Throughout this school year, events and activities have been cancelled multi[le times, but this spring, Soudertons theater department has decided to put on a Disney Channel Original Musical, “Descendants.”
According to junior Anna Roman, “Descendants” is a “fan-favorite” movie released by Disney channel and the whole cast is “very excited” to perform the show.
This show has a split cast, meaning that two actors/performers play the same role for different showings. For example, Roman and junior Jamie Aldefer are both playing Maleficent, just for different showings.
According to Aldefer, auditions were “pretty similar” to past years.
“Each person signs up for a five minute time slot on one of the two nights they hold auditions. When we go in we first perform a prepared one minute monologue of our choice and then sing an excerpt from a song,” Aldefer said. This year’s musical show was chosen later than the auditions so the students auditioning were able to choose their own monologue and song to perform for their audition according to Aldefer.
According to junior Ally Mahoney, doing a musical that is “dance oriented” is a lot more fun.
“I would personally love to do grease or footloose next year because those shows are so dance oriented and I think it would be a really fun experience,” Mahoney said.
Sophomore, Ally Lemon said she would like to perform “Beauty and the Beast.”
“It’s a familiar story with a great message, and I think it would be super fun for families and people of all ages to come and see,” Lemon said.
According to sophomore Mark Farrell, everybody who puts on the shows and musicals has a lot of fun, but it is always nerve racking.
“Of course I was nervous! Are you kidding? Everyone feels fear and nerves, but it’s how you handle that fear and turn it into excitement,” Farrell said.
Roman disagrees with Farrell when it comes to auditions.
“I have never really been nervous for my auditions. I feel like I always have fun with it. That could just be for me personally but the adult staff really just puts you at ease. They’re just really comforting and just your biggest cheerleaders.” Roman says the whole cast and crew becomes really close, even with COVID-19 still affecting other aspects of the show.
Lemon also thinks the connections she makes while rehearsing the show are very close and meaningful.
“I love the current cast members of this show! It’s a bit of a smaller group this year because of Covid, but I think that that’s only bonded us further,” Lemon said. “I’m hoping to grow these connections moving forward.”
Mahoney said that she looks forward to “the rush that happens before a show.”
“The week is horrible while you’re in it but once you get the adrenaline rush on opening night it all becomes worth it. The feeling of stepping out on stage and having all eyes on you is something so special I don’t think I can even put into words,” said Mahoney.
Both Lemon and Roman agree with Mahoney.
“There’s nothing like opening night jitters,” Lemon said. “The fact that we still get to do that this year is really special to me. I’m so glad that we can still share what we love with other people, and I just hope that it makes the audience happy.”
Roman says that she likes to see the audience’s first reactions as well.
“I love to see how the audience has their first directions. You can tell if you’re doing a good job or not and you can tell based on the audience,” Roman said. “Well I tell a joke on stage and [the audience] laughs I know I’m doing a good job and that’s very satisfactory, to me at least.”
The musical has an atmosphere that is indescribable, according to Mahoney.
“The feeling of stepping out on stage and having all eyes on you is something so special,” Mahoney said.
This spring musical will be on April 16, 17, and 18, with two shows on the 17, and will also be indoors, unlike the fall musical which took place outside.
According to Farrell, “People usually say the lights are too hot or too bright, but those lights are what truly put your talents and hard work to “light.”