This was an exciting way to start the year off. We really needed to do something funny, we wanted something that was still relevant about teenagers, and it of course had to be a musical. (We hadn't really done a full one since COVID hit) We also love a good revival! It was the third production of Grease produced at Webster Groves High School...who knows it could come back again.
The students really had a good time!
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We a ton of PR and Marketing hung around campus. We don't advertise for our musicals off campus much, but word of mouth definitely spread around the community and we got good crowds!
The digital sign outside the District Office
The AuditionsWe held auditions over three days and each day we tested the students on singing, dancing (movement) and acting (with some group scene work). We used the Black Box for the initial sing what you want audition, and we brought all of the callbacks into the Aud to battle it out for specific parts. We had lots of cuttings to hear them read, we dancing to see, and we needed to hear several of the them sing on the lead numbers. Had to make sure notes could be hit.
Andi auditioning for a role.... Sophia giving it a go....
Daun singing a bit...
The group that came out for the audition was impressive
and made us reconsider doing the show with a smaller cast.
Mrs. Dickens had them all learn a bit of "We Go Together" choreo for the audition.
Casting a musical is very challenging. Mr. Schaefer, Mrs. Dickens and the stage managers all watched each audition, took notes and had a long conversation after about all the potential ways the casting could go. There were a lot of things to take into consideration.
Like always, the right cast will fall into place for a show. There are always actors who feel right in the part when you hear them on a song and see them in a scene. The cast for this show fell into place, and the actors really fit their individual roles in the end. Each one of them brought a bit of themselves to their role and then added so much more chemistry and history between the characters.
Always works out in the end if you keep your eye on the story you are trying to tell. The script, the songs, and the unique history of the original show gave us direction and a clear picture of what kind of actors/performers we needed for these roles. Ultimately they had to be hardworking, brave and willing to take risks. This group definitely rose to the challenge.
A bunch of Drama folk went to the activities fair to recruit for auditions.
The show can be done with about 17 actors and some doubling, but we decided to pad the cast with additional teenagers that appeared in several scenes and helped fill the stage. It worked out great and got way more kids involved in the story.
REHEARSAL
We added two extra weeks of production time to this show's schedule (from previous years) by moving the opening night into November. It worked out so much better for us. That extra time made all of the difference.
We started in the Drama Room and the Black Box Theater.
Sarah Bailey running tracks off her phone for the cast, Mrs Dickens working on Greased Lighting
Immediately we worked on getting the music familiarized and make sure everyone had what they needed to learn their music at home as well. This was rock and roll and was a bit easier to pick up, but the lyrics and memorization always comes down to repetition and studying the lines.
The cast with their sheet music learning one of the bigger group numbers in the show.
(from Left to Right) Emmitt, Miss Stimac, Kalon, Charlotte, Maloy, Farnziska, Coty, Casey, Collette, Iona, Sophia, Zodiac, Phoebe and Riley
We decided due to cost that we would hold off another year before having a live band on the show. The performance tracks worked well for learning the music, we just had a bit of a learning curve on how to work the system. Once we got it down, it did work well to go over parts. Ultimately the kids learned their own music on their own and we worked on staging in the rehearsal time after school. Some of the group numbers had challenging background vocals that did need the time to get right.
We had some dance being learned in the Drama Room on certain days....
Here is Freya on the couch keeping track of blocking and props as we staged Act I.
She did great and was on top of the game. We had many hours of rehearsal in that space for that show before we moved into the Aud with the set. Sarah was a huge asset to the cast during that time.
Teddy Woldow, Carl Ellis, Ethan Sanders, and George Lemcke working on the mics and getting a song learned for the show. We used the mics and sound system in the Black Box to get the music learned before a lot of the blocking and staging took shape.
Mrs Dicken's working on Greased Lighting choreo in the Black Box.
Luca Thies, George Lemcke, Carl Ellis, Zane Smith and Teddy Woldow run the song multiple times to get it right. There was a lot of movement and dancing in this number.
The T-Birds!
