CM Performing Arts Center debuts $100,000 upgrade at 'Legally Blonde' Saturday

When the house lights dim and the orchestra launches into the upbeat opening of "Legally Blonde the Musical," audiences at CM Performing Arts Center may notice clearer, crisper sounds filling the room.

The Oakdale theater unveiled $100,000 in audio and electrical upgrades ahead of the musical's opening night performance Saturday. Several Long Island businesses chipped in, donating equipment and installation time to spruce up the community theater, which turns 39 this year.

"We have Broadway-quality sounds now in this theater," Marc Hollid-Ausset, the theater's president and CEO, said in an interview, adding that the new system replaces a mix of equipment intended for DJs and home sound systems. "This has been a pain point for us … but we just didn't have the funds to do it," Hollid-Ausset said.

Founded in 1987, the nonprofit arts center produces a full lineup of main stage shows and arts education programs for children throughout the year, plus special performances, including candlelight orchestra concerts and local cover bands.

Even with volunteers and fundraising to offset costs for sets, costumes and equipment, rights and royalties to perform big name shows can run between $10,000 and $20,000, according to Hollid-Ausset.

Excluding a VIP section, tickets top out around $45 despite the high costs. "Part of our mission is to keep the arts accessible … so that families can come and experience live theater on a regular basis," Hollid-Ausset added.

Advance Sound Company, a Farmingdale-based AV firm, donated the system while the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 25, Roland's Electric and John Paul Electric companies pitched in to enhance the theater's electrical infrastructure to accommodate the new technology.

The new system includes three large JBL speaker arrays that hang over the left, center and right of the stage, a renovated sound booth, new sound monitors and lights in the orchestra pit, and new switches, circuits and outlets that reduce the need for a tangle of extension cords for set building. The donation also included a new $10,000 projector screen.

Dozens of volunteers worked for a week straight on the renovations to the 354-seat theater.

Thomas DePace, vice president of engineering at Advance Sound Company, said the result is an "immersive" experience.

Audio "has the most impact to a performance," DePace said in an interview. "An actor can miss a cue, or the lighting could be the wrong color, but if somebody in the audience can't hear their loved one acting, it negatively impacts that."

The cast of "Legally Blonde the Musical" were the first to trial the new system at recent rehearsals.

Michelle Shapiro, 26, of Wantagh, who plays Elle Woods in the musical comedy, said the upgraded sound system will "broaden the experience" for audiences.

The show, based on the 2001 movie starring Reese Witherspoon, runs through Feb. 1 at CM Performing Arts Center.

"It does its best to honor the movie that everybody loves," said Shapiro, a music teacher by day. "You'll get all those iconic lines, bending and snapping and everything. But it's also original in its own special way."