Hours of memorizing, hours of singing, hours of dancing, hours of rehearsal and hours of laughter and fun. That’s what it takes for theater students like junior Samantha Sturgeon and sophomore Isabell McGinnis to put together their next musical.
The theater company will open their Fall musical “Shrek the Musical Jr.” Nov. 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the cafetorium.
“I’d have to say my favorite memory so far is probably the time I was laughing so hard that I was on the ground and I made my castmates laugh just as hard as me,” McGinnis said. “I felt the energy just radiating around me and it definitely made me realize how much I love being there and how much I love the people there with me!”
The theater company calls their opening night, Gala night. Theater students sold 200 tickets in advance for Gala night and are sold out. Gala night is different in that instead of rows of chairs the audience sits at decorated tables, gets gift bags, colored programs and a meet and greet with the cast. Regular table tickets sold for $10 per person, and for a higher price of $15 per person, people could purchase a specialty table themed after an aspect of the show that includes extra snacks and decor.
“Gala night is all about inviting the people who have supported us most throughout the show,” Sturgeon said. “It’s a special night to give thanks to them.”
The theater company will follow their opening night with a performance on Nov. 9 at 6:30 p.m. and another Nov 10 at 1:30 p.m. in the cafetorium. Tickets for these performances will cost $5 at the door.
The company announced their fall musical would be “Shrek the Musical” last school year in May and cast the show at that time. Cast members got their scripts before summer to begin memorizing lines and songs. Since the first week of the school year, the company has been rehearsing twice a week after school and for two periods during the school day.
“We begin to think about the next year’s show as soon as the current show is complete,” director Greata Peterson said. “We see who can play lead roles and then order the show within the same year. We tend to change our minds a lot and our shows are pretty big.”
“Shrek the Musical Jr.” contains over 22 songs and runs about an hour and a half long. It is an adapted youth version of the original broadway musical “Shrek the Musical” that premiered in 2008 and is based on the 2001 Dreamworks movie “Shrek.”
“The musical has the same exact storyline as the famous movie, it has the same type of humor, all of the funny characters and the small silly attributes that makes it a true authentic retelling of the Shrek tale,” McGinnis said. “We’ve tried to put as many small details as we could from the original movie so I think people will really enjoy finding the small details and the shout outs to other fairy tales throughout the show.”
McGinnis has been in theater for three years and in this year’s musical she is portraying the character Donkey, Shrek’s best friend and traveling companion.
“I’ve never had a lead or a “primary” role so it’s a really incredible feeling being a bigger character that people will be able to recall when they see and talk about the show,” McGinnis said. “My favorite thing about Donkey is that even though he’s funny he has certain things he believes in, like his love for parfaits and his feelings about love.”
In last year’s fall musical “The SpongeBob Musical” Sturgeon played the lead SpongeBob, in “Shrek the Musical” Sturgeon plays Fiona, a beautiful princess and Shrek’s love interest.
“Fiona is much more feminine and light than other characters I’ve played, however she’s very determined like SpongeBob was,” Sturgeon said. “I really enjoy Fiona’s character because despite being very destiny driven and wanting to be saved, she’s very strong. I relate to her being a hopeless romantic and it makes her really fun to play.”
Like previous musicals performed by the company, this one will include the addition of elementary age children that theater students refer to as “littles”.
“The littles that are asked to join the musical are the ones that have been in our shows before or have done well at our end of the year Little Badger Theater Camp,” Peterson said. “They rehearse one time a week until we get closer to the performance where they will stay to rehearse with the big kids. In preparing for the show it needs to be a well oiled machine and I depend on the high school kids a ton!”
To advertise for the musical, the theater company wears their theater shirts every Thursday in honor of a new tradition they call Theater Thursday. They also have posters hanging in the hallways and a banner located in the main foyer advertising the show. In addition to this the company performed a preview of their show at the Love Thy Neighbor festival on the square.
“The theater company sang and did a couple of short skits from the musical for Love Thy Neighbor in the square,” Peterson said. “The response was great! Lots of people and kids were watching. It was a great advertisement for the show and the theater program itself.”
The show’s opening is fast approaching and the theater company is working to have it perfect for their audience.
“I am excited for this musical,” Peterson said. “It’s been fun and the students are really enjoying the process. It’s a good time for everyone when the music is upbeat and the show is familiar. We laugh a lot and that makes it a great time. It really doesn’t matter much to me what show we do as long as the kids love what they are doing!”