The Black Box works great for large dance numbers cause the cast can spread out and find their own space to practice.
The cast working on the choreo for "Shakin at the High School Hop"
Miss Stimac greeting Charlotte and other actors before rehearsal
It is everyon'e responsibility to check the rehearsal schedule and be at rehearsal if you are called that day. The "Call Board" is updated regularly.
The actors were given time in the space to work.
Janiah is in the Black Box working on her numbers.
The set, lights, and sound on the show were significant and we had a long list of things to get done by deadline. Once we got to move into the theater we went right to work getting the space
Beauty School Drop Out was a number that involved a lot of pieces. It had many of the cast members in it and there was a lot of dance and choreo that needed to line up. Everyone was supposed to be in unison for alot of the number and this took a lot of rehearsal to get right.
Mrs. Dickens working with several members of the cast on "Beauty School Drop Out"
The cast working on the end of Act I.
Technicians started coming into the room once we moved into the Aud for rehearsals.
Having a mic in the audience changed the game...
The directors could talk to the cast without yelling so much
Rehearsal was always happening in the theater once we moved into the space.
Trying to get the dancing worked out, always needed Garrett to play the track.
We then had him go and get his date back and finished the dance with Cha Cha.
Lots of fun was had on stage before audiences arrived each night.
The cast always has technical rehearsal the Sunday before we open the show in order to get a lot of the lights, sound and set changes figured out. We also usually get a run of the show and we try to get it to a decent running time. We had some mic trouble that day, but did get a lot figured out, but due to the lost time we only ran the second act that day.
The Drama Parents were amazing
and fed the cast and crew for the entire tech week!
We also had good weather that weekend and got to hang outside for the meal on Monday night...
The Lemcke's brought Art of Entertaining for dinner and it was delicious!
SOUND
The sound booth was a platform with 6" legs on the floor in front of the audience.
Sound was fine. We just ran into a learning curve with the brand new wireless mics and waited too long to get them out and set up They were unfortunately not "out of the box ready". They needed lots of small adjustments to be made. We learned a lot from the experience and we ended up pushing the volume on the mics to their limit. The audience heard more each night.
Garrett Tice on the rehearsal sound system and the boys (Hank, Mark and Joe)
who all came in to help with sound.
The techies sometimes had to transition between jobs as we moved into the next phase of the prodcution. Garrett Tice moved into working the handheld mic volume levels for the rehearsals in the Aud when Sarah Bailey had to move backstage scene change work. Garrett also began to run all of the tracks for the songs as well.
During the rehearsals we also created some additional sound effects for moments during scenes that he ran for the show. Mark worked on a mic map and Joe prep'd to run the cordless mics and watched a couple of runs to get used to the transitions.
Joe Sit ran the mic levels for Thursday night.
We lost a bit of final dress but worked hard during Ac Networking and got several of the leads mic'd. We decided to mic those that needed it most for songs and we also hung choir mics for the rest of the cast to be picked up. It worked fine, but we learned a lot about time management and cordless mics...always start early!
Running a rehearsal of "Shakin"
MARKETING
We tried to get the word out about the show as much as we could. We had all of the tools in place that we normally would do to promote our shows. We had T-shirts that the cast got a a little earlier than normal so that they could be wearing them around the school more.
Mr Schaefer and his partner Brian use the Makerspace to heat transfer over
70 shirts for the cast and crew working on the production
We had a hand painted banner artistically crafted by two students from Tech Theater Class the previous semester. Anna Dorsey and Mckenzie Miller
We hung it in front of the school and it worked great!
They projected the slide image on a tablecloth taped to the wall.
Then they both met up after school and hand painted the banner
over the course of two weeks.
We also hung a lot of flyers and poster around the school.
We put word on the hallways monitors and a slide in the announcements.
We always use the sandwich boards in the hallways
to help push dates and times to the student body.
The Marquee in the Senior Entrance display case is a standard for us,
and we fill it with all kinds of stuff for each show. This was easy.
