For many students,
springtime simply means that school is almost over; however, for the students
involved with the musical, springtime means that the fun has just begun! This year, the cast, crew, and pit members of
the musical geared up for their production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
For months, those involved in the musical prepared for
the much-anticipated production of the famed Disney classic. Carly Haberman, who was cast as Belle, recalled
the amount of time that was spent preparing for the show.
“Starting at the end of February, we would rehearse after
school from 3:00 to around 6:00 every day.
It’s a huge time commitment, but, in the end, it is so worth it,”
Haberman said.
Haberman also commented on playing the coveted role of
Belle.
“It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Beauty and the Beast was one of my
favorites, if not my absolute favorite movie growing up,” Haberman said. “I loved sharing the stage with my best
friends, and it was so much fun to get to talk to the little kids after the
show. To them, we weren’t just high
school actors—we were the
characters.”
In order to put on the production, countless students,
teachers, and parents joined together to contribute their time and talents.
Theatre student, Abby Leppert, has been involved in the
musical for 3 years, and has worked on everything from build crew to lights.
“I’ve been involved in theatre since I was a freshman,”
Leppert said. “This year for the musical,
I was on headset. My job was to give
cues to all of the spotlights throughout the entire show.”
Although Leppert has been a part of the past three
musicals at GLHS, she says that Beauty
and the Beast has been the most rewarding of all.
“Opening night was the best,” Leppert said. “We get so
used to seeing the show and running through the cues that it’s not until
opening night when you realize that the audience is blown away by the
performance. That is when you realize that we pulled it off. We pulled off
Disney.
This
years’ production was May 10th through 13th in the high
school’s auditorium. In previous years,
the high school has performed four shows over the weekend. However, due to the production’s popularity,
a fifth show was added on Saturday afternoon.
In total, four out of the five shows sold out completely.
“Beauty and the Beast was such a huge
performance this year, it’ll be hard to top!” Haberman said. “It has been such an honor to be a part
of the theatre department this year. It
is sad to see everyone’s hard work come to an end, but, at the same time, next
year’s show is already in the works, and it’s sure to be just as high-quality
as this year’s production.”
Written by Emily Jadwin