Mr. Zeiger’s Opus

By Lynne Miller

Ocean Beach Historical Society on May 21 hosted a celebration for Larry Zeiger’s 50-year anniversary of Musical Theater at Point Loma High School. “Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance” became a rite of passage for seniors.  Larry Zieger, often known as ‘Zeiger’, sometimes known as ‘Larmo’, moved to California and got his Masters in Film at San Diego State University.  He applied to the PhD program at USC, but luckily for us, the L.A. smog and the policies at USC changed Mr. Zeiger’s plans.

He decided to listen to the voices of professors and film experts who encouraged him to become a teacher. He stepped into the role of teacher at a time when Required Courses like English could be created, pitched and approved.  Larry offered credited English courses at PLHS  that taught film.  Students watched films, read screenplays and books about film production, wrote their own play, sometimes wrote songs, made the sets, learned to sing and dance and act, and then they rehearsed and rehearsed. Their marketing resulted in sell-out crowds and eventually to nationwide acclaim.

Zeiger’s presentation last week included a slide show that included each graduating class, from the first performance without a stage or auditorium to his 2007 swan song in a beautiful theater now labeled The Larry Zeiger Performing Arts Center.

Sadly, when I attended PLHS Larry was somewhere in time growing up.  However, I attended all 7 nights of my son’s show, “Dangerous Disguises.” I also attended 7 shows when my daughter was in “Beauty Queens and Cellophane Dreams,” and the super-talented Matt Harrington stole that show when he sang Cellophane (from the musical Chicago).  Matt, a star on Broadway, is one of many Gotta Sing alumni who have success stories in the Performing Arts.

Spencer Moses was on stage in “Tailor Made” and now performs on and off Broadway. If my memory is correct it was during Tailor Made that a prop became part of the cast, a wooden cow named Milky White. Closing night the cow went missing, and many years later Zeiger discovered Milky White in his yard.  Who housed and fed the wooden cow for so many years?  We will just let the mystery be.

There are many Gotta Sing success stories—from Glen Fischer to Halee Stanford and Kathryn Bigalow, the list is long, and the students, many who attended this celebration, punctuate their stories with “Thank you Larry Zeiger, you changed my life.”  They were not just talking about their introduction to stage production and film, but to their belief in themselves and in collaborative creation.

Most seniors in Larry’s classes had never performed. Zeiger told them “If you can talk you can sing, if you can walk you can dance!”  My favorite part of this 50th Celebration was a video that showed Mr. Zeiger’s classroom in action, where the magic began.  Students were inspired to create, learn, write, speak, plan. The video showed the think tank whose finale would be many nights of performing.  Mr. Zeiger will tell you the students created the shows.  I will tell you that without Larry Zeiger as their teacher, leading them with his passion and knowledge of film, those students would have just been in another English Class.

Let me share just a few stories Larry told at the celebration. There are too many stories to tell. Larry mentioned a book is a possibility, which means it is likely to be spotlighted on bookshelves one day.

Zeiger is a force of nature, to the joy of his students and the chagrin of some administrators.  Somewhere in his early Gotta Sing years, nicknames were a fad, everyone had nicknames.  Students named their teacher ‘Larmo.’  Zeiger discouraged the name because administrators didn’t want teachers to be addressed by their first name. Students pointed out that Larmo was just a nickname, and it stuck.  When the principal of that era walked into Zeiger’s classroom and addressed him as ‘Larmo’, he was officially knighted.  Each class gave Larry a present to thank him for his 7:00 am to 11:00 pm days and nights.  This class got him a license plate from the DMV that said, you guessed it, ‘Larmo’, which is still on his car today, and elicits honks and waves.  One day Mr Zeiger was walking down a street in New York City and from a passing car he heard a shout, LARMO!

Do you remember the year that Winona Ryder was caught shoplifting?  The Zeiger student playwrights wrote a comedy based on that real story, and it went viral, internationally. Eventually the video got into Winona’s hands who loved it and included it in her AMC Biography.

Students, directed by their teacher, wrote a play based on current events or personal experiences.  In 2006 Larry had a skin condition that landed him at UCSD hospital for a week.  He had cellulitis caused by infection from a dangerous bacteria, and if untreated could be fatal.  So the play that year, based on his ICU adventure was called ‘I See You – A Medical Musical’. Each night there was an audience participation number, beginning with “Is there a doctor in the house?”  A real doctor from the audience stood up and performed a song with the students.  Larry was surprised one night when 11 doctors from UCSD stood up and took center stage, singing and dancing.  Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance spreads, well, like a ‘good’ bacteria. Going viral was almost expected from the force that began with Zeiger.

If you want to become part of the Zeiger extended family, part of the community that attended Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance, year after year, there is a way.  It is not too late.  Ted Caplanaris, a Zeiger alumni, compiled videos of all of the Zieger PLHS shows.  Here is the link.

Hopefully in every student’s life there is at least one teacher who loves their craft, who shows students how to dig deep, work hard, and believe in themselves.  I don’t know of anything more important. Ironically the art of teaching is not teachable. It is a rare talent and a gift to students who step into the Master’s classroom.

One final story.  Larry and two other teachers were recognized nationally and invited to the Telluride Film Festival.  Larry was able to take 4 students with him.  They mingled with directors and film stars like Brad Pitt, Jennifer Amiston, and Richard Dreyfus (of Mr. Holland’s Opus).  Someone, was it Dreyfus himself, said “this is your story Larry.”

Yes, the performing art world knows about Larry Zeiger, and his extraordinary program– one that thrived in an educational environment that was sometimes supportive of the arts, and sometimes not. We locals know that he is the teacher who gave his love of theater to not only his students, but parents and community.

Oh, and the next time you sit in those comfortable theater seats in the Larry Zeiger Performing Arts Center remember that through the marketing campaign of the 1996 Gotta Sing Class all 300 seats were paid for by private donors. We are so proud of Larry and all of his students who showed us what love of the arts can offer to the creators and the community.  As much as we would like to claim Larry Zeiger as our ‘own’, we have to recognize that his dedication to teaching and the arts is known nationally, and beyond.  Larry received a letter of commendation from President Bill Clinton thanking him for his part in bringing the arts into education.

So as the curtains falls on the 50th Anniversary of Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance, we know that Mr. Zeiger’s Opus has changed the fabric of many lives, beyond his students, their parents, and our community. Whether we were, on the stage or in the audience, we experienced the magic of Gotta Sing, Gotta Dance!