This year, the McClintock Fine Arts program took on a challenging show in preparation for the annual winter musical performance, which took place on Jan. 22-24.
Thornton Wilder’s Hello, Dolly! centers around a widowed matchmaker who is looking to remarry. The production involved a large number of students, including cast, orchestra pit, and crew. The cast rehearsed for a total of 11 school weeks, as well as some Saturdays.
Rehearsals focused on singing, dancing, blocking, or running through an act or the whole show.
“We feel confident in our blocking; we all have a lot of energy,” senior Jenna Thrush said after several weeks of rehearsal.
In addition to having to learn and memorize numerous songs and dances, the cast faced other challenges.
“Getting into my character has been really hard; having as much energy as my character needs has been interesting,” Thrush said.
The lead roles were played by Caitlin Andelora (Dolly Gallagher Levi), River Schemelia (Horace Vandergelder), Fargo Tbakhi (Cornelius Hackl), Madison Dunn (Irene Molloy), Ronnie Torres (Barnaby Tucker), and Jenna Thrush (Minnie Fay).
Perhaps one of the most complicated parts of the rehearsal process was combining the pit with the dialogue and musical numbers of the show.
“Coordinating what is happening on stage and [the pit] is very difficult,” senior violist Mira Theilmann said.
Getting to the point where the tempo of the orchestra matches that of the singers on stage takes some time, but the students know how to handle it.
“As long as we all watch each other, it will go well,” Theilmann said.
Once the cast and pit have become accustomed to working together, the crew is thrown into the mix.
“I take care of all the sound and visual,” senior Zane Petiford said.
Petiford has worked on crew for all four musicals, as well as many other shows, during his time at McClintock.
“The most fun part of being in the crew, besides getting to hang out with my friends… [is that] the work is really fun; I enjoy what I do,” Petiford said.