Break a leg! The spring musical auditions for Mamma Mia began in August when school started. From there, hours of rehearsal and preparation from the cast and crew followed until the night of the show: Friday, November 15th. The auditorium was filled with excited friends, family, students, and staff. Middle schooler Petra Ming, who came to watch the musical, reviewed, “It was so good, and I thought the actors stayed in character really well,” said Ming.
Sophomore Avery Camp summarizes the show from her perspective. The musical follows, “the story of Donna and her daughter, Sophie, as they are navigating weddings and the potential dads in Sophie’s life. It is such a fun show,” said Camp. The school musical is a significant outlet for students to showcase their singing, dancing, acting, and commitment to a role. The cast and crew rehearsals began after school at 3:30 and ended at 5:30 until progressively growing longer as the night of the show came closer. Camp describes her challenging task of personifying Donna, the mother in the show, to play the role how she desired. Camp looked deeper into portraying her character’s several layers. “She is such this guarded person at times, where other times, she’s just so passionate, and it’s trying to find the right balance between them,” said Camp. The lead actress provides more insight into how she continued to study her character’s role by rewatching the movie Mamma Mia “plenty of times” and from there reading from the script, learning her lines, songs, and working with the director.
Camp manages her stage fright by completely embodying her character. She says, “I feel like a lot of my nerves come right before I go on stage, but as soon as I step out there and really just embrace and step into my character, I am not necessarily me anymore. I am Donna.” It is important to appreciate and recognize the effort and commitment it takes to successfully produce a musical and perform a role to entertain an audience. Investigating behind the scenes (literally) of this production brings that effort to light.
