At the middle school the auditorium is the largest room. This large open space allows the school to do lots of performances, such as plays, musicals, and concerts. When the lights dim, the chatting of the audience dies down, and whatever performance goes on, it’s a magical and unforgettable experience. One of these musicals is the upcoming Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Many people wonder how these musicals are made, and this article is the answer to it.
The empty auditorium. Photo by Sumin Lee ’31.
One of the people that makes the magic happen on stage is drama teacher Ms. Leah Fine, one of the directors for some of the musicals at the middle school. This includes directing for the upcoming Drowsy Chaperone Jr. that takes place this March.
“My favorite part is watching this all come together,” Fine said. “I love watching the cast find their characters.”
We can see how Fine genuinely enjoys the process of finding people’s characters, not just teaching them the script and dances.
When asked how auditions are organized, Fine said, “We will teach songs, and give the students monologues to work on. They will choose one song and one monologue to perform and everyone learns and performs the dance. Then I will call back some of the students to read and sing from the script. The choreographer will call back some students to do some more difficult dancing.”
For the musical, Fine definitely goes the extra mile to choose some of the best actors and dancers. She ensures that people know what they’re going into, and that they have practiced their parts a lot.
“The roles in the show are all very silly, and over-the-top comedic characters. There is only one role in the show who is called ‘The Man in the Chair’ that has any real thoughts or emotions,” Fine said.
Compared to the previous musical Shrek Jr., the style of musical that they are doing seems to have completely changed for Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Additionally, this time around, the musical looks to be more difficult than Shrek Jr.
“I did not double cast the show. I found this to be a very difficult show, and the comedy is extremely difficult as well,” Fine said. “I never want the audience and cast members to be discussing which cast is better.”
“I would say that this type of humor is mature, difficult, and challenging so this is hard but I feel like these kids are killing it,” Fine said. In the Drowsy Chaperone Jr., these things might be difficult, however it’s the teacher who has to do a lot of work, and Fine has excelled in this to say the least – especially if the actors are doing so well.
Fine also has the actors work hard after school at rehearsals for long amounts of time, even wanting students to practice at home sometimes.
“We will rehearse the show for two and a half months, three days a week after school until 5:00. For the last two weeks, we have been there until 6:30 every night,” Fine said.
“I also expect actors to rehearse at home so they feel ready for the following rehearsal,” she added.
Actors practice diligently at rehearsals. Photo courtesy of the middle school Drama department.
Fine believes that learning just the dances and songs isn’t the whole experience. Rather, sometimes you learn just by being part of something, like an experience.
“I believe that the rehearsal process is a learning experience in general. I believe that the cast learns about the process as we go through it,” Fine said.
Fine used to also be a professional actress, having ten years of acting experience under her belt, and lots of skill in her department that benefit the middle schoolers.
“I used to be a professional actress and up until ten years ago, I continued to perform while teaching. I haven’t gone back but I will soon. I need my kids to be a little older, as it is time consuming and I don’t want to miss their childhood,” Fine said.
Fine hopes “to put on a fun, exciting, comedic, and entertaining performance while ensuring that the cast and crew have a blast doing so.”
Fine makes sure that the members of the performance also have a fun time doing a show. This shows how much she cares about this experience. Some of the words Fine uses to describe the show are “hilarious, silly, absurd, touching, and enjoyable.”
When asked about what kind of impact that Fine thinks she’s made, Fine said, “I hope that I’ve inspired seventeen years, woah, of students to try new things and maybe, here and there, find their passion and talent.”
Now, of course directors and people who teach the performance are important, but the performers are the ones who shine on the stage. They make the magic really happen.
One of the students in Drowsy Chaperone Jr. is Rylee Ellis ’31. Her words show that she has great appreciation for the musical. Furthermore, Ellis thinks of the production as a place of comfort, almost like a home.
“I love being in Drowsy, it’s like a home away from home. It’s hard but fun,” Ellis said. “Everything there is so much different from other activities like sports. You are always acting, so you get to be someone else entirely.”
“In the musical, I play the role of the reporter,” Ellis said. “I get to sing, and dance too.”
Ellis also has some previous experience in musicals in addition to Drowsy Chaperone Jr.
“Shrek Jr. was the first musical I had ever been in,” Ellis said. “Drowsy is my second. I love seeing how different the two shows are, however also how they are alike.”
Ellis also thinks that this musical is more difficult than the last. Similar to Fine, Ellis said, “so far, I think that Drowsy is harder because in rehearsals we have been learning how to tap dance. To me, tap dancing is super hard. However it’s a healthy challenge that I chose to accept.”
Furthermore Ellis adds that you will never have perfection in a musical. Stating that the closest you can get, is doing the most you can as an actor.
“The most difficult part is the so-called ‘perfection’. In theatre you will never be perfect, and that’s hard to accept. Everyone wants to be perfect, and what they forget is doing your best is totally fine. What I tell myself is that you were casted because the producer saw something in you and wants to see more of that.” Ellis said.
