---

Last month’s Asbury Park High School production of “The Wiz” was so successful, theater/dance department head Gary Kilmer is about to do cartwheels in the road — literally.

Tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., Kilmer will cartwheel down Sunset Avenue in front of the high school, making good on a statement he made during rehearsals.

A month ago, Kilmer was blocking off some seats during a rehearsal. From certain angles, the backstage area is visible to the audience on the far left and far right, so Kilmer wanted to ensure people wouldn’t sit in those seats. A student asked him what would happen if so many people came to the show and they needed to use the seats.

“If we get more people than we have seats, you’ll have bigger problems, because your teacher is going to be doing cartwheels down Sunset Avenue,” Kilmer said to the student.

The show played April 19 through 21 in the school auditorium to record-breaking crowds. Kilmer was impressed enough with Thursday night’s showing of 250 ticket-holders, which is twice the attendance of a normal opening night, he said. He was shocked when on Saturday, more than 350 people showed up to be entertained by the cast of students.

The performance started 30 minutes late because people were lined up outside the school — and the teacher had to unblock those seats to accommodate the crowds.

The public is invited to join the fun tomorrow, Wednesday, May 16, from 2:30 to 2:45 p.m. outside the school as Kilmer cartwheels to the most famous song from “The Wiz,” “Ease On Down the Road.” The teacher will do 20 to 25 cartwheels down two-thirds of the block. Students will be waiting at the finish line with balloons and a velvet rope in the color green like the play’s Emerald City.

In preparation for his acrobatic challenge, Kilmer plans to “stretch and eat a light lunch.”

Students at Asbury Park High School usually don’t expect much in the way of crowds at their extra-curricular activities, Kilmer said.

“People are afraid of the neighborhood at night so school events don’t get much participation,” he said.

Also, “positive events are often overshadowed by the negative” when it comes to news coverage of APHS, he said. But this year, there was enough positive buzz about the play to draw the department’s biggest crowds ever, by far.

Senior La’Que Melvin, who was named the spring musical’s MVP for all of her hard work, was also thrilled with the turnout at the play this year. She played the Tin Man and her robotic dance solo was one of the play’s highlights. The moves she performed to great applause were different every night — “I can’t be choregraphed,” she said.

Of the huge turnout for the play, “I was really amazed and astonished,” she said. “I was like, this community is really changing.”

La’Que is also happy to see students receiving recognition for something other than athletics.

“People thought all we had was football and basketball,” she said. “After I joined the drama club, I was like, wow, we have some talented kids here.”

And the sold-out play isn’t the only thing the Asbury Park High School Department of Theater and Dance is celebrating. The Count Basie Theater in Red Bank recently announced the nominees for the 2012 Basie Awards for high school theater and APHS brought home five nominations. The school’s fall production of “Backstage!” earned nominations for Best Set Design for a Drama, and students Alyssa Figueroa and Nate Fields were both nominated in the Best Supporting Actor/Actress in a Drama categories.

“The Wiz” garnered nominations for Best Costuming in a Musical and Best Lighting Design in a Musical.

The high school has only been nominated for Basie honors once before — in 2009, with their production of “Little Shop of Horrors” earning nods in three categories. This year’s five marks a school record. The awards ceremony takes place Wednesday, May 23 at the Count Basie Theater.

---