A note from our Technical Director, Mr. Chris Clark:
Obviously no one needs to say that this has been an unprecedented year, and certainly an unexpected one. The product you'll see on your screens is definitely a different venture for us, even moreso than the endeavour we undertook for the winter plays. With a rushed schedule, shifts in how we put on the show, and changes to our normal lives, this may be one of the toughest shows we've put on in a number of years. The kids did an amazing job preparing for a completely way of doing things, put up with an ever changing production schedule, and performed their hearts out during recording even without an audience. Recording day was grueling, taking each scene multiple times to put up with sound issues, recording glitches, and just to make sure we got it right, but everyone stood up to the challenges head-on and we did it! Congratulations to all of the students on a great show!
As a team we had discussed many options during the production of the winter plays of how we might proceed with a musical, and whether it would even be possible to pull it off. We knew at that point that any kind of production would not take place during the normal "timeline" of the year, which made the prospect of putting on a musical even more daunting for all of us. The normal timeframe of a February musical works very well with my normal work schedule, as it is during a typically slow time, and the thought of moving the musical any later than that scared me to no end, because the timline moved right into the busiest time of the year at work. I had originally planned on not being able to assist with this show. However the support of my fellow directors and the addition of Ms. Nancy Matthewson and Mr. Colin Dabkowski to the "group" allowed me and others to still be involved at a reduced schedule.
I definitely have to thank Ethan Schrodt for taking on an almost double duty, returning to take some of the technical duties including set design and construction in addition to co-directing the show with his wife, Kate. Kate herself was a great addition to our team, hopping in at short notice when longtime director Jill Farrell decided to step back to focus on her job and more importantly prepare for a new addition to her family. We wish Jill the best this spring, and hope to see her back for future shows!
Like myself, Julia Wallace was hesitant because of her job, but we were all able to work out a schedule that allowed us to be there when necessary and she did an amazing job choreographing yet another show and working in some extra duties too. Bill Larrabee took over this year as Theater Club Advisor, and also made some adjustments to his typical musical duties, shifting from leading the pit band, which we chose to forgo this year, to becoming the Vocal Director. Annlouise Harris, who has been amazing with costumes in the past few years, also adjusted to a changing schedule with her job and the show. With all of us needing to make changes to our normal workload, Nancy Matthewson and Colin Dabkowski stepped in to assist in countless ways as well, and this show would not have happened if not for their dedication and help along the way. I also need to thank Amy Froebel who, despite stepping down as Costume Director after Mary Poppins, has once again come through in so many ways, providing untold hours to the show, not only helping Annlouise, but also providing a much needed assist to Ethan and myself after an unfortunate mishap with our projection scrim during Newsies last year.
Nancy has been a huge help this year, from helping coordinate school schedules with Mr. Larrabee, to taking on the huge task of sorting out ads and working on bios, and so much more. Colin made it his mission to make sure the video recording was spot on, something that would've normally fallen to me, and I'll be perfectly honest, we couldn't have done it without him. They both deserve all the thanks we can give them and then some.
Finally, this has been a tough year for all of us, myself included, and I feel so very proud that, even at a later date and in a different way, we were able to provide some sense of normalcy for the kids and ourselves by putting this on. I'm glad I chose to stick with it and thankful for all of my fellow directors for convincing me to do so. I hope you all enjoy the show!
