Emma’s cheerleading season
ended the same week that play practice for “Beauty and the Beast” started. This was Emma’s first HS musical
experience. She was thrilled with her
roles as a silly girl (one of the three girls that loves Gaston), and the saltshaker in “Be
Our Guest” and “Human Again”. The first
few rehearsals were slow but when they started singing different parts and
adding choreography she was hooked. She
said it was the time of her life. The
entire cast became very close friends.
The talent of these kids blew us away!
Those that played Belle, Gaston and the Beast all want to pursue acting
in college.
All four performances SOLD OUT! Cast members got to
purchase tickets before the public. We
bought 88 tickets for family, church friends, and neighbors. It was nice that Emma had friends in the
audience each show. Opening night
the young women filled up an entire row.
That night I helped back stage.
My job was to be the parent chaperon in the green room. It was so fun to feel their energy back there
and see how they interacted with each other.
I was amazed at how kind everyone was. I could really feel a special spirit in this group. What a
great group of talented youth!
I liked some of the fun
facts about the show that were in the Playbill:
- The Castle weighed over 2800 lbs without actors, was built by more than 18 adults and students and was painted with 5 different coats of paint. (300 square meters of lumber, 20 gallons of paint, 1,100 individual cut styrofoam stones)
- The stained glass windows were designed by the art teacher and took 40 hours to complete.
- They used 180 Costume pieces (300 meters of fabric)
- 35 parent and community volunteers
- The cast, crew, and orchestra rehearsed a combined total of 250 hours between the three groups, over the course of 8 weeks to bring the dance, vocals, music, and staging and production effects to life.
After the last show on Saturday evening they had a cast party until
midnight. After church on Sunday morning,
they all had to help take down the set. They called it "Kill the Show." There were lots of
tears and tired kids on Sunday afternoon!
Emma can’t wait to see what show they will be doing next spring.
Most of the Cast (the director, Chad Doering, is top left)
Freshman friends: Talya Estey, Emma, Shannon Spencer, Sydney Larson
Beast ( Nathan Munson), Gaston (Don Zheng), Tessa and Emma
Silly girls - Emma, Alli Gingerich and Danise Au
Tessa, James and Eliza attended the show three times. Emma's friends said they loved looking out in the audience and seeing her siblings absolutely loving it - it made them want to perform even better!
Belle (Kai An Chee)
