It’s the battle cry of teenage girls everywhere: “We’ve got to have, we plot to have, for it’s dreary not to have, that certain thing called ‘The Boy Friend.’”

It’s also the opening number of Sandy Wilson’s musical comedy “The Boy Friend,” which opens March 22 at Old Rochester Regional High School.

Set in Nice, France, the comedy includes romance, mistaken identity and tongue-in-cheek social satire.

Drama Club director Paul Sardinha, who performed in the 1920’s spoof in college, said he chose the three-act play based on the students in the program.

“I looked at the talent we have and what play would fit,” he said.

Over 100 students and a host of volunteers came together, both in front of and behind the scenes, to bring “The Boy Friend” to the ORR stage.

Four months of preparation went into the production, which has six dance numbers, 170 costumes, and a live band.

Because there is not one lead part, “The Boy Friend” gives many students the chance to show their stuff on stage.

“Paul wants them all to shine,” said Costume coordinator Helen Blake.

In preparing for any play, Blake said she and Sardinha “both do a lot of research. We try to get it right.”

Getting it right is a theme backstage.While many of the flapper costumes were borrowed, Blake said she and her team of volunteer seamstresses modified everything.

“I’m constantly trying to make it better,” she said.

Crew member Scotlyn Adler said what happens behind the scenes is magic.

“When you’re in the audience, you don’t know the other world behind the stage,” Adler said. “Everyone really puts their hearts into it. That’s all we can really ask for.”

In contrast to ORR’s production of the drama “Triangle” in the fall semester, Sardinha says “The Boy Friend” is a lighthearted “toe tapper” that is sure to get the audience laughing.

“It’s fantastical farcical family fun,” he said.