The play (in a play)'s the thing
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Surrounded by walking, talking props, actors in ‘Just Another High School Musical’ (from left, Taggert Hodges, Masha Adonyeva and Anne Sale) improvise a melodrama. The Quincy High School production opens tonight and continues Friday and Saturday.
Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald With no director and no script, high school actors Kyle Mills (left) and Paige Lubach turn ‘Our Town’ into a musical number in the Quincy High School production of ‘Just Another High School Musical.’
QUINCY — A musical about a completely improvised musical takes to the Quincy High School stage this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The curtain goes up for “Just Another High School Musical” at 7:30 p.m. each night at the high school, 16 SE Sixth Ave.
Tickets can be purchased at the door.
A musical is something relatively new for the QHS drama club, which does two plays per year. “I haven’t done a musical for a few years,” said drama club advisor (and play director) Tracy Higgins. The club chose “Just Another High School Musical” because the play doesn’t require experienced singers, she said.
In fact, the unnamed school’s drama club is happy to have anybody who’s willing to perform. The cast drove the drama club advisor to distraction, and eventually to abandon them. But the club still has to put on a play – for which they don’t even have a script. And the clock is ticking toward opening night.
The stage manager (Cyril Berndt in the QHS production) and stage manager (Brynn Nieuwenhuis) hit on a brilliant solution, or at least it seems so at the time. There are a box of scripts in the back – they’re not musicals, but so what? Just add a few songs. It’ll be a hit – except the cast isn’t so sure, as evidenced by the opening number, “We Apologize in Advance.”
They add music to “Little Women,” and who cares that the cast is guys (Kyle Mills, Sebastian Gomez, Gates Petersen and Jerry Hodges)? The helpful box of plays includes Shakespeare and Dickens – of course “A Christmas Carol” (Mills, Petersen, Hodges, Mica Ybarra and Sam Ronish) will make great rap. And why hasn’t anyone turned “Our Town” into a musical before?
Even wacky musicals are tricky, Higgins said. “Timing is really important,” making sure singers and dancers are in sync and in step. The cast of a music has a lot more to learn, music and dancing as well as dialogue.
The cast also includes Kelsey Ramsey, Audry Allen, Sandra Huezo, Brenna Bews, Bethany Safe, Avery Vanderveen, Vanessa Hernandez, Paige Lubach, Masha Abonyeva, Abby Hoeger, Anne Safe, Taggert Hodges, Tony Martinez and Tyson Thornton.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.