MUSIC TO HER EARS

If you wrote a script about Tamzen Johnson’s life, it might go something like this:
“By day, Johnson is a straight-laced, no-nonsense CPA, guiding clients through the rise and fall of the financial world.
“By night, she unleashes a singing, dancing drama coach, guiding students through the lines and lyrics of the classics.”
That script would be wrong – sort of, and right – sort of.
“People have told me, ‘you’re not like other CPAs,’ and that’s probably true,” Johnson said. “But people who like numbers are also usually pretty creative.”
For 26 years, her creativity has been on full display during the Blooming Prairie High School musical – starting in 1991 as choreographer for director Frank Vorlicek.
She took a break from 1995-1999, and in 2003, she was both choreographer and assistant director. The following year, she took over as director, and except for “Brigadoon” in 2005, has directed every performance since.
Johnson, who graduated from New Richland High School, has a singing and dancing background. She attended Waldorf University in Forest City, Iowa, where she performed in the operetta “HMS Pinafore.”
“I was exposed to community theater but not formally trained,” she said.
Maybe not, but you’ll struggle to find a more fearless and involved high school drama coach.
Her first directing role was for “Annie.”
“There were 83 kids in that cast,” Johnson said. “It was fun.”
She said that about “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers,” too, one of her favorites.
“We needed 21 males for that, so we actually invited the fathers of the community to be the fathers (in the musical), so that was fun.”
Johnson readily admitted that she ascribes to the motto “it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.”
“All the time,” she said. “All the time.”
For example, in the 2015 production of “Peter Pan,” Camden Heimerman, as Peter, actually “flew” around the gym. Or for the 2011 production of “Grease,” when she borrowed an antique car, brought it through the hallways of the high school and squeezed it into the gym.
In 2009, Blooming Prairie High School was the first non-professional cast to perform “White Christmas,” a year that also saw the death of one of her student-actors, Jordan Ressler.
Tears filled her eyes when she talked about how the rest of the cast pulled together, coping with a sudden death and pulling together to support each other.
“In Blooming Prairie, there a role for everybody,” Johnson said. “Responsibility plays a big part.”
It affects how she casts roles, too, asking herself, “is the kid coachable? What spark can we develop? We have wonderful kids here; they’re always encouraging each other. Usually, jocks hang out with jocks, and geeks hang out with geeks, motorheads hang out with motorheads. Well, we have them all, and they all work together.”
Amelia Harthan, of Hayfield, has been music director for BPHS musicals since 2011.
“I’ve been working with her for nine years,” she said of Johnson. “She’s really good with the kids; she empowers them a lot. She likes to hear other people’s ideas, and she’s willing to try new things, to push the envelope.”
Like in 2019, Harthan said, when the school did “The Sound of Music.”
Johnson heard about a Jewish man in the Twin Cities who had fled Nazi Germany with his family as a child and had a collection of memorabilia about his family’s escape.
“She invited him to come down here and talk to the cast, so the kids could hear his story,” Harthan said, putting their musical in perspective.
Harthan has worked hard, as well, Johnson said, creating an orchestra that accompanies each production. It’s now so complete it has to perform from behind the stage, so the music doesn’t drown out the actors.
“Amelia can write music, transpose music,” Johnson said. “She has wonderful depth, wonderful dimension.”
Johnson also sings the praises of her husband Doug Johnson, “our special effects guy,” and her assistant director since 2006, Kari Bottin.
“Kari is phenomenal,” she said. “She has a good relationship with most of these kids, and she works and works and works with them.”
Doug, she said, provided snow for “White Christmas,” researched a safe harness for “Peter Pan,” and moved that car into the gym for her.
Johnson interrupted herself often, with “I should talk about that, too.” Like a mother asked to pick a favorite child, she has fond memories of many of the productions.
Last year’s “Shrek,” she said, “was a miracle production.” Amid COVID-19 and distance learning, masks, social distancing and quarantines, many of the rehearsals included ZOOM practices.
“They never missed a line, a song,” Johnson said. “All those kids were incredible, imaginative and creative, thank God. They could act like the person was right there. They were amazing kids. Amazing.”
The theater department got a huge boost in 2011 when an anonymous donor gave the school $8,000 to apply toward a new sound system. With some help from the Education Foundation and fundraisers, they now have a soundboard that is the envy of much larger schools.
This year’s offering: “Oliver,” with a cast of about 30, including junior high students.
Johnson said she works hard not to repeat a musical, taking suggestions from the students into consideration each spring. She and Bottin finalize the decision over the summer.
Her goal, it seems, is to teach the basics of theater, which she said are really the basics of life.
“The difference between a good play and a great play isn’t the lead. It’s the cast,” Johnson said. “I tell them, ‘this is your show. I can’t make you care.’ And don’t hold back. Grandma didn’t pay $10 to watch you hug the curtain.”