This year’s fall musical is Freaky Friday, which is based on the 2003 Disney movie of the same name. The musical follows a mother-daughter duo who switch bodies for a day and have to put things right before the mother’s wedding day. After spending a day in each other’s shoes they come to understand and appreciate each other’s struggles and strengthen their mother-daughter bond. To tell this story properly, there are many parts that need to come together. It is a complex production and there are around 23 students working behind the scenes. Three of those students are senior Sienna Rhoten, senior Ky Drabek, and sophomore Sibley Rhoten.
Sienna Rhoten is a stage manager, Sibley Rhoten is the assistant director, and Ky Drabek is both a costumer and an actor. They all agreed that some of the most challenging things about this production is the fact it has so many musical numbers.
Drabek states, “It’s hard because there’s so many costumes. Everyone has at least 3 costumes, and we have to have kids bring their own costumes since this is a modern musical.”
According to BACKSTAGE,a theater website, the most important things to remember when blocking for a show is deciding which part of the stage you are using, knowing where you want the audience to focus, considering the effect, remembering to have variety. it is also important to pay attention to entrances and exits.
“If there’s a specific musical number or scene with a lot of people with singing and choreography and lines, it’s difficult to do because we are teenagers,” said Sibley Rhoten. “They want to walk around and talk, so we have to get them refocused again.”
When making a prop you have to take into account who will be using it, the weight of it, the color of it, the size of it, all to make sure it doesn’t get damaged or lost in the scene. According to Drabek, part of prop difficulty is deciding whether to make or buy them and making sure they don’t have unnecessary duplicate props.
“My favorite part is making food props. We have a lot of freedom. In the wedding scene, we have the cake so we used cardboard and spackle,” Sibley Rhoten states. “We also used toilet paper for donuts, and they look really good.”
Working behind the scenes can be a good way for students to be involved in the drama department with-out going outside their comfort zone.
“Yeah, I don’t act and I won’t because I don’t like being in front of people,” Sienna Rhoten explained, “I do like being involved in it and like being a part of the experience without actually being in it, like being on stage.”
