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Lucy Wimmer

Senior Taylor Thomas, as Cinderella, poses at the end of a song in the choir musical.

Nervous nods are shared all around, the curtain slides open, bright lights blind the actors as they look out into the massive crowd — the musical has finally begun. The shows are Feb. 4, 5 and 6 at 7:30 p.m. and a 2 p.m. matinee Feb. 6. Students, parents, teachers and more look forward to the annual Westlake musical, and since they choose a new musical each year, viewers are on the edge of their seats waiting to see what the choir department has put together this time around.

Actors, singers, dancers, TEC, teachers and volunteers have spent hours upon hours putting together this year’s musical — Cinderella — and it has not been easy.

“We have practice every day in class,” senior Kendall Chase said. “The directors have to work even longer than we do and [they] even stay later than the principal.”

All of the performers have practice after school until 10 p.m. this whole week in preparation for their performances this weekend. It may be a lot of work, but the students know what they’ve gotten themselves into.

“I really enjoy working on the musical because I get to hang out with all of my really good friends and make music with them,” junior Lexy Connolly said. “It’s really exciting getting to be a part of something this big.”

With all of these practices and time spent making this production, being nervous for such a big performance would be expected, but some are at ease when their friends are on stage with them.

“I’m not nervous about [the performance] because I know everyone will do their job,” Lexy said. “We have all been working really hard to make it as perfect as possible, and when it comes down to it, I know that we’ll get the job done.”

The tickets went on sale Feb. 1 at 8 a.m. and the Saturday night performance is already sold out. There aren’t too many tickets left for Thursday and Friday night. They are $18 each and are available on the choir department website.

Although the musical takes a lot of time and effort, in the end the students’ hard work pays off.

“Being in the musical is really fun because you get to be with everyone in choir,” Kendall said. “This might sound annoying, but you end up getting to know a lot of people you usually wouldn’t. It’s a cool experience.”