Oct. 25 was opening night for Backlight Theatre Company’s fall musical, “Hadestown: Teen Edition”.
Since the announcement of the musical in May, the cast and crew have been working to put together the show.
“Lights, sound, a live orchestra, and live musicians…all of it has to work [at] exactly the same moment every time,” Jeremey Little, vocal director for “Hadestown: Teen Edition”, said.
During the two weeks leading up to opening night, tech week, rehearsals last until about 8 p.m. for the cast and 10 p.m. for the crew;, yet, as Little explained, there’s excitement in the air.
There is a large cast and crew for the show, and all the moving parts have to come together for opening night.
The Cast
The cast members are the people you see on stage. They memorize the script, learn dances and rehearse songs.
“Hadestown: Teen Edition,” a musical with songs throughout its run, has 30+ songs. Kevin Phelan, Jeremy Little, Dana Green, Sara Gunther, and AJ Fischer had the job of casting the show.
The audition process was two days. Day one assessed singing and dancing, and day two was for callbacks, where select people sang for specific roles in the show. A few days later, casting came out.
There is a wide variety of emotions after the cast list comes out, but Little explained that everyone “accepts their role and embraces it, and has been pretty awesome with it.”
One cast member, Julia Romosan (11), is embracing her first year in Backlight Theatre Company.
Romosan was cast as the lead role, Eurydice. This role required her to sing 17 songs. To balance this large responsibility, Romosan relied on the community within the cast.
“It’s not really stressful when you have everyone around you…you’re not the only one scared of something,” Romosan said.
“When we bond together, that helps to make [the musical] real, because we are a family.”
The Crew
The crew is in charge of lights, sound, planning costumes, and set design. During tech week, they work until 10 p.m.
To prepare for the show, 30 to 40 students meet every Saturday to build the sets to make the setting come to life. The sets are a mix of things made from scratch and things reused from previous shows.
“The kids are here and they are working hard, learning to use saws and drills,” Director Kevin Phelan said.
The crew also works behind the scenes to keep the show running smoothly, managing adjustments to things such as stage positions and movements, lighting, and sound. Stage managers and staff have spreadsheets to keep all changes organized.
The Pit Orchestra
For “Hadestown: Teen Edition,” the orchestra is made up of seven people, each playing a different instrument on stage. In past years, the orchestra played below the stage, but this year they are on the stage and visible to the audience. The orchestra plays most of the show, with about 30 songs overall.
“[Playing on stage is] spooky ‘cause it’s so exposed,” Tessa Stobart (12) said.
Stobart said she felt stressed when she started to play in front of the actors, because they were a new type of audience.
She explained that it’s nerve wracking because she is still rehearsing the songs and the actors would know if she made a mistake.
Stobart is the pit violinist. She and the rest of the pit started practicing for this show in late August. She has been part of the pit orchestra for the past four years and has continued to be a part of it because of the community and connections made.
The Audience
The audience impacts a show as well as the cast and crew. The crowd is welcomed into the story Backlight Theatre Company puts on.
“Hadestown: Teen Edition” is a high school adaptation of the Broadway musical Hadestown. It follows Orpheus, son of a Muse, with super-human musical abilities, and Eurydice, a poor girl who struggles to survive. The story is a tragedy, yet it is driven by the love Eurydice and Orpheus share.
“There is uniqueness in sharing a story,” Phelan shared.