Valley natives work key roles for musical

Staff report

Two Mahoning Valley natives recently found themselves working on the same production of a musical — in Maine.

Edward Reichert and Jarid Faubel both grew up in the Youngstown area but did not know each other until this summer. They met while working on a production of “7 Brides for 7 Brothers” at Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick, Maine.

Reichert was the music director of “7 Brides,” which ran from July 16 to Aug. 2.

He grew up on the South Side of Youngstown and attended Cardinal Mooney High School.

Faubel, who was the lead actor in the production, went to Canfield High School.

Reichert attended Hiram College for one year where he studied piano. He then moved to New York and received his bachelor of music degree in piano performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music, Queens College/CUNY.

He has been a faculty member at the University of Southern Maine school of music for the past 14 years, where he directs, musically directs, and works as the vocal coach in the musical theater program.

Reichert has performed as musical director/conductor at Walnut Street Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Portland Stage Company, Ogunquit Playhouse, and the Fulton & Florida Repertory Theatre, and has been in residence at Maine State Music Theatre for 23 years.

Highlights of his career include playing the role of Manny in productions of “Master Class” with Lucie Arnaz and Rosemary Prinz.

Reichert also once stepped in with less than 24 hours notice to conduct a concert version of “Evita” with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, starring Andrea McArdle.

Faubel, a graduate of Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, lives in New York, but his acting career has taken him to professional theaters across the country. He’ll head to South Carolina next for a role in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”

Faubel is also a film actor and has had roles in the films “Jack Reacher” and “X-men: First Class.”

In “Reacher,” he plays a man who is abusive to his girlfriend on a bus and subsequently gets into a fight with the title character, played by Tom Cruise.

In “X-men,” he is a U.S. Navy lieutenant in the battle scene between the mutants toward the movie’s end.

Faubel said he had an “amazing” time working at Maine State Music Theatre, but added that he’s never surprised when he meets a fellow Ohioan.

“You meet a lot of people from Ohio in the theater industry,” he said.