We had extra jackets we couldn't use and we always put up the headshots of the cast.
PROPS
The props tables on each side of the stage were loaded and it was a major job each night to set all of them/get them show ready for the cast to use.
Mrs Dickens and Miss Stimac were huge helps in getting the students to finish several of the final props and costume pieces. They also made several themselves.
It was a huge job getting them ready each night of a run. The two stage management teams also worked hard to make sure things landed where the cast needed them and got off stage when they were done.
Freya and her team were stage right and Mari and Sarah's team worked from Stage left
The opening cafeteria scene used fake and real food. The sign Frenchy finds.
The T-Birds out on the street for a rumble...
Miss Stimac (our student teacher) made all of the fake letters
from Freddy to Marty...they were awesome!!!
Marty snuggling her heart pillow (made by Kaya Wolf)
Mr Schaefer ordered real vintage 1950's hubcaps.
The boys all doing "Greased Lightning" with props
The fake record and awards from the dance off...
The leaf chart Eugene uses and The fake burger meal...with a "cheese and bun only" burger.
This turned into a real team effort and we just hoped that when a prop was to appear on stage, it would be there. There are many things not pictured...didn't get a pic of the golden award statues made our of Barbies. The megaphone got a Rydell "R" on it.
COSTUMES / HAIR / MAKE-UP
The costumes for a show like this takes patience and endurance and the team did very well with both.
Aubrey Roberts, Ellen Luecke, and Ellis Gibson
The team worked on the padded cast quite a bit and then managed the entire rack for the run.
Mr Schaefer helped measure the actors.
Ellis Gibson measured many of the boys...
....and so did Mary Gibson (unrelated).
The costume team created letters for the cheerleaders and Danny's sweater.
Some of the cast opened the show with the "Alma Mater" to show the start of the school year.
Ellie Blanton made all of the red cheer sweaters and fitted them to each actor.
Special shout out to Liane Dunlap for making all of the white skirts for the cheerleader outfits.
We already had some pom-poms and the megaphone got s paint job.
we borrowed from Laverne and had Jan's first initial on all her outfits.
These were hand sewn on to the outfits by the costumers.
The fabric was too weak and tore too easily...
Ellen and Ellis working on some of the mock-up cloaks in the back of the theater.
The cast performing "Beauty School Drop Out"
We used several special pieces; "Pink Ladies" jackets and an ultra cool black leather jacket that we used on Danny most of the show. Andi (Frenchy) wore a wig for the show and Mrs Dickens styled it.
The "Beauty School Dropout" cloaks and headpieces were a challenge,
but they turned out great...Special shout out to Calvin Lescher!
The cast and costume crew working on the costumes for the angels...
Calvin working on attempt number one...these ended up being a proto-type.
We were so fortunate to have friends out at St Charles High School. Mrs. Gibson (Choir Director/Musical Director) let us borrow many of their 1950's outfits from stock and a few accessories for the Act II dance scenes.
The cast performing "Shaking at the High School Hop" at the beginning of Act II.
Choreography by Mrs. Dickens
The colors and textures of the clothing were wonderful and added so much!
Thanks to Courtney Gibson for that donation.
Red was a theme in the show and Willow Sinclair (Miss Lynch)
wore a red jacket to show her authority
Miss Lynch always arrived just in time to break up the T-Birds causing trouble
Janiah's skirt was a donation last year when someone heard we were doing the show, her jacket was borrowed from SCHS and the rest of outfit we pulled from stock.
Her costume worked great and she looked 1950's,
she left her hair pink and decided not to wear a wig for the character.
We decided to us a wig on Sandy (Mia Willis) due to the fact that she was a natural brunette and we had to have a second look for Sandy at the end and fast change. Both of her wigs came from stock and were styled by Mrs. Dickens.
Audrey Culver was a huge asset back stage
She helped organize and apply the make-up and hair for many of the actors.
LIGHTING
The lighting for this show looked great! The lighting team got to do a good hang for the show and the colors we tried to go for were as saturated as we could get. Tends to work well for musicals. The team worked hard and we got it all done. It was a lot of cues to manage and everyone had to stay very focused in order to make it all go smoothly.
