FROM BROADWAY TO CHS AND BACK AGAIN
Bethany Pettigrew's return is the latest chapter in a career that continues to evolve
By Adrianna Donat
Bethany Pettigrew’s career has taken her from the Broadway stage to the director’s chair, with a long and productive detour through Columbia High School. Now, after years of building a family, a local business and one of the region’s most ambitious school theater programs, she is back on Broadway as associate director of Schmigadoon!, the Tony Award-winning musical.
Her return is less a reinvention than the continuation of relationships and skills developed over decades. Pettigrew, a modern dance major in college, performed in Cats, where she played Sillabub and met fellow cast member and future husband Duncan Pettigrew. She has collaborated for nearly 25 years with Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Gattelli, whom she also met in Cats. Their work has included workshops, readings, regional productions and Broadway shows such as Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, Godspell, and Death Becomes Her.
As Gattelli’s career developed, Pettigrew moved increasingly into choreography and directing. She describes directing as being so much more than teaching actors how to say their lines or where to go in a space. “It’s about assembling a team of creatives and helping them reach their visions,” she says. “It’s a lot of collaboration and connecting the dots.” Pettigrew compares the process to a home renovation: “all the tiny details and small decisions that come together to make magic.”
Raising three children made the demanding schedule of professional theater harder to manage, however, and she began seeking creative opportunities closer to home. Her work at Columbia allowed her to remain connected to the industry while developing the leadership skills that would eventually help bring her back to Broadway.
That trajectory is particularly meaningful to Pettigrew as a woman and a mother. “I’m often the only woman in the room and also the only one with children,” she says. “I feel proud to represent and model that women can be in leadership roles.”
Pettigrew is best known locally for her work on 26 Columbia High School musicals (and counting), a program that has become a source of community pride.
Her involvement began shortly after she moved to Maplewood in 2000. Her longtime friend and fellow Cats cast member Tricia Benn told her the school was looking for a choreographer. Pettigrew agreed, provided Benn would do it with her. Their first show was Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2001.
Working at the school helped Pettigrew meet people in her new community. Her high school had a strong theater program. She remembered how much those productions meant to her. She wanted to offer another generation the same experience.
“Each year we set the bar a little higher,” Pettigrew says, “and each year we were making magic happen.”
Benn, who worked alongside Pettigrew for 24 years, remembers the effort behind those productions. “The long hours and attention to detail that was needed was never lost on Bethany, who was always willing to go the extra mile.”
One early show helped establish the musical as something the wider community would anticipate. For Peter Pan in 2003-04, the production expanded to two weekends and brought in a professional flying rig. With a strong cast, elaborate costumes and an impressive set, the show sold out by its second weekend.
The musical began visiting elementary schools to preview its productions, introducing younger children to the program and encouraging families to attend. Pettigrew remembers a time when some residents had reservations about Columbia High School. “It was exciting to notice perceptions changing and give younger families confidence in our amazing high school,” Pettigrew says.
The talented, hardworking and enthusiastic students she encountered at CHS made her think they were capable of producing excellent theater programs. Friend and neighbor Joanna Young Shubart saw the program’s quality firsthand when Pettigrew co-choreographed The Drowsy Chaperone. Shubart had performed in the Broadway production and persuaded about 10 cast members to attend the CHS version.
“We were blown away,” Shubart remembers. “We could not believe the talent of the kids and the incredible production values.”
A typical CHS musical includes 40 to 60 performers, approximately 50 stage-crew members and a 15-person orchestra. Choosing a show requires balancing available talent, educational goals and the limitations of the auditorium. Pettigrew and her team, including Britt Keshner and Jake Ezzo, consider the students’ strengths and the styles of musical theater they have not yet experienced.
Current co-director and co-choreographer Britt Shubow Keshner has seen Pettigrew solve problems in the rehearsal room. Sometimes the two will be working on choreography that neither believes is quite right. After a brief discussion, Pettigrew will suddenly see another way.
“She listens, she creates, she goes back to the drawing board and doesn’t stop until the right idea comes along,” Keshner says.
That commitment to quality extends to the students, who are expected to approach rehearsals and performances professionally. Parent Lynne Daly watched her children participate in the musical’s elementary workshops before her daughter Marianna joined the CHS productions.
“The team expects students to behave professionally,” Daly says. “CHS shows have challenging material and advanced staging and choreography. But more importantly, the team works to establish a real community within the cast.”
Marianna Daly, who has performed in the musical for the past two years, describes the experience as one of the highlights of high school. “With her presence in the CHS musical, each performer has an opportunity to grow and shine.”
The program also offers opportunities for students whose interests lie beyond performing. Pettigrew and her team have developed senior leadership positions including production assistants, student costume coordinators, lighting designers, hair and makeup teams, dance captains, social-media coordinators and crew leads.
“She cares about each and every student,” Keshner says, adding that Pettigrew “empowers our students at every level of the production.”
Some years, 10 to 15 CHS students have gone on to Bachelor of Fine Arts programs. Alumni have made Broadway debuts and become producers and other theater professionals. Pettigrew believes the discipline, collaboration and problem-solving required to produce a musical can serve students in almost any field.
Pettigrew’s own career illustrates the importance of finding more than one way to make a living in the arts. She is a co-owner of Maplewood’s Studio 509, which grew out of a lifelong connection to dance and fitness. Her mother owned a fitness studio, and Pettigrew began teaching classes at 16. She has been certified in the GYROTONIC Method for more than 20 years.
When the opportunity arose to open Studio 509 with longtime business partner Guada Bas, she welcomed the chance to build a business that would allow her to continue pursuing theater opportunities.
“I am so lucky and grateful to have Bethany as a thoughtful, generous and supportive business partner and longtime friend,” Bas says. “We both love what we do and have a great time coming up with new, fun and creative ideas for Studio 509.”
Bas’ flexibility has allowed Pettigrew to take on more professional theater work in recent years. Shubart, who is also a Studio 509 client, marvels at her friend’s ability to maintain Broadway shows and tours while continuing to direct at CHS and run a local business.
Pettigrew’s return to Broadway has also changed the way the CHS program operates. After Benn retired, Keshner stepped in as co-choreographer for Mamma Mia!, a show in which she had performed on Broadway. She has since become co-director and co-choreographer, taking on more of the day-to-day work while Pettigrew pursues outside opportunities.
The arrangement has helped sustain the program Pettigrew and Benn built. Its designers, musicians, technicians and parent volunteers include people who remain involved long after their children graduate. Pettigrew’s own children have long since left CHS, but she continues to return.
Her favorite production is Ragtime, the 2015 show for which she and Benn won a Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award for direction. She was particularly proud of the students’ ability to handle its demanding themes and music.
For Pettigrew, the distance between Broadway and Columbia High School has never been as great as it might seem. Both have given her opportunities to collaborate, nurture talent and bring ambitious productions to life. Now, as her Broadway career enters another chapter, she continues to draw on the relationships and experiences she built in both worlds.
And with 26 CHS musicals behind her and a Broadway career still unfolding, Pettigrew has plenty of reasons to take a bow. Just don’t expect her to stay offstage for long.
Adrianna Ahern Donat writes for Matters Magazine and works as a Realtor with Pollock Properties Group, where the drama is generally limited to multiple-offer situations.
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