“Put on your Sunday clothes when you feel down and out. Strut down the street and have your picture taken. Dressed like a dream, your spirits seem to turn around. That Sunday shine is a certain sign that you feel as fine as you look.” For this year’s fall musical, Taylorsville High School’s theatre department presents Hello, Dolly! A Broadway classic from the 1969 film, based on the 1964 Broadway production of the same name. There has been a lot involved in the musical, from what gets actors “in the zone” to the stage crew bringing sets on time for a scene. Let’s go beyond what’s seen on stage and see the efforts made to bring the musical to life.
Hello, Dolly! Focuses on Mrs. Dolly Levi (Vivie Olson), a matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York, to find a match for an egotistical man named Horace Vandergelder (Aidan Allen). Throughout the plot, Dolly’s efforts to find a match for other clients such as Cornelius Hackl (Xander Stensrud) and Irene Molloy (Austyn Tarrant), Barnaby Tucker (Josh Nelson) and Minnie Fay (Maddy Bishop), Ambrose Kemper (Liam Huff) and Ermengarde (Lexi Walker), she ends up falling for Mr. Vandergelder in the end with all sorts of adventures.
Singing, practicing, overacting, and all the efforts to bring this play alive come from each actor. Everyone has to bring something to the table, and that’s what gives their characters life on stage.
“It’s definitely hard work, but it’s honestly been super super fun,” Senior Aidan Allen expressed about his first year performing in a musical at the school, and he doesn’t “regret it at all.”
Anyone with experience in theatre knows that acting isn’t easy, especially playing a main role. The actors have to go out and think big throughout the show. Allen said, “When I first started, I was super small […] The director couldn’t see the show until I did my part and everything I could. Then that’s when I started getting reactions and compliments because I was doing my part.”
Having the right mindset before getting on stage brings out the best in the actors. The songs from the musical bring out colorful emotions from Just Leave Everything To Me, Dancing, and the famous Hello, Dolly! It takes a lot out of the singers, but as Senior Xander Stensrud admits, “It’s definitely very hard both physically and especially vocally, but it’s something I would’ve never not wanna do. It was very worth it for sure.”
Even with years of experience, actors doing musicals know that it’s a fun but tiring experience. For Stensrud, the hardships of the musical were set aside as he truly learned to love the character he played. “This play is just a fun time, a very big fun comedy show. I take a moment before any rehearsals and shows to really connect with my character; I just kind of think about who he is and what he wants, his goals, and his objectives [to get into the zone].”
It can feel like a lot with the singing and acting, but Junior Austyn Tarrant has learned from experience that it takes kindness throughout the whole process for everything to be successful. Sometimes that’s not easy, but the relationship not seen on stage is greater than others think. “Just try to have a positive attitude even if you’re in for an audition and when it’s opening or closing night, no matter what.”
What is a musical without music? Every musical production at the school has always been performed live with the music director, Doc, and the pit orchestra. Unlike last year’s musical (Mamma Mia), Hello, Dolly! Involves a full orchestra. This has made a majority of the orchestra members grateful that they could be part of the pit orchestra again this year. The good thing about being part of the pit is that no one has to worry about visually performing to the audience.
“We didn’t have to perform visually, we just got to go there, perform for a couple of hours, and go home,” Isaac Berger, a junior, laughed as he explained. Like the ensemble, the pit orchestra spent countless hours rehearsing the music with Doc and the cast members weeks before opening night. There was a lot of work going through everything, but Berger speaks for all when he said, “I like it though. I thought it had good music and it was fun for everybody else because they actually got to do it this year.”
There’s just a rush of energy when the show’s about to start. When lights start to dim, the pit orchestra has enough light to read their music in the dark without disturbing what’s happening on stage. The Pit orchestra is like actors: they warm up, get dressed, know their cues, and perform. They make the same efforts to bring color into the musical. Junior Kiana Leggitt stated, “When all the lights go off and the play’s about to start, that’s when [we get] in the zone and focused on [the] music.”
Senior Marbella Serrano is both in the pit orchestra and a techie. Their job in both roles has to do with sounds. They play the alto saxophone while in the pit, and preshow microphone preparation for the actors as a techie. Even with both of these roles, this doesn’t interrupt anything for Serrano. “Thankfully with the timing when I’m playing music, it doesn’t interfere with controlling the sound for the featured vocalists.”
The visuals of the musical wouldn’t be possible without the work of the stage crew. Timing the lights, bringing on props, and cueing each other takes a group of skilled and experienced technicians, or “techies,” to ensure all goes well during the musical. With literal lights, cameras, and action, at least one responsible techie is in charge.
“We have a really big set this year. We actually bought part of a set from Hale Center Theatre,” said Senior Kallie Peterson. “I think that’s one of the biggest sets we’ve ever [owned]. There’s a staircase during Act II where a bunch of waiters and Dolly gets to perform. This set created a memorable scene because it brought attention from the crowd. Besides the train from the musical a couple of years back, this prop is the biggest yet at the high school.
Senior Sav Apodaca, a techie who’s in charge of the fly system said that there’s a “very specific pulley system, that allows us to fly things in from the ceiling of the auditorium in order to enhance the scenes of the play.” It didn’t just enhance scenes, but any props from the fly system came at specific times at the right times to make a scene more interactable. As Apodaca’s first time working with an actual performance, it was “so different, so much better, and so fun.”
As their very own Dolly, Senior Vivie Olson claimed, “Everyone worked super duper hard on this one, and we always work hard, but this one is really really big,” and it went all out! After months of rehearsing and long hours after school, Taylorsville High Theatre Department had impressed the audience again. Everyone who put in their hard efforts enjoyed the teamwork and was satisfied with the results. It has been the high school tradition to avoid repetition, which creates lots of “new” everything. Mr. Garner “got elegance, got built-in elegance” to prepare for next year’s creative musical for the audience and cast members, another unforgettable experience.