James Heisel programmed and ran the light board for the show.
Nate Tevlin ran one of the spot light ops in the back of the theater.
Katelyn Leatherbarrow was also on follow spot operations for this show.
The light plot created about 5 or 6 acting areas and we tried to make sure every area also had a back light. We hung several large scoops and some cyc lights over the stage to get some really strong RGB over the whole stage when we needed it.
We put some twinkle lights in the drive in drop and we also used a disco ball in two numbers to add some texture and movement on stage. It helps to fill the space. We added some gobos of leaves and trees for the park scene as well. All of the extras helped us create some different looks for each location and gave the audience something new to look at.
Luca Thies leading the cast in "Those Magic Changes"
It worked with the black and white costumes well.
THE SET
The scenic design for the show was largely provided by the script. Mr Schaefer worked out a bunch of options and we also looked at other ways it had been produced by other people. The main thing we had to determine was how much of main platform we had room for in order to still bring in all of the necessary wagons for each location of the story. Then we had to make sure they could get off stage and out of sight from the audience. It turned out that we had four full wagons and several stand alone set pieces.
The 6th hour tech class built the main structures and then they got to sit in the audience and draw what the paint job and textures could be. We got a lot of ideas from these drawings.
Marty's bedroom unit was used for two songs in the show and one of the longer scenes in Act I. We wanted it to really look like teenager's bedroom in the 1950's and so the tech students spent some time doing research on elements of the 1950's that would help sell this to the audience. We used pics of all of the famous people referenced by the teenagers in the show and added them to her walls like any teenage girl would do. The individual ideas from the tech students really infuenced how the final wagon was dressed
.
James Duckett's drawings for Marty's room were exquisite and had a lot of wonderful details.
We did end up using many of these ideas.
Ultimately it was a combo of luan, foam insulation board and wood trim.
We layered them and used screw and wood glue to adhere them together.
We then masking taped all of the edges and applied the paint job.
The cars worked great, stayed pretty light weight, and were able to be set and struck without too much trouble. The sound effects really helped sell the scene.
The 6th Hour Technical Theater class did the majority of the build and we finished up the paint job when we could.
The bleachers were an older set piece from a previous show that we added to in order to give the actors some levels to play on and to let them get some height on stage.
The lockers were used in "Those Magic Changes" and had bench that was placed in front for added seating. The cast sat all over this unit and were behind it on the steps as well. The lockers also allowed for us to hide some things for the song.
The bar was used in the dance scenes and has been used in many shows before this one.
The palm trees were hand painted by Calvin Lescher
The backstage crew really got themselves organized by opening night with lots of signage and help for the cast to know what was coming next. This is always needed in a musical with this many scene changes that also go to the music and are timed.
The show seemed easy on the surface, but when we got down to actually running it, it became clear we needed lots of reminders and cheat sheets.
CHOREOGRAPHY
The dancing in the show was one of the best things about the show. The cast had to learn different styles of dancing and the show is written with tons of references to the dances of the time. It was a wonderful history lesson and work out for the kids. The department really needed dance to return to the shows.
Iona Ory and Coty Ripolli dancing center stage in the opening of Act II
(Behind them left to right) Casey, Collett, Kaitlyn, Andi, Luca, Phoebe, Sage, Jeni's skirt
The audition gave us a lot of kids to use in the songs and we really tried to allow some kids to chose to be in a certain number if they wanted to and we also assigned many of them to their songs. This was largely based on the need for male and female characters to be represented for the story. We had some actors playing the opposite gender.
Mrs. Dickens was our Choreographer/Movement Director on the show
and she had a big job. There were a ton of numbers that required movement or dance.
Mr Schaefer had so much fun with the staging of Summer Nights. The song is so iconic and our job was to just deliver it as expected. We laid out a basic foundation and over time we sort of devised the final movements and choreo together as a group. The two gangs had to find their chemistry before this number felt right.
