“It was very good,” drama teacher Kayla Sharp said on last weekend’s musical. “I think there are definitely things we can always improve on. There always are; reflective practice teaches me that. I thought it was a very good run, and I was very pleased at what the students put forth.”
This year’s production, The Wedding Singer, was shown March 17-19. The show is about a wedding singer named Robbie who gets left at the altar and meets a waitress named Julia, with whom he falls in love. She, however, is engaged to a Wall Street banker named Glenn.
There are many aspects that go into a musical production, including the actors, the musical pit, the ensemble and the technical crew.
“It’s really great that the whole arts department comes together and we all put one show together,” said senior Hudson Moore, flute and assorted percussionist in the musical pit.
Senior Cameron Underwood discussed his character Sammy.
It’s hard to describe Sammy in a way that’s polite,” Underwood said. “My very first line in the musical, I’m hitting on a woman in a very unpolite way…. I think the word I would use for him would be ‘trashy.’”
The ensemble consists of the backup singers and dancers.
“I [sang] and [danced],” junior Kendra Moon said. “I love it.”
The technical crew has many important jobs.
“When we first started working in the musical, we started working on programming the lighting sequences,” junior Nikolai Mather said. “Then we started painting and making the set pieces, and we started working on coordinating the sound sequences. [When] the musical [was] in its final stages, we started playing those lighting sequences, we monitored sound sequences [and] we also moved the set pieces and made sure they were in order for the actors and actresses’ use.”
The practices and performances take up an extensive amount of time.
“It is a frantic, fantastic, fun-filled time,” Sharp said. ”From December until early April, it’s the only thing that I can do…. It’s a lot of time, but it is a very rewarding process.”
Despite the time commitment, many of those involved in the musical enjoy the experience.
“In a way, I wish it took up more of the day,” said sophomore Connor Lewis, who played Robbie. “However there are still commitments to school…. In the end, it all comes together, and in the end, it’s worth it.”
The musical has had a large emotional impact to those involved.
“It’s just so much fun to be part of a production like this,” Lewis said.
Underwood agreed.
“The whole show, it just goes up and up until the very end,” Underwood said. “It gets to the point where everyone is so excited and hyped up…. The curtains close, we’re singing the last song, we run backstage and we just start hugging each other and throwing each other across the room. We’re just so happy; it’s the best feeling for sure.”
– By Emmy Robertson