We just wrapped up the high school's production of The Little Mermaid after months of hard work. I get to say "we" because I helped with a few things, and I've become possessive of it. At one of the performances, I leaned over to Scotty and said, "It's weird to sit here trying to pretend I'm a normal audience member. I want to go up on stage and fix the set!" (some of my coral reef had sustained some damage that no one else would notice, but I could see it because it was my project).
Three years ago when Nicky started high school and joined the musical, Scotty and I helped with a few things (building the set, providing food for late-night rehearsals, and doing hair and make-up). The next year we did it all again, and we kind of love it, so of course, we wanted to help this year, too.
Prior to Nicky’s freshman year, we’d never done anything with theatre beyond being occasional audience members. We still know very little about theatre, but we’ve learned a lot and gained some pretty cool skills along the way.
Scotty’s little excursion to Asia had unfortunate timing (“How can you run off to Asia now? Don’t you know we have a show to put together!”) And then, the week after he got back, he hosted some vendors from Asia and Mexico here, so he was gone a lot. That was the week the show was supposed to open, but it got delayed for two weeks (out of privacy I shan’t say why, but just think back to 2020, and that’ll give you a hint. Or so the rumor goes).
For this musical, Nicky was cast as Winward (one of two seahorses on King Triton’s staff) and a sailor. He had lines! Two and a half of them!
My first assignments for this year were to put sequins on the seahorse costumes and make a set of drums for “Under the Sea.”
Then Scotty, Nicky, and I helped transport a bunch of set pieces from another city.
I was asked to help make some set components from spray foam and styrofoam. This is where I learned the skills of shaping spray foam (it has a mind of its own) and using a hot knife. It was so much fun! But I can’t take it on as a lifetime hobby because it’s deadly. Sigh… slicing through foam with a hot knife was such a good stress relief activity, though!
I did a lot of spray painting, and our yard will probably bear the marks of that task until spring.
I spent a few days at the school helping upcycle some set pieces that had been borrowed or given to the theatre program from other productions. I glued and stapled and stapled and glued. Then I had an incident where I stepped onto a set piece with a bit of pep in my gait, and the wheels weren’t locked, so it started rolling, and I thought, “This is how it ends! I die from riding a giant seashell off the stage!” But I was able to stop it by stepping off backwards and grabbing it.
I helped put together “break-a-leg grams” for people to purchase and send to the cast members. I also made some pricing signs for concessions.
Scotty and I did dinner for the cast and crew (120 people) one night. It had to be something quick because they only had a 20 minute break, so we did sandwiches on rolls, chips, carrots, Gogurt, bottled water, and cookies. After last year’s soup fiasco, I wanted to make food that wouldn’t be hard to transport or keep warm and could be recovered if dropped in the parking lot.
As dress rehearsals started, I helped with makeup. I was assigned specifically to Grimsby and Triton, so I watched lots of tutorials on how to do old man makeup. Then I went to the school several times and practiced on the students. I also did generic men’s stage make-up on other cast members who needed assistance. I went three hours early to every performance to help with makeup and costumes.
By the end, I knew the kids’ faces better than they know their own. I can tell you every zit, every patch of chin hair, and every booger from each of my “clients” (more than once I had to say something along the lines of, “Make sure you do a nose check before curtain call!”
Scotty and I also worked two shifts in the ticket booth, and one at concessions
Last night was the final show, and it was a sell out crowd! After bows, the house lights came on, and the cast saw how full the auditorium was, and they were in shock. It was really cute to see how excited that made them!
I’ve enjoyed helping with this production. Every year I’m impressed by the amount of team work that goes into these things. I’m not good at working with others, and this is one area where you have to, and it’s so good for me! The musical is successful because of people working together.
The other day I was in the auditorium by myself for a while, and I was looking around at all the set pieces, and I saw a piece of purple coral that I had made. It was the very last one I did, and I decided to go big and see what I could do. It ended up being the most intricate and time consuming piece I made - it took me about an hour.
Looking at the one piece and knowing how much time and effort I put into it made me think about all of the contributions people had made to get this show up and running.
In the above photo, another Drama Mama had used a projector to draw the scenery on some foam. Then the stage crew painted it. I made all the 3-D components, and the stage crew assembled the pieces to create the proscenium (file under “theatre words I’ve learned”).
So many people worked to make just that small pillar of scenery, and beyond that, we had an entire show’s worth of lights, costumes, props, drops, and set pieces. When it all came together, no one could tell how many hours were spent sewing costumes, putting lights in umbrellas to make jellyfish, or teaching kids how to paint scales on themselves. Months of effort tend to absorb into the whole, but when you see it and participate in it first-hand, it’s pretty incredible. Miraculous, even.
The Little Mermaid ended up being such a great show. I have to admit, I’ve never seen a production at any other high school, so I don’t have anything to compare it to except our own shows, but I think everyone involved should be proud!
I’m excited to do it all again next year… but first… sleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment