Preparation for stage performances commences far before the curtain is pulled. Director Brad Wright and all students involved in the school musical rehearsed hours in preparation for their opening night. Weeks of rehearsals every day after school took dedication from everyone involved in making the musical happen. Hours upon hours of work and practice amounted to the opening performance on Nov. 9.
At a rehearsal 11 days from opening night, the cast had some work to do to perfect their acts. From dances to stunts, the cast kept busy preparing for opening night.
During rehearsal, Wright explained that their work should revolve around “Dances, dialogue and transitions.” The cast did just that: at the beginning of their rehearsal, the students worked with a choreographer on a stunt that would be performed during the musical. Acts one and two were rehearsed without interruption to see what errors had to be worked through and what needed to be perfected.
Wright explained later that future rehearsals were to revolve around one act in particular, leaving the last rehearsal to “work on what needed to be worked on.”
Overall, the rehearsal went smoothly with few errors. Some occasional tweaks here and there prepared the cast for their performance.
“Some of the hardest problems during rehearsals were remembering dances that we hadn’t touched up in days as well as trying to catch up dances I had missed from being sick,” junior Teagan Liedel said. “While everything wasn’t perfect for opening night, we still did our best and performed pretty well.” The cast felt as their work payed off in the end.
“It just takes a little hard work, perseverance, and self discipline,” junior Iris Bravender said. “All of us love being on stage and we have a lot of fun at rehearsals so we have no problem getting done what has to be done.”
Tech, also having an important role in the musical, had to navigate through technical issues and other complications.
“It was all a learning process,” junior Bella Butzine said. “I worked the sound board which meant I always had to be attentive to what was going on. Rehearsals were every day after school which was the hardest part of it all. As a part of tech, you don’t get a break when running the acts.”
With hours of effort, the cast and tech team worked together to bring “Schoolhouse Rock!” to life on stage Nov. 9-11.
