Straight from the page, right to our stage, Seussical is performing a tale so heartwarming! Come see the show, but
not before you know the training that the cast and crew undergo! Come look through this magazine to see the behind-the-scenes!

BACKROUND

Seussical follows the Cat in the Hat as he narrates the story of Horton the Elephant, who is trying to save the City of Whoville in the Jungle of Nool. Horton faces criticism from his peers, who think he is going crazy. Horton’s kind heart knows that he has to save the people of Whoville, despite all of the negativity towards his thoughts.

CHOOSING THE MUSICAL

Before the actors put on a show, the theatre director, Kevin Phelan, chooses a musical for the students to perform.

“I tried to do four different styles of musicals every four years, but there are more than four styles of musicals. Trying to do something contemporary, trying to do something traditional,” Phelan said.

He gave the example of one of the first VHHS musicals, Fiddler on the Roof.

“Fiddler has a character named Tevye, and if you don’t have somebody that can play Tevye, you can’t do Fiddler; you have to have that person,” Phelan said. “You have to have somebody who can play that role. You’ve got a match with who you have,” Phelan said.

CASTING

For casting, the actors choose from a list of characters they would want to play. They are then split into around four to five groups of five or six. In one group, they sing a song of their choice that fits the theme of the show in front of one of the three directors. The second group practices a few lines from the show, acting them out, sometimes by themselves, and sometimes with other members auditioning. The third group runs through a piece of choreography that was given to them before the audition.

Throughout the audition process, the directors provide student-run workshops to help the actors get over any nervousness they might have before going into the auditions.

Once the first day of auditions is done, the directors have a sit-down meeting where they discuss the callback opportunities for the actors. For callbacks, it is a similar process, but with different material.

“You’ll go in groups of six on the auditorium stage to dance and do the dance combo,” Madison Kopin (10) said. “Then you get to watch everyone do their dance combo, and then after that, you’re given an audition slot with your group, you do the audition, and then you are done,” Kopin said.

ACTING

For Seussical, there isn’t just one lead role. Since it is a collection of a couple of different Dr. Seuss books, the Director of the show, Phelan, has cast multiple people for some of the roles. One of the narrator roles, the Bird Girls, is a key part of the story. Kopin will play one of the three Bird Girls, along with Sierra Overvik (12), and Francesca Gaus Ehning (12).

“I got a Birdgirl, which is basically the  narrator of Seussical. They follow around different characters and narrate what they’re doing,” Kopin said.

Since it’s still early in the production, they will go to the choir room to go over songs and lines as a full ensemble. The rehearsals take place every day after school until six pm.

“Usually it takes around three hours to run the scenes,” Kopin said.

Outside of school, Kopin uses an app to run through the lines, which helps her remember. For choreography, Phelan sends out videos to all the cast members, so they can review the choreography and  practice. If anyone has any other questions, they can go to Edy Sostak (11), the Backlight Theatre dance captain, for help.

STAGE MANAGERS

The part the audience doesn’t see. The stage manager runs the whole show from the booth. Laney Wiegel (10) is the head Stage Manager for this show.

“The main job is kind of keeping everyone and everything together in a way  that makes sense while keeping yourself together too,” Wiegel said.

With stage managers, they don’t only have to run the show. They take care of making sure who will be there, who will miss the rehearsal, and when they will miss. Once they know who will miss and when, they take note of it and report it to Phelan.

“It’s a different thing every day. It’s taking notes, keeping track of who’s going to be there and who’s not going to be there and when they’re going to be there and whenever, and where everybody is all the time,” Wiegel said.

Whether you’re a Seuss fan or not, why not give this show a shot! It might not be for just one night, but for a show of this might, it’ll bring you so much delight, you want to go each day to see the sight! Just go with the flow, come see the show, and before you know you won’t want to go!