The Pink Ladies and Sandy getting to know each other
Janiah, Andi, Mia, Kaitlyn, Jeni, and Layla
Janiah Davis (left as Rizzo) always giving Sandy (Mia Willis in blue) a hard time
The T-Birds begging Danny to spill the beans about Summer
Danny (Carl Ellis) finally decides to tell them a story...
Carl (Danny) and Mia (Sandy) were great in the lead roles and sounded great on their duets!
The fantasy element to this song was fun to figure out.
At the end of the song they are so into the memory they actually get to be together again briefly;
back on the beach and holding each other under the moonlight.
Mrs. Dickens had a lot of kids to use in the choreo for "Those Magic Changes"
We started the song in reality, but once the song gets going it becomes Doody's (Luca Thies) fantasy.
He thinks he is Elvis and becomes 1950's rock 'n roll star.
The rest of the cast did some great moves behind him and formed a band of groupies for the star!
We even used real lighters for a neat effect during the song.
The set and wagon unit really allowed for some great levels in the stage picture for this song.
Miss Stimac (our student teacher this semester) was given the song Freddy My Love to choreograph so that she had an opportunity to work directly with the students in a more directorial compacity. She added so many wonderful moments to the song. The letters being thrown at the end with the final pose was perfect!
Jeni Carr-Shwartz singing Freddy My Love with the rest of the girls doing some awesome backup.
The whole dance had a USO Show feel to it. The Doo Wop undertones made the music fun to sing.
This song used the 1950's style microphone we also were fortunate to borrow from SCHS. Mr Schaefer made a mic stand that had the classic round base and we were off!
Everyone loved "Greased Lightning"!!!
Mrs. Dickens's choreo for the number worked out perfect, and
the cast worked really hard getting everything in sync.
Once we added the audience everything just came to life:)
Cat Draney (Cha Cha) and Teddy (Kenicke) doing the routine that wins the contest.
Mrs Dickens and the two actors worked very hard getting this learned and practiced.
There were lots of great moves in this number and Cat really showed off her dance skills!
The audiences were great. We had a ton of family and friends come out and many traveled from other states to get here. The weather held out and we sold plenty of tickets to pay our bills and the next couple of productions.
Kaitlyn, Sage, Zodiac and Carl in the park scene and Andi (Frenchy) with her Teen Angel (Willow)
The T-birds always had a good time when they got together!
Danny (Carl) singing to Sandy at the Drive in
ALUMNI
Kaitlyn, Sage, Zodiac and Carl in the park scene and Andi (Frenchy) with her Teen Angel (Willow)
Go back to high school Frenchie!
The dance scene proved to be a real highlight of Act II
Luca (Doodie) pulling a classic on George (Rump)
CURTAIN CALL
SUCH AMAZING CAST and CREW!!!
This is Coty being recognized by the directors for her hard work in the show.
Coty was our exchange student from Argentina.
We always host a cast party and awards after one of the show nights to hand out superlatives, pass the pig, and announce the MVT. The Drama Parents provided us with cake and snacks for everyone. Everyone gets recognized for their efforts on the production no matter how big or small.
Mrs Dickens pictured here with some of her 6th grade Drama EXPO kids.
We were so happy they came out for the show. They couldn't wait to walk on the set.
We had a great turn out of alum for this production. Many of the notable attendees would be former Grease cast members from the previous productions at WGHS. We were also lucky to have former WG music teacher Vicki Borne who directed the 2002 production.
We also received this memory/flashback...
CONGRATS to everyone who helped make this show possible and put in their own time and energy to bring this story to life for the audience each and every night. It was such a great experience!
Richard Hermann (Vince Fontaine) did a great job providing all of the radio voice over work and also running the Hand Jive contest in Act II. He was the only character that we cast after the first night of auditions because he was so good at the radio voice.
Richard did most of his acting from a microphone backstage.
GOOD BYE - Old Little Theater
Earl Says,
GO SEE A MUSICAL!!!
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