Heritage put on the musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone” this November. which tells the story of an actress and her groom-to-be’s trials and failures.
The musical starts with an unnamed man living in his New York apartment alone. He begins playing his favorite Broadway show from his record player, and as the record begins to play, the show comes to life around him. The Broadway show tells the story of actress Janet van de Graff, who is giving up her fame, and Robert Martin, her groom-to-be.
Over the course of the play, complications unfold, as Janet’s producer attempts to stop their wedding, in order to keep her performing. In spite of these obstacles, Janet and Robert end up married and three other weddings occur as a result of the problems. The show ends with the man from the apartment joining the cast and trading his world for theirs.
This show is a celebration of life, the ups, and downs as well as the surprises that come with it. It is made up of various characters, each unique for their own reasons. However there were also many factors that went into bringing this story to life happening behind the scenes.
“Hayley Schachter, Feyal El’Ashmawy and I stage-managed the production, meaning we managed the stage. Even before the show was cast, we were analyzing the script to find which props, lights, costumes, sound effects or scenic elements we would need. Then, during the process, we would record choreography and music for the cast to refer back to later, take what happened in a day’s rehearsal and put it in a rehearsal report to keep track of the process. We keep an organized list of the cast’s conflicts so we know what to expect through the rehearsal process, and generally be the middle man between the director and the actors, among other things. Then, during the show, Hayley and Feryal were in charge of the deck crew, organizing a team of students to perform clean scene transitions, and I called the lighting, sound and fly rail cues,” junior Damien Ellowitz shared.
Through practice and preparation, students were able to put together the musical for audiences to watch and ultimately be taught lessons to carry with them through life.
