By Mr Trafford, Artistic Director:
Each year, the senior school musical is a theatrical highlight of the Performing Arts calendar, and each year the challenge is to top the show that came before. But following Les Miserables and Chicago, how could we top that?
We try to programme a diverse range of styles so that students are encouraged to develop a range of skills, but we also hold a vote amongst students to select the show, so we were delighted when they decided to take on the challenge of performing ‘Hairspray’. ‘Les Mis’ is dramatic and tragic, but in a way, it’s easier to act a serious drama than to deliver comedy, so ‘Hairspray’ might be a happy-go-lucky story with great fun for the audience to watch, but it is really challenging from the point of view of musical comedy technique.
Well, fortunately, our cast delivered ‘Hairspray‘ triumphantly! In fact, it’s inaccurate to say “our cast”, because we had two casts! We try to double-cast roles to share opportunities and widely as possible, so both Sam and Lara played the adorable Edna Turnblad, Aria and Ellie both played the peppy Tracy Turnblad to perfection, Muku and Phillip both played Seaweed, Lily and Kiera were two Pennies, Freya and Annabelle were the wicked Velma van Tussells, Mia and Mary both played Amber and Nana and Maka brought the house down as Maybelle. The dual casting continued throughout the other roles, too! (We ought to acknowledge that Alex was our unique Wilbur, though!) It was particularly delightful to welcome into the cast some of our Queens students who had never been in a show before.
Teamwork is the crucial element of successful shows and audiences responded so enthusiastically to the high-energy show because it was clear that every single member of the cast and crew were trying their best to make the show the best it could be. ‘Hairspray’ is a show with a joyous but important message about people living together in harmony, and it was so rewarding to see that reflected in the little world of our cast, crew and production team. Audiences left the show on a high and everyone can feel proud of what they achieved.
The only question is: how do we top that?
