The MSHS theater department is putting on “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” as the fall musical this year, and students are excited to fulfill the playful nature of this show. The cast of the show attended the first rehearsal for the musical in the SILC Building on Sep. 9. The show’s will be in November, on the 15th at 7:00pm, 16th at 2:00pm and on the 21st at 7:00pm.
The plot line of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” is about six kids that are in a spelling bee who dream to spell their way to the top.
Wendy Harms, the director of productions at MSHS, is excited to work one on one with the cast members.
Harms feels that working with a smaller number of actors allows for more development within characters. “Often our musicals are so big that we kind of slam through them; and so this way, the people who are in this musical are going to be pushed in a different way than they normally are,” Harms said.
Harms is also ready to harness the unique skill set that students will develop from parts of this show. “I’m really excited about the audience interaction that is going to be in this, and It’s going to be a task for us to figure out how to do it well,” Harms said. “It’s going to be really good for the actors that are on stage because there’s a skill set to dealing with an audience that a lot of actors don’t ever have an opportunity to acquire.”
The performing arts department at MSHS has decided to change the order of the productions so that Manitou can have the musical first, in the fall, and the play second, in the spring. This decision was made because there are many events that go on in the spring within the performing arts at MSHS. Harms found herself working on three shows at once, and some students found themselves stacked with honor bands, honor choirs and college auditions. This resulted in the switch of the order the productions are put on.
Harms believes that students should attend this show because it is wickedly funny, and because there will be performances from students who have never been in a production at MSHS before.
Isaac Boczkiewicz (11) believes Chip Tolentino, the character that he is playing, is cool. “I’m really excited for the character work that we’re gonna do in the show,” Boczkiewicz said. “It’s different from all the other musicals we’ve done, because there’s a lot of character development.”
Boczkiewicz believes that the show is very entertaining. “I think people should come see this because it’s a fun, goofy, whimsical little musical,” Boczkiewicz said. “And it’s really hilarious.”
Meggan Milliron(10), has been in multiple productions over the last four years. She is interested in how the audience might interpret her character. “I’m definitely excited for my character,” Milliron said. “She’s a really hilariously deep character, and it’s significant because the audience can decipher how her backstory goes on their own.”
Harms hopes that through this show, she can teach students to learn and practice professional approaches to building a character. “I hope that I can bring performances out of the students that make them surprised at themselves,” Harms said.
