Each year, Choir, TEC students and Broadway collide. Hardworking Students eat, breath and sleep the musical. With help of the Westlake Technical Entertainment Crew, directors Brandon Baker and Chris Vineis have managed to get the musical everyone’s been asking for approval. Students continually work hard throughout January and February on the long-awaited musical: “Mamma Mia.”
The musical’s plot takes place on a Greek island, and features a daughter Sophie, who is getting married. Sophie wants her unknown father to walk her down the aisle, but is conflicted between three men, and secretly invites them to her wedding. Her mother, Donna soon finds out Sophie’s actions, leaving her conflicted.
Multiple student groups play key roles in the production. Students audition for a leading role by rehearsing a script, then singing to the directors all before winter break.
“Me and Mr. Baker chose this musical because I’m a fan of ‘Mamma Mia,’ myself, but it was the enthusiasm that the students showed towards wanting to do it,” Vineis said. “There is so much collaboration, there’s a choreographer who does the group dances, but we also have Mrs. Jenn Goodner doing the stage direction, Michael Essad doing the set, David Poole doing lighting and mics, and then Mr. Baker and I are teaching the music and reinforcing the show.”
Working behind the scenes, TEC builds the props and stabilizes the structures. They are responsible for making sure that the set is safe and the actors have everything they need.
“We take a lot of time thoroughly testing the structure before we let any actors go on it, whether that’s standing on it or testing the load bearing weights,” stage manager senior Cole Taylor said.
In past years, it has been difficult to complete all the tasks before the musical starts because of the tight schedules and large number of duties.
“This year, we’re actually on a pretty good schedule,” Taylor said. “After school we work on the builds that we build piece by piece.”
A portion of production in Mamma Mia is helped by Westlake Tec. From the process of adding all the light movements and colors, doing sound checks, and making sure each detail works out, such as having microphones turn on at the exact moment or getting the spotlight throughout the show.
“Seeing the show go on the night of is really amazing to see the whole thing come together,” senior Alexander Scott said. “We don’t mess around when we are working. We know that this is professional and we just have to get it done quickly.”
Lead roles work to become their character and stay at school practicing until 10:00 p.m for weeks before the premier.
“What I love most about my character is that he is so physically different from me, I get to turn into a British person and be different from who I am,” senior Lance Prosise, taking the role of Harry Bright, said. “I bring myself to the character, and I bring what the text has instead of feeling intimidated.”
Now, the show will begin. Performances are Thursday Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m., Friday Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday Feb 8 at 7:30 p.m. Each performance will be held in the PAC (Performing Arts Center). Tickets are available on the Westlake choir website. https://www.westlakechoir.com
