Joanne Archer poses with members of her comedy class at Ridgewood High School back in the 1990s.
Ridgewood’s Jamboree is ready to go
January 30, 2015 Last updated: Friday, January 30, 2015, 12:31 AM
By Betsy murphy
CORRESPONDENT |
The Ridgewood News
Here it comes – the annual song and dance review called RHS Jamboree that brings high school parents together on stage for a month of fun, foolishness and fond friendships! This wonderful tradition has parents who don’t sing singing and parents who don’t dance dancing. It’s a month of concentrated hard work with the ultimate goal of raising money for scholarships. The memories and lasting friendships are legend, but there’s a serendipity along the way that has happened to some.
It was four years that changed Joanne Archer’s life.
Joanne Archer poses with members of her comedy class at Ridgewood High School back in the 1990s.
photo courtesy of dotti fucito
Filmmaker/Producer and Jamboree President of the Board of Trustees, Dotti Fucito, poses at the Jersey City International & Television Film Festival with Marke Manke, a cast member in her movie, “The Jersey Devil,” and Jamboree Sets Chair for 10 years.
“I had never been on a stage,” she says, before she auditioned for Ron Tutrone, Dotti Fucito and Tony LaFemina.
“It was during the World Series, and I sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” She says, “I couldn’t sing, but they saw something comedic. They put me in the spotlight and – she says the words separately – “I Never. Wanted. To get out!”
She admits, “It was thrilling.” She recalls one particular skit with Lou Fucito when “I had to throw a pie in his face. It was a great opportunity for grownups to act like kids.”
Fresh from Jamboree, she went to NYU and took a Comedy Writing Class.
Her final exam was to perform at Stand Up New York at 78th and Broadway. Her husband, John, her parents, her whole family came, with about 50 people.
“I loved hearing that audience laugh!”
Joanne had spent five years with Hospice as director of volunteers. Her innate sense of humor had helped her, but it was a serious job.
“As a result of being in Jamboree, I went into a whole new career,” she says smiling her broad and infectious smile. That career took her into appearing at Legends in Midland Park. (“I talked them into doing comedy shows,” she says. “I had comedians come out from New York to perform.”)
It was at Legends she met Suzanne Peterson, who was there to see her perform. Shortly afterward, Joanne and Suzanne, a soprano, formed a successful partnership. Joanne talked Bacari Restaurant in Washington Township into doing Dinner Theater and she and Suzanne did a number of shows there during the course of two years. “John went to every show,” she says. “My greatest support person.”
That was during the 90s and it was also then that Joanne began to teach a comedy class at Ridgewood High School, which went on for four years.
After 9/11, the pair began a local TV show, Blondz in the Hood, interviewing area residents, “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” That show continued for seven years. The show’s producer, Mary Pat Boron, was a friend Joanne had met at Jamboree.
Joanne says again of Jamboree, “It was great fun as a grownup to do silly things. There were wonderful moments! It was a life altering four years.”
Joanne enjoyed her second career for 20 years. Now, retired, she says, “it’s great to spend time with the grandchildren. I like being on this end!”
“Jamboree was my jumping off point into a professional career in the entertainment business,” says Dotti Fucito. Along with other parents, she was dancing, sewing, painting and writing (script committee). But Jerry DeFalco, director of that year’s show, noticed something. “I’ve been watching you multitask, create, organize, coordinate, lead and perform and I really think you have something special that Jamboree needs – someone to take the reins behind the scenes and help Jamboree to the next level,” he told her.
“When I looked at him questioningly, he said, ‘you have the foresight to see all the separate pieces of the show and how they all fit together.’ He said he saw me as a sort of behind-the-scene conductor or stage manager.”
Director, art teacher, creative designer, DeFalco became Dotti’s mentor.
