Final curtain falls on Westmoreland Night of the Stars musical showcase

Feb. 17—The final curtain has fallen on Westmoreland Night of the Stars — unless someone steps up to take over running the annual two-night showcase of area school musicals.

In 2019, founder John Noble announced his intention to turn the production over to his daughter, Elly Carr of Irwin, a theater veteran of off-Broadway and area stages. Following a two-year pandemic hiatus, Noble returned last year for one last run, assisted by Carr.

This year, both have said they are unable to continue.

"It's really hard for me to do this, but I promised my wife and family that I would be done," said Noble, 67, of Hempfield. "No one is going to miss it more than me. It was my passion."

Instead of devoting more than two months of free time each year to Night of the Stars, Noble said he plans "to enjoy my current good health, family, grandchildren, travel, friends, retirement, etc., on my terms."

He also continues to work as a mediation and arbitration attorney.

Now the mother of two young children, Carr said she doesn't have the time it takes to run the production, either.

"It's too much of a job for a single person. It honestly should be a committee of 10 or 12 people doing it," Carr said. "It's not a paid job, it's a labor of love and my dad was so devoted to it.

"He's wanted to step away for a while and have his time back, but his heart is too big."

Westmoreland Night of the Stars debuted in 1997 with seven county schools presenting snippets from their spring musicals at The Palace Theatre in Greensburg. Over the years, it grew to feature 18 high school, middle school, home and cyber school groups performing for two nights in May.

In more than 27 performances, students presented 339 segments from their musicals. Noble estimates that he put in more than 4,800 volunteer hours preparing for and running the shows.

"When you think of it as 10 weeks and 10 weekends per year, 20% of my year was devoted to going to (high school musicals)," he said. "I always made it a point to see every show, talk to the kids, praise the parents, build up the directors.

"I bet, in 25 years, maybe I missed less than 10," he added. "For decades, I didn't just go to the performances, I got permission to sit in on rehearsals, too."

Unadulterated love

Every year, each featured school received $1,000 for its theater program from Night of the Stars proceeds. Local theater supporters, including Tony and Renata Marino of Westmoreland Performing Arts and Hempfield Area High School alumnus Ryan Stana, donated more than $100,000 in scholarship money to participating students, Noble said.

Stana, founder and CEO of New York-based entertainment firm RWS & Associates, will continue awarding an annual $1,000 theater scholarship in memory of his grandmother, Esther M. Kocevar, at Hempfield.

"(Night of the Stars) has meant so much to our community and student performers in our area," said Tony Marino, former Hempfield musical director. "It was such a John Noble event because it was all about his unadulterated love of the kids and all things theater.

"It's a shame it can't continue in some way."

The production became a Westmoreland County cultural tradition, said Daniel Krack, longtime musical director at Greater Latrobe Senior High School.

"Westmoreland Night of the Stars was a night that many of the students looked forward to every year," he said. "It was a celebration of the arts and put on full display the power and importance of arts education in our schools."

In announcing his decision to the school theater groups, Noble alluded to possible issues with the companies that license the musicals to the schools and whether their contracts included performing at Night of the Stars.

At the time, he said, it seemed like a graceful way to bow out.

"That's what I wrote and I regret that I wrote it now, because the focus is misplaced," Noble said. "It's not the issue. Any discussion about licensing is misplaced.

"It's a matter of time and commitment and man hours. It's really hard for me to do this, but I've retired, and this time I really mean it," he said.

Noble and Carr hold out hope that somehow, at some time, the show will go on.

"I would like to see it keep going, and I would even emcee it; but to date, no one has come forward," Noble said.

Sometimes you don't know what you've got until it's gone, Carr said.

"Between now and May, it's unlikely that somebody would like to take over, but there is an opportunity for it to come back in the future," she said. "I do expect someone to take it over at some point, but until that point, I think schools will just focus on their performances.

"What I hope happens is that schools will go see each other's performances. It would be nice if schools would offer a bus to take their musical students to see somebody else's musical," she said. "That would continue the support and community that my dad built in the high school and middle school world."

Shirley McMarlin is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Shirley by email at smcmarlin@triblive.com or via Twitter .