By Milo Romaguera
The annual spring musical could be called the Super Bowl of LREI, where actors, musicians, dancers, and crew come together to perform as an ensemble before the entire community. This year’s production was of the musical Urinetown and by all accounts was quite successful, but what we don’t see behind the polished final performance are the many problems and challenges the cast and crew must face while getting prepared to perform. Although the musical was flawless in the end, the journey there wasn’t always smooth sailing.
Rehearsal was difficult with four crucial cast members absent right before the show. “We had that long weekend right before. Like four people got sick,” said senior sound engineer Finn Kreidler. One of these cast members was senior Lucy Hirschfeld, who had lost her voice the week before the performances. In the musical she was to play one of the two cops who had singing and dancing roles throughout the show. She wasn’t the only one that started losing their voice.
“A lot of people’s voices started to get strained,” said senior cast member Olivia Stohrer. Although practice makes perfect, the cast and crew were practicing almost 6 days a week leading up to the performances, which affected some of the actors’ voices.
Although the show did have some bumps on the road to completion, it ended up being a total success. Bringing in a packed house for every performance, the audience was blown away.
“The implementation of the projections and the stage setup was beautiful,” said senior, Isabella Bulone, an avid viewer of LREI plays and musicals. “I’ve never seen such a complex mixture of acting, stage design, and technology in a school musical before” she said.
Many people thought highly of the musical overall due to its presentation and polish. But while some weren’t as satisfied with the story of “Urinetown” itself, those same people did recognize that the people involved in the musical worked really well with the musical they were given.
“’Urinetown’ itself is not my favorite musical, but I thought that the cast members did a fantastic job,” senior Carley Watman said. “I thought certain actors and songs really brought the musical to life.” .
Although some thought the story was a cheesy comedy mixed with some romantic references, the acting and skillful directing made the show engaging. Overall, the audience was amazed and thoroughly amused by the great singing, dancing and comedic sensibility of the cast.
“There’s something to be said about the closeness of the cast and that whole relationship and how that begins to be reflected in the performances, which is why our final one has the most energy and passion,” said Olivia Stohrer.