WGHS DRAMA Past Shows Fall 2013-Present: Broadway Revue Spring 2015

Let's Sing Some Broadway Tunes....

This year we decided to switch things up a bit in the season, and the department decided to team up with the music department to bring an evening of over 25 songs from Broadway musicals. This was a huge project and it took over 6 months to create. All for one night of entertainment...now that's dedication to your art.

We had a great cast and crew...it truly was a technical feat!

The show turned out great!

It involved a lot of students and faculty. We had students from the Drama Dept., The Music Dept., Amen and Aladies, the Hixson Middle School Drama kids, and we even invited two students from Lindbergh HS to sing (one was Mr. Lockos's very own daugther Ayu)

Poster designed by Claire Gilb

Casting

The show was essentially assembled by Mr. Schaefer over most of first semester and into second. He talked with the faculty first. It was absolutely imperative that the other fine art teachers and acapella sponsors got on board. They helped make sure the large groups numbers were covered in the show.
Chamber Choir was a perfect fit for the music we needed. They performed two numbers and they really showed off their ability to handle tight harmonies on both their songs. Amen and Aladies also filled in the evening's roster with a very elaborate Lion King medley. Having all of those established groups participating in the show was awesome and they added so much to the event. The other numbers in the show were mostly duets and solos.

Mr. Schaefer spent some time reviewing old programs and asking all of the kids that had done musical theater with the Drama Department in the past if they'd interested in singing in the concert. If they expressed interest or were easily coaxed by a particular song he would suggest they sing...then he would add them to the roster. It didn't take long and the roster began to grow.

Our Mission With This Show Was Simple:

Sing as many songs from as many different shows as we can!

Lots of kids from choir and the acapella groups wanted a chance to sing a solo. This was a great opportunity for them to stand alone. There were many students who were not in either of the singing groups on campus formally but who wanted a shot on stage. They came to the Little Theater, tracked Mr. Schaefer down and requested a chance to sing a song for the show. We like when students come out for our projects. For this show we allowed the student time with a song so they could really learn it and then we'd ask that they come to the Little Theater to audition. They had to be able to sing it in tune. Mr.Schaefer and Mrs.Radick (our Musical Director) would be the final word. The other part of the audition involved seeing if the student could hold the auditorium stage and perform the song for a very large theater. This is not easy. Some students just weren't ready for this kind of show. After the audition they were either added to the roster or asked to audition again for future shows.

The Band
We were so fortunate to have a band backing up the singers. They were such a huge addition to the show.

Mrs. Linda Radick - Piano/Conductor
Clancey Newell - Drums
Kate Arendes - Guitar

We decided to use the Broadway Revue T-Shirt Design taken from when Jake Fruend (WG Alumni, class of 2009) produced one his senior year.

The cast list and song selection got finalized

only a few days before the show!

All of the technicians and designers worked really hard to keep the evening diverse. We tried to make sure the songs showed a variety of musical styles, time periods, and stage picture.

We had to make sure the kids who would sing a song solo could carry the tune and also hold the stage on their own. There was very little individual rehearsal on this revue and so it was essential to have kids that could do the wok on their own and bring in a ticket worthy song. (We charged $12 a ticket)

The rehearsal schedule gave each singer some time with our music director and the piano. This was done by putting the acts into rehearsal slots and the singers getting 10-15 minutes to run their material. This took place in the Little Theater, the choir room and in the Aud. We also worked on staging and the technical issues in those rehearsal as well. Costumes were mostly pulled from out stock or from the actors closet.

