The cast and crew of the fall musical “Pippin” have embraced and continued to see the positives during the madness and stress of opening week.
Narrated by a traveling troupe of actors led by the Leading Player, “Pippin” follows a young prince on his journey to self-discovery. As he plans to get involved in the war to prove his loyalty to his father, King Charles, the Leading Player convinces him to do otherwise.
With music and lyrics written by Stephen Schwartz, this play originally opened on Broadway in 1972 and was nominated for multiple Tony awards.
After being in ensemble for last year’s plays, senior Brenden McCauley will play the lead role of Pippin.
“I get to do a lot more on stage,” McCauley said. “I learn new tricks and skills, like new dances, dialects, as well as a little gymnastics.”
The feeling of being “out of place” and struggling to figure out where and how to fit in is something within his character that McCauley relates to.
“Playing a character who is always searching for something helps me, because I know what that feels like,” he said.
Junior Kaela Johnson, who will play one of the two Leading Players in the school adaptation, said as a first-time lead, McCauley is “extremely talented” and handles the pressure well.
“He has a great voice and has done such a good job at jumping into this role and executing it beautifully,” Johnson said.
The cast spends almost five hours after school in rehearsal every day for a week and a half leading up to opening night, which is Nov. 10.
“We usually start getting ready by 2 p.m., which includes getting a mic on… sound check…hair/make-up…getting your costumes on…warm-ups,” Johnson said. “We start a run of the show by 4 p.m.”
As the date for opening night gets closer, they take fewer breaks and usually don’t leave school until 6:45 p.m.
These days leading up to opening are referred to by the cast and crew as tech week. Here, the cast runs through the entire show with costumes. For the tech and lighting crew, this week consists of practicing scene shifts and lighting cues.
Senior and first-time stage manager Aurora Wilke runs tech rehearsals and oversees calling cues and communication between other branches of the drama department.
“I love the thrill of it,” Wilke said. “I knew I wanted to try for stage manager my senior year, and this is everything I did and didn’t expect…it has its twists, but it’s so much fun.”
Johnson thinks the show is worth seeing because of the “important” message that it portrays.
“There is an overall message about finding yourself…especially at our age, it hits close to home with a lot of our cast and crew,” Johnson said. “I truly think ‘Pippin’ is one of the most meaningful shows I have been a part of.”
