Our amazing students worked for months to put on an amazing version of The Little Mermaid. They spent countless hours rehearsing and working on sets, props, singing, and all the other pieces they had to perfect before putting on such an amazing show. I interviewed three members of the cast whose amazing performances stood out to me. All three of them are seniors and brought their characters to life in such unique and amazing ways. I asked them each 4 questions.
Here are their responses:
- What was your favorite part of putting together this show?
Adelaide Bertrand (Sebastian): The sitzprobe was my favorite part of rehearsals! We got to sing all the songs with the pit orchestra for the first time and it went really well! It was fun to just stand in the band room and sing with the whole cast.
Emil (Jetsam/Seagull): The first rehearsals were for sure my favorite part! Most of the time it was really just me, Zariah (Flotsam), and Hannah (Ursula) called for rehearsal, and the time we spent was very productive and fun.
Kate (Ariel): My favorite part of putting together this show was after we finished blocking, and when we got in our costumes, when we could finally just run the show. It was my favorite because we got to see how well our hard work had paid off, and for the first time in the rehearsal process, we got to see what our show actually looked like, and the magic of it is palpable. Doing a smooth run through of scenes you staggered through before is such a relieving, inspiring feeling, and to do it in costume and actually feel like your character is even more exhilarating.
- Funniest memory during the production of the show or during rehearsals.
Adelaide Bertrand (Sebastian): There were so many funny moments; it’s hard to pick just one, but one of my favorite moments was when Laura Keller chased me with her swan head during a Kiss the Girl rehearsal.
Emil (Jetsam/Seagull): I fell on my butt once during tech week right in the middle of a very serious scene. Guess which one it was.
Kate (Ariel): For me, the funniest memory during rehearsals was whenever we would have a choreography day. Although dancing isn’t my strong suit, and the dances were a challenge for us all, so many of my castmates made it such a silly, enjoyable experience. There were so many times when I was struggling with a dance, and a friend would cheer me up by just being silly throughout the rehearsal with me and turning a stressful memory into a hilarious one.
- What was the hardest part about your specific role in the show?
Adelaide Bertrand (Sebastian): The hardest part was definitely singing and dancing and keeping the accent ALL AT THE SAME TIME. Under the Sea was my one number with a combination of the three: lots of singing, lots of dancing, and of course, the accent. It was really difficult to get down at first, but by the time the shows came around, I was able to have some fun with it.
Emil (Jetsam/Seagull): The hardest part about being Jetsam is his character. Half of the time my character didn’t talk, so I had to express his emotions through body movements, which were already hard to do considering Jetsam’s slimy nature. Making him creepy was even harder, especially when I sang, because I didn’t know whether to focus on the character or the vocals more. But in the end, it kind of started working on its own, and I’m very pleased with the result.
Kate (Ariel): The hardest part about playing Ariel was acting like a princess! It was very hard to tone down everything from the way I sang and talked to how I moved. Every movement and word had to be just like a princess for it to feel real, and it takes awhile to adjust your whole being to a new personality. But what might’ve been even harder for me was remembering to move my arms like I was swimming in every scene and having that become second nature.
- The worst part about being your character.
Adelaide Bertrand (Sebastian): My costume was really difficult to work with. I had so many layers and with the hat and the gloves, I would get really hot. It was especially difficult during Under the Sea and Les Poissons Mayhem; I could hardly breathe by the end of those songs.
Emil (Jetsam/Seagull): Listen, I love the Jetsam costume, but it was the most uncomfortable piece of clothing I have EVER worn. It limited movement a lot and the material itself was very uncomfortable to feel on your skin. Totally worth it in the end though.
Kate (Ariel): The worst part about playing Ariel was most definitely the quick changes. There would be times when I only had 15 or 20 seconds to put on a crinoline, a dress, shoes, a veil, and gloves, and right after, jump back into the scene. Although the costumes were gorgeous, they were so stressful to get in and out of.