The Senior Display case the week of the show

The Cast and Song list

Act I

Ayu Lockos - “Aquarius” - Hair (opening number)

Courtney Degroot– “Good Morning Baltimore” - Hairspray

Rachel Kessler and Sabrina Clement “I Dreamed a Dream” - Les Mis

Allison Taylor - (Lindberg) – “Break” - Next to Normal

The Lion King (medley/mashup) – A-Men /A-Ladies
Abby Ford – “Think of Me” – Phantom

Sophie Sears and Garrett Doria “A Whole New World” - Aladdin

Dennis Allen - “My Girl” - Motown

Grace Ortstudt, Allison Huff, Isabella, Ayu Lockos – “Hard Knock Life” – Annie

Imani/Alyssa/Chandler/Essence– Medley – Dreamgirls

Bobbie Drexl – “Santa Fe” - Newsies

Sarah Addison/Bethany Conerly “Some Things Were Meant to Be” - Little Women

Jack Wight – “Apology to a Cow” - Bat Boy

Intermission

Act II

WGHS Chamber Choir—“Ragtime”—Ragtime

Hannah Leatherbarrow – “Lyda Rose” – Music Man

Liz Drollinger /Aerin Johnson - “Sisters” – White X-mas

Bridget Kahrhoff –“Maybe This Time” — Cabaret

Robbie Morefield and Bobby Drexl—“Are you there?” - Bare

Jamie Noble and Todd Schaefer—“Take Me or Leave Me” - Rent

Sarah Addison, Robbie Morefield, Erin Stantion—“The I Love You Song” -

25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Hannah Leatherbarrow—“Worst Pies in London” - Sweeney Todd

Rachel Reilly, Erin Stanton—“I Will Never Leave You” - Side Show

WGHS Chamber Choir—“I Believe” - Spring Awakening

Encore

Ensemble—“Time Warp” - Rocky Horror Picture Show

***WATCH the Amen and Aladies Lion King Medley!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOjTscK_kC4

SHOW NIGHT

Phoebe Diselets, Ayu Lockos, Sarah Addison, and Charlie Sears backstage during the show. They have all worked together on stage before so this was a nice reunion for these four performers.

The Show was presented in the Jerry R. Knight Auditorium

We closed the balcony in the Auditorium and only sat the floor to bring the audience closer together. The admission was $12 a ticket (this was a department fundraiser) We had about 250 people come out for the event and they were very responsive. The higher cost ticket was a risk, but in the end we made some money for the department and season's budget. The show did have some production costs, but in the end we tried to make as much use of our stock as we could to keep the production costs low.

The Drama parents were awesome and provided our huge variety of concessions. Coach Ice even brought down a popcorn machine to add to the fun!

PR and Marketing

We started doing yard signs for our Spring production and they do help sell tickets. The more we can get the show info in front of the student body the better we sell. These are placed in front of Junior and Senior entrance.

Alison O'Brien getting the word out!

Press Release

We made about 12 hand painted banners and marquees for the show. These were put all over the school to help get the word out. Tickets were offered at a discount if you bought them early.

THE PRODUCTION

We used set pieces, drops, some props built for the scene, costumes for most of the numbers.

Lighting designed by Jonah Schnell
with help on the projections from Jacob Noce.

Special thanks to all of the helpers that came out to hang and focus lights for the show. This was a very elaborate show and we added a lot of special lighting to make it look great. We couldn't have done it without the man power.

The lights and set for the Peter Pan scene The lights and set for Ragtime

Scenic Design - The two Technical Theater Classes

Special thanks to all of the people who came in an helped paint the set and all of the props for the show. There were many days spent working to get it all done in time.

The church scene in Bare The lampost for Music Man and Les Miz Hand props for Lion King

The cow head we built for "Apology to a Cow" from Batboy the Musical that Jack Wight performed

Kate and Hannah pose on the the set for a picture. This set was built for the song from Next to Normal called
"The Break"

Hannah Leatherbarrow sang "The Worst Pies in London" from Sweeeny Todd

The Narrators

Written by Kate Arendes (pictured here holding a fake Tony Award), the Broadway Revue had a bunch of connected sketches that played out on the side of the proscenium as the musical acts to get prepared to go on or to allow more time for the mics to be changed to another performer. The sketches were all set in an old man's apartment down stage right (like Drowsy Chaperone). They were funny and charming. It gave our writer a chance to try a new style and to work around a lot of restrictions of time.