Behind the Scenes of the Middle School Musical
By: Anya Kakarlapudi, Emilie Dunoye, Laasya Kakumanu, Lola Fulham, and Zoe Vincze
Seven Hills – Have you ever wondered what it’s like to perform in front of hundreds of people? Or what it’s like to spend hours of your day rehearsing? The Seven Hills musical, Willy Wonka Jr. was filled with effort, fun, and excitement.
The musical occurred through the 20th and 21st of February but the cast rehearsed weeks in advance. According to Mr. Hauser, they should have had 12 weeks to rehearse, but due to illnesses and holidays, the cast was restricted to about 10 weeks of practice.
Señorita Rosenburg, choreographer and the person in charge of costumes, starts working on the musical way before the school year even begins. She says that in the summer, she makes a draft and tells Mr. Hauser for the final plan.
She plans the costumes three months in advance, but they take six weeks to arrive before the show. Señorita begins her work before the production because she “likes to have lots of time and things happen.”
8th grader, Conrad Riveiro, landed on the role of Willy Wonka in the school’s 2025 musical. He was dedicated to getting the main role and his hard work helped him develop and achieve success. Conrad said, “I practiced every day for at least an hour.”
While that is impressive to non actors, in the productions that have been performed in the Schiff auditorium, that would seem to be normal for lead actors.
When asked if he struggled to memorize the script he said, “The songs were challenging to memorize. I also thought I would have more lines than I really did, so memorizing the script wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.”
Not only did he give up valuable time to rehearse for the musical, he also practiced months in advance determined to be the best he could be as Willy Wonka before he even got the role.
Another 8th grader, Izebe Milz, was given the role of Ms.Teevee. Izebe said, “I was originally supposed to be an oompa-loompa but the Ms.TeeVee casted actor left, so I was chosen to be Ms.TeeVee in the final production.”
Even though Izebe wasn’t cast as the main role, she still had a significant amount of practice to do. She said, “I practiced every day except Tuesdays for 2 hours.”
Although it looks easy, performing in front of hundreds of people is a nerve racking experience. When asked for the tactics of overcoming fear, Conrad said, “Just go for it and do it.”
Although this might not work for everyone, it helped Conrad for his performance was stupendous.
When performing, Izzy doesn’t lose her cool. “Think of something that makes you feel comfortable or safe,” she said. Her tactics proved to help Izzy during her spectacular performance.
There is a great importance of performances. The purpose is not just to entertain the Seven Hills population, but something with deeper importance.
Mr. Hauser explains his reasoning, “It teaches a lot of important skills, it’s like a sport but for non-athletes.” Companionship and practicing with what you learned is the most important thing to acting and performing a musical. This is similar to when you play sports.
It also helps the performers build new connections with lower grades. Conrad said, “I got to know the 6th and 7th Graders.” Without the play, it’s hard to really connect and meet other people in grades you’re unfamiliar with.
So maybe next time when there’s a production coming up, sign up!! It could help you build friendships and create new experiences for your middle school life.
Photos from Mr. Hauser