Production for the annual musical is currently underway as Math teacher Laura Christenson and Choir teacher Gillian Pacetti are in charge as co-directors. These co-directors have chosen The Music Man as the 2013-2014 musical.
“The Music Man is about a con man named Harold Hill who comes to River City, Iowa, and tries to sell instruments and uniforms for [children] to start an all male band. Usually his thing was he would sell all the uniforms to the band and kind of go away without teaching them music, but he ends up falling in love with a librarian and turns the town into a music-loving town,” said Christenson.
Last year’s musical was the classic Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and it was Christenson’s and Pacetti’s first musical as being teachers at the high school.
“It was really nice to see for our first musical that we’ve gotten here as teachers go over really well with the community. It was a big success as far as we had. Saturday night was pretty much sold out and the other two nights were very close,” said Christenson.
As co-directors Christenson and Pacetti are in charge of deciding which musicals to do. Students are one of the main influences on the decisions that are made.
“When we look at musicals, we look who we think would be auditioning. So we kind of look at the different students that we know will be going out and have some more stronger students to see who we would feel best fit. We also like the classic and people love it,” said Christenson.
Seniors Joey Barnett and Kate Hegna were involved in last year’s musical. According to Barnett, The Music Man will be different from last year’s play because of its smaller cast.
“I hope that this year things go by much quicker and that the rehearsals and choreography days aren’t as hectic,” said Barnett.
Many students help to make the musical possible. According to Christenson, these students hold a huge amount of responsibility.
“For the people that will be actually acting in the musical, we expect that they are at every rehearsal and that they have their lines memorized. For our tech crew and things like that, we would expect them to be at the rehearsals coming up to the actual dates that we perform. And then, if you are doing hair and makeup we would expect you at all dress rehearsals and all the dates that we’re actually performing,” said Christenson.
As a veteran of the musical, Hegna has the experience of what to expect and how she will try to make this year’s musical better.
“I will try to make the musical better by making sure to keep a positive attitude throughout and try to keep everyone on the same level,” said Hegna.
Cast members have begun practicing their roles and songs for the upcoming musical. According to Christenson, a lot of work is put into the production.
“I don’t think a lot of people realize how much work and time these kids put into making this happen. And how successful and how important success is based on how much students want to put into it,” said Christenson. “The more people that come to see them, especially student wise, I think the more proud they feel about themselves.”
Barnett will play Tommy Djilas and Hegna will play Mrs. Paroo. Musical performances will be from March 7 through March 9.