Believing that the producers see something special in you is a good way to motivate yourself at hard times is her point. Mentioning auditioning, when asked what the auditions were like, Ellis said, “the auditions were great, and everyone did excellent, the singing and dancing went by super fast, and when I finished, it was like a weight being lifted off my shoulders.”
Ellis also said that she wanted to audition for the musical because “I think that I would do well enough to land me a spot that enables me to see the show in new eyes. I also joined the Drowsy Chaperone Jr. because I wanted to continue to act and sing.”
Ellis however, also added that she originally was doubtful if she should join the production. In the end, after researching the musical, she decided to join it.
“I was unsure of what Drowsy Chaperone was about, so I decided to watch the Broadway version,” she said. “I loved everything about it, the humor, the setting, the plot, and the scenes. I thought, what better way than to keep acting in a musical that I enjoyed!”
Ellis additionally said that performing was one of the things she liked most about theatre. People watching you perform is a wonderful experience to value.
“My favorite part of being in the production is being on the stage,” she said. “The feeling of performing is so special, but to have an audience that only wants the best for you is my favorite part,” Ellis said.
Now, we have the directors and actors, however, there is one thing missing: a setting for the show, the costumes, the props, and all the small details that make a better musical experience. This is the stage crew. One of the people that have contributed to the stage crew is the tech director, Mr. Tyler James.
“Stage crew is a vital role in the WMS performing arts department,” James said. “Specifically for the drama productions, stage crew is responsible for the set transitions (moving on and off set pieces and running curtains), prop organization and distribution to actors, assisting actors with quick costume changes, running the light, and sound boards, helping actors with mic swaps, and communicating to each other to ensure cues are conducted at the proper moment.”
Furthermore, James stated that anyone in the stage crew contributes in a positive way. “I think anyone involved in a production has a positive effect on it,” he said. “We all try to do the best thing we can with the resources we have.”
James has a positive attitude towards the stage crew’s contribution. He thinks of the stage crew members as valuable assets and individuals to the production.
“Communication and enthusiasm,” James said, is key to having good group work. “Doing the best you can to accomplish your part of the production, and lifting up everyone around you.”
Stage crew is also a place of art. James explicitly said that art is one of the best things about being part of the stage crew.
“I started doing stage crew when I was in middle school,” James said. “It’s the perfect place to create as an artist because every type of art is needed to create a production.”
The stage crew is also in charge of technical effects in plays and musicals. James said that they have, “lighting effects, projections, sound effects, and haze machines.”
“There are many aspects to setting up the technology for a production. For lighting this can include hanging, focusing, and programming our light instruments into the light board,” said James. “And for sound this can include running cables, ensuring connectivity and proper input/output programming, and patching into the sound board then doing a mic check to ensure sound levels are properly mixed throughout the show.”
In a show there will always most likely be a set with set pieces on stage. Throughout the show people will move the set pieces on and off for differing scenes. However in Drowsy Chaperone Jr.’s case, it’s a little different.
“We are designing Drowsy as a unit set, which means nothing will come on or off the stage.” James said. So in the musical there will most likely not be crew running off and on the stage throughout the show.
“All the set pieces will already be on the stage and remain for the entire production. This includes six flats (acting as walls), an armchair, a kitchen table and chair, two side tables, a chaise, a coffee table, a shelf, a fridge, an oven, and various pieces of set dressing to make you feel like it’s a real apartment,” James said.
Normally if the musical wasn’t designed as a unit set, then the crew would have to drag things on and off by using things like castors or wheels attached to the set piece.
“Usually our large set pieces (wagons) are on castors (wheels) and can be rolled on and off stage with wagon locks (breaks). Small items like chairs or benches may be carried on and off by one or more crew members,” James said.
However all these set pieces and effects won’t be very easy to get. Large set pieces will be very expensive, and even small items altogether will be a lot of money, despite being less expensive than Shrek Jr.
“Luckily for Drowsy, the show takes place in a very common setting so we don’t need to acquire or build custom pieces, and we have most of what we need from previous shows. Shrek was a very custom show so we allocated more to produce that earlier in the year.” James said.
Even if this is true, they will still have to pay a good amount of money to buy new things, and it’s not like they have loads of money to work with.
“We generally get about $500 to $1000 to work with,” James said.
So how do they get additional things?
“We reuse lumber and paint to the best of our ability or borrow pieces from the high school and other theatres from the area,” James said.
James said that they also have a “budget for the auditorium equipment, and are able to apply for grants to help for items that the budget can’t cover,” so they can get additional items if needed.
For James, his favorite part of a production is problem solving. The problems that are solved end up being the best part of the show, proving that there is always a solution to a problem.
“What I find the coolest is that every production requires some sort of creative solution to a problem. These problems are the most fun to brainstorm solutions for, and are often the highlight of the show for crews,” James said.
In the upcoming Drowsy Chaperone Jr., we can expect to see great things from the productions. This includes great acting, dancing, and a stage that will transport you to an entirely different world.