A few weeks ago Mrs. Rawlins put on the musical Les Miserables. The students who performed put everything they had into making this musical happen.
A rehearsal for tech week was from 4:30pm-10:30pm, before the students went into tech week the rehearsal time was from 3pm-5:30pm still learning the lines and choreography and getting used to how everything will play out for the musical.
Kristi Wink was the main choreographer for the musical. Before working on Les Miserables she had finished directing the fall musical at the palace “Finding Nemo Jr.”
Mrs. Rawlins had said that the musical was a huge success all three days, with each night having its strengths and weaknesses “ that’s the fun part about musical theater!”
The process of moving to the palace from Harding was a challenge. On Monday the 6th they had moved into the palace Mrs. Rawlins tried to take as much prop and set pieces as possible. She had to make sure everything was out of the way when they weren’t there practicing. “ My car was always full. It takes a lot of work and details to pull off a successful musical.” Mrs. Rawlins favorite part of the musical is nothing better than watching her students grow and succeed, a musical is a huge team activity and requires everyone to be successful at their job in order to make the show come to life onstage. “ I was extremely proud to be their director.”
In an interview with some of the cast members Iris Deeren who played Cosette in the musical she had said that getting ready for opening night took her two hours to perfect the character of Cosette. Her favorite part of the musical was being able to be in an environment with everyone that enjoys music, getting closer to her friends. “ My favorite songs of the musical were Bring Him Home, Empty Chairs and Empty Tables, and I dreamed a dream.” Iris’s advice for the upcoming freshman would be to audition for the part you want even if you don’t get it.
Carter Rawlins who played Jean Valjean had said “my favorite part of the musical was being able to play one of my all time dream roles.” Leading up to the performance dates Carter was very nervous he wanted to do the best that he could do. Carter’s advice to the upcoming freshman thinking about doing the musical would be “ you’ll make friends in this group and will enjoy this time with them.”
Brody Cahill who played Marius in the musical, his favorite part about the musical was spending time on stage with his friends on the set piece called “The Barricade.” His thoughts leading up to performance dates were “ just thinking about how difficult the material was for this musical.” Brody had been surrounded by music his whole life and this was one of the hardest music he had to ever sing. He highly encourages students to do the musical in high school when they come as freshmen, because of how fun and welcoming the environment is and how you get an amazing experience from it.