Rehearsals
Practicing choreography and memorizing music is essential for a successful musical. During rehearsals, the cast has constantly put full effort into improving their choreography, acting, and singing. When it comes to practicing, it can take a lot of dedication and hard work. 8th grader and stage manager Daniella Emerson said, “Having time to work with a teacher or other people can be beneficial.” When working with cast members, some find choreography, singing, and acting difficult, and it helps to have an adult guide them throughout the process. Rehearsals are a significant part of the musical, and they help every cast member. 7th grader Clara Norton said, “Rehearsals are important to me because practicing helps me with perfecting choreography.” As we got closer to the show, rehearsals started becoming longer so everyone could be prepared for the show. At the start, rehearsals ended at 4:00, but they started getting longer the closer the show came. During dress rehearsal week, the cast stayed until 6:00. So to wrap up, learning choreography and mastering musical arrangements is crucial for a triumphant theatrical performance!
Getting Show Ready
It’s a long process to get ready for a show. Several things go into making a production “stage-ready.” Some hard parts are memorizing lines, costuming and makeup, blocking scenes, and building the set. Memorizing lines takes a different amount of time for different people. It can also depend on how many lines you have. 8th grader Amberlin Burgett, who played Lavender in the show, said, “It took me about a week or two to memorize all my lines for this production because some were harder than others to learn.” 7th grader Adam Wallace, who played Bruce, also said, “Learning lines and music is hard because sometimes it’s difficult to memorize it all.” Another somewhat difficult thing for this show was costuming and makeup. The ensemble had pretty simple outfits like school uniforms, but others like The Acrobat, Escapologist, or Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood had more unique costumes. 7th grader Grace Prather, who played the Acrobat, said, “I loved my costume because it was unique and no other person in the show had it.” Everyone in the show had simple stage makeup except for Ms. Trunchbull and Mrs. Wormwood. Trunchbull had to have age lines and a lot of heavy makeup, while Mrs. Wormwood had to have big eye shadow. All in all, every little detail is important in making a production “show-ready,” from costumes to lines to the set.
Set Building
Have you ever wondered what one of the big things that help bring musicals to life is? A set! Making a set helps make musicals look like the real thing! When you build a set, you have to cut, paint, trace, and sometimes use wood to build things, like the blocks that were built for Matilda JR, our production we put on in March. Stage manager and 8th grader Daniella Emerson said, “It’s a great way to work with people, have a good time, and build things that you think are going to work best!” Director Shawn Quinn also stated, “It just takes a while, and it’s a process you have to change and adjust and move around every so often.” The set building can be a great way to collaborate with all kinds of people, whether it’s painting, sanding wood, tracing things—you name it!—but it can also take quite a bit of time because there might be a lot you need to build, and you have to start early in rehearsal weeks, but it is what makes the set amazing! Creating an elaborate set is crucial to transforming the stage and bringing musicals to life. Sets play a vital role in making musical productions visually authentic and captivating for the audience!
So, all in all, several things go into making a successful musical. Every single detail counts. It could be choreography, memorizing lines or music, costuming, or set building. It’s all just as important!