The curtains open, it is the first show. Nerves, excitement, and many other emotions surround the cast and crew. This is the moment they had been waiting for. The crowd draws to a silence as the musical begins. The crowd was the last missing piece to the performance that has been practiced and learned for months. 

In December the process of preparing for the spring musicals begins. This year, “Shrek: The Musical” was chosen, but preparing for the opening day was the same process as any other year. 

“So December is just auditions,” said Derek Galvicius, the director of this year’s spring musical. “You should spend Christmas break learning your songs, starting to memorize your words. The first two weeks when we come back are solely learning the music. After that we get on stage, we start blocking, so you are saying the lines, walk there, shake that person’s hand, or run to the right. Then sprinkled throughout that we start learning the choreography. Usually about four to six weeks after we start, it all comes together when we add lights, costumes, mics and whatever else we have to add.”

During the months prior to the musical, the students are embracing their role and doing everything they can to stay healthy and be prepared. 

“For the past 3 or so months, I’ve done everything an actor should do to prepare,” said Kadin Henige, who played Donkey in the musical. “I memorized, took care of my vocal health, and most importantly, I have been enjoying the experience! I’m looking forward to the audience, as it will be our first time with audience interactions.”

Opening day of the spring musical was March 8. There were months spent to prepare for the musical, but the first day is the first time that it all truly comes together. 

“For me as a director, it is hard doing the same thing for three months,” said Galvicius. “We need the audience to finalize everything … we get energy from them, and we give it to them. We just need to have that audience to finally realize why we do what we do and that is when it comes full circle.”

The opening weekend of the show was something they were proud of and each of the days they hosted and sold lots of tickets. For Sunday’s show, they sold out and they had no more tickets left. They also reflected upon their showing from all three nights moving forward into the next week.

“The weekend itself was absolutely wonderful,” said Galvicius. “Friday and Saturday were exciting because of the beginning of the show nerves and adrenaline, but Sunday was by far our cleanest. Overall, the focus was great, but Saturday, we had some technical glitches that never happened before. But, I was really pleased with our tech crews and were able to pivot to fix things on the fly which is super fun.”

There were a lot of accomplishments that the cast was proud of. Their work during the opening weekend reflected onto the closing weekend with their improvement and made it better. 

“I think the thing that I’m most proud of is I’m a lot more comfortable with my range and I can belt a lot higher than I used to, and also the tap dances,” said Lorelei Galvicius, who played Fiona. “I’m really hoping that I feel more comfortable on stage and that I don’t break character because I do it a lot. I can’t help myself from laughing so definitely not breaking character is something to improve upon.”

Closing weekend was successful, but it was emotional for many of the cast members. “Shrek: The Musical” was the last musical that seniors will be involved in during high school.

“It’s a tough one because our seniors are getting ready to have their last closing weekend, but I’m looking forward to another wonderful opportunity to present our show to everyone,” said Galvicius. “We have this thing called the sharing circle, so certain grade levels sit in the middle of the circle, and everyone else is on the outside. Saturday night the seniors are in the circle, so that’s where no one does their makeup prior because everyone’s going to be crying. But, after that, we have to get our energy back up, put our makeup back on and be ready to close the show efficiently.”

“Shrek: The Musical” was two weekends long starting March 8 and closing March 16. The months of preparations impressed the audience and some of the shows were even sold out or very close to being sold out. The cast and crew were proud of their showings after months of work and dedication.