A Busy Summer -- and Fall -- for APA’s Tim Nelson

Tom Titus

Tim Nelson has had quite a year -- even for him. The primary director

of musical theater for the Academy for the Performing Arts at

Huntington Beach High School is back home, preparing the toe-tapping

show “42nd Street” for an opening two weekends hence, and attempting

to rest up from a whirlwind -- and worldwide -- excursion over his

“vacation” period.

After the end of the past school year, Nelson flew to upstate New

York to direct “Man of La Mancha” for a new summer stock company and,

in his unbiased opinion, “It turned out great. I am going back next

summer.”

Turns out the stock company is interested in producing Nelson’s

original musical, “R.I.P. Van Winkle,” which he points out is

“appropriate for the Catskills region.

“I brought the twins from APA, Alex and Matt Bartosh, with me to

play muleteers (in “La Mancha”) and gave them some practical

professional experience on the East Coast,” Nelson said. “It was a

really wonderful summer.”

But that wasn’t the half of it. After returning home at the

beginning of August, Nelson repacked his bags and headed for

Edinburgh, Scotland, with his company from last season’s musical “The

Secret Garden.” Again, it was an uplifting experience.

“We won the highest rating -- five stars -- and the whole

experience was a huge success,” he said.

Nelson’s production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor

Dreamcoat” just closed at the Curtain Call Dinner Theater in Tustin,

where a revival of “South Pacific” under his direction -- and

starring his wife, Mary Murphy-Nelson, as Nellie -- opens tonight.

Nelson remains the director of special events at the Orange County

High School of the Arts, and currently is in the planning stage for

the school’s first event of the year, the annual Fashion Island

tree-lighting ceremony, which he’ll direct. He’ll also be in charge

of “Santa’s Arrival” at Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza, which goes on

Nov. 19.

Project A at the moment, however, is “42nd Street,” which opens

Oct. 22 for a two-weekend engagement in the Huntington Beach High

School auditorium. It’s a demanding show, particularly on the dance

company, but Nelson has some history with it -- he’s played Billy

Lawlor, the romantic lead, twice and directed it twice.

Looking ahead, Nelson said, “I have an idea for a new musical, and

am excited about ‘Evita’ in the spring.”

The APA recently was granted the rights to that Andrew Lloyd

Webber musical.

“Last, but not least, I am in my 21st year of teaching with the

Westminster High School District,” Nelson said. “I have cut way back

with all my work at HBHS and OCHSA, but I still make time once a week

to teach the elementary kids. Hey, they are the high schoolers of the

future.”

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Independent.