The school campus came alive with bustling crowds and costumed actors on the evenings of December 5th and 6th, 2019. After months of preparation, the theatre community performed inside the PAC the first production of the year: Shrek the Musical. 

The musical is based on the Dreamworks movie Shrek, which has now become a cult classic among teens. The production starred James Wang, junior, Anna Girdle, senior, and Austin Eggett, sophomore as Shrek, Fiona, and Donkey respectively. 

As the year drew to a close, students were asked to shed light on the rigorous rehearsal process and how they felt about the production. Prior to the two weeks before the show, pit band flutist Michelle Chen, actor Lacie Rich, who played Humpty Dumpty, and stage manager of technology Cleo Ballon explained that while musicians rehearsed every Monday, main characters stayed until 5:30 twice a week. As the days drew closer to production, the frequency and duration of rehearsals also increased. 

“Two weeks before the show, the rehearsal schedule was so intense that we rehearsed almost every day after school, and sometimes we also took off our fourth block and rehearsed for almost four hours,” said Chen. 

While all three could agree that rehearsals were efficient during the first few weeks, sentiments became mixed regarding the weeks closer to the production date. While Chen notes the value of seeing and hearing how the whole crew collaborated, Rich believes that the time designated to each scene didn’t always suit the scenes’ difficulty. 

“Sometimes, we reworked the scenes we’ve done 30 times, which prevented us from practising more of the bigger dance numbers,” said Rich. She adds that the frequent changing of instructions took away from the crew’s confidence in their roles.

The crew also experienced periods of low morale during the rehearsing process. “There wasn’t that energy that was there last year,” said Rich. While she notes that the plot of Shrek didn’t allow for as many chorus people helping with “heart-to-heart moments” as prior productions Elf and Into the Woods, the unbalanced rehearsal schedule and smaller focus on three main characters in the plot took away the “magic” for many members of the crew. 

Nevertheless, the musical generated many positive memories from the crew. As a new student, Chen thought that the pit band’s unique collaboration with the singers was a rewarding first experience that also allowed her to practise her flute more often. Rich added that stand-out performances by the cast also secured good places in the crew’s memory. She recalled freshman Alex Zhang’s hilarious adaption of Lord Farquaard, as he tried to run on his knees to imitate the character’s short stature, as well as the unexpected appearance of SAS-patented pyjama pants appearing throughout Shrek’s scenes.