Clinton site. Actually, he was last seen as Guido in the musical production of Nine at the New Jersey Public Theatre in Berkley Heights. His theatrical experience spans 23 years throughout New Jersey local and professional playhouses. You may recognize him from last year's Exxon Christmas party as Mr. Bunny in the Holiday Toy Store. He describes his character in Day of Wrath as 'Bunny gone bad'. Jack Johnson (Victor's father) is an inorganic chemist at Exxon Research and Engineering's Clinton facility. Day of Wrath is his first theatrical production since 1972, when he played the title role in Peter Pan at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. He sings in the Hunterdon Choral Union and the Clinton Presbyterian Church choir. Thomas Milburn (Henry Clerval) is an attorney with his own practice in Cranbury, New Jersey, and is married to Michelle Modrick of CR. Tom is a member of the church choir at Mary, Mother of God in Hillsborough Township. He is currently studying voice at Westminster Choir College in Princeton. Kimberly Fallon (Justine) is presently an office assistant with the Clinton Telecommunications Division. While attending Phillipsburg High School she was a member of their drama club and the International Thespians. Performances included: Once Upon a Mattress, Sugar, and Pippin. She is a member of St. Anthony's Church Choir in Easton, PA and has just begun cantoring Mass there as well. Matt Tolbert was destined for the role of Innkeeper when he told Eric "I used to sing in my church's junior choir back in '72." Matt had several acting experiences in high school, including the role as Ali Hakim in Oklahoma! and as

Marco the Magnificent in Carnival. Sadly, on entering college, Matt gave up all participation in theatre, because "staunch Republicans don't get involved with those singing types." His fiance, however, claims that she occasionally hears him singing Gilbert and Sullivan during his morning showers. Matt works with ER&E's Technical Computing Division as a supercomputing and scientific visualization computer analyst. Mary Homan (Innkeeper's Wife) is an associate chemist at FMC Corp., Princeton and lives with her husband Howard (CR) and two children in Piscataway. Since her early teens she has been a soloist in church and school choirs, and began studying voice a few years ago. This summer she sang solos from The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro and Orpheus and Eurydice in a Rutgers' opera workshop performance. She is a soloist in area churches and sings with Cantabile, a Middlesex County Chamber Chorale. Kimberly Homan (William Frankenstein) is in seventh grade at Conackamack School in Piscataway. She has studied piano and enjoys singing in school chorus performances. Eric Sirota (Composer, lyricist, Producer and Music Director). Eric is a physicist in Corporate Research. He studied piano with Dorothy and Sidney Morrow in Brooklyn and musical composition with Shep Shapiro and Ron Nelson at Brown University. He began work on Day of Wrath in 1981, making slow progress with it while in graduate school. In 1988 he began collaborating with Ms. Sudol and the work was completed this year. Sharon Sudol (Co-lyricist). Starting as House Manager of The Whole Theater Company, she has pursued a career as a freelance writer and special events coordinator, most recently for the Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. She has also written songs for various groups, including the 1990 recruitment song for the Fresh Air Fund in New York City. Ms. Sudol currently resides in Montclair. Cheryl Church (Director). "Love for the Theater never dies.". Cheryl can remember taking tap lessons, and being Ole King Cole in first grade. Since then she has been involved in various shows, acting, dancing or in the orchestra; however her biggest accomplishments were writing two One Act Plays as well as directing/co-directing three additional plays in college. Day of Wrath is the first full length musical that she has directed. Hubert King (Choreographer) Hubert is a physicist in Corporate Research who has watched dance for years but is here making his choreographic debut. He currently takes dance classes at Studio 400 in New York and is on the Board of Directors of a NYC-based dance company. Andrew Jannetti (Choreographic Consultant) Andrew is a dancer and choreographer who regularly performs and teaches in New York and New Jersey. He has danced with several modern dance companies and currently has his own company, Andrew Jannetti and Dancers.