Another year, another incredible school musical about to begin. This year’s production is You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and the anticipation of the cast list is growing each day.
By the time you see this article, the cast list will be posted on every platform imaginable! BUT – I didn’t want to spoil Ms. Parker’s announcement, so I took the liberty of interviewing students to see how excited they are to start the whole process. If you haven’t seen the cast list yet, check the last photo of the carousel… there might be a surprise for you!
Before I get to the student body, I had the incredible opportunity of talking to the brains behind it all — Ms. Parker. Parker is THE director of the musical, so getting her input was impactful. The first question I asked her was “How excited are you for this show?”, and her response had lots of insight. She said, “I’m excited because I don’t think a lot of people know the Charlie Brown musical, so it is something really new for a lot of our kids. And it is also a really family-friendly show, so I am hoping that the community will be able to enjoy it and support it.”
When asked about the scene she was most excited to create, Parker had many to choose from. She stated, “This show is really unique because it is a lot of like, one character doing something, or two characters doing things, so there is not a ton of full-cast stuff that we are going to have to do. One of my favorite songs is one that Sally has that is called “My New Philosophy,” and it is really fun, I like that one.” We can’t wait to see what you come up with, Ms. Parker!
The final question I asked Parker was related to the musical’s audition process. I interviewed her on Thursday morning, so she commented on how the first day went. Parker exclaimed, “Auditions went pretty well, we had a decent turn out last night. The cast is going to be very young, because we graduated almost 20 seniors last year and there are not a ton of upperclassmen this year. So it will be good to see what these upcoming freshman have to offer, and what they can kind of put through. But overall auditions are going great!”
Moving on from the director of it all, I also had some great conversations with three students about the musical process. I asked each student one reflective question about the musical, as each received a callback for a principal role. First, I talked to Reece Vasina, asking him how it feels to be his final musical as a part of CHS. His response was very emotional, as he commented “It feels very surreal that the time has already come. During Anything Goes my freshman year, it felt like senior year was so far away. But now here we are already! While it is quite sad, I’m really excited for this musical season and to give it all I’ve got!”
After receiving Reece’s emotional response, I spoke with junior Dylan Urkoski, with a much more light-hearted question – what he is excited for this season? Urkoski’s response was short and sweet, as he stated, “I am excited to work with all these new freshmen and see the show slowly come together.” It is great to see a junior be excited for the upcoming freshman, since he is moving into the leader/upperclassmen role.
Finally, I had a conversation with Grace Wacha, a sophomore with a long history of musicals (she did many musicals in middle school). My question for her was unique from the others, because it relies on her past experiences. I asked her “What experiences did you gain from last year that you are taking into the next season?” To my question, she swiftly replied, “Last year I learned that you don’t have to be the best, as long as you are trying your best and having fun it’s ok.” So inspirational!
I can’t wait to see this incredible production come to life. Mark your calendars for Nov. 7 and 8 now. You won’t want to miss this!
For more articles like this, make sure to check back on chsanchornews.org daily! Don’t forget to follow our Instagram @chsanchornews!
