While COVID-19 has heavily impacted the ways in which the school year has been able to unfold, it was unable to shut down theatre. While it may be coming a little later than expected, the 2020-2021 musical was a success, and the seniors involved were definitely grateful for the experience.
“I was thrilled about the idea of doing a musical, not just for me but for people who haven’t auditioned before or people who have done the musical in the past and were just looking forward to it,” Senior Sara Shuffit, who played Jo, said, “From a senior’s perspective [though] it was really important to me because obviously it’s my last year and I don’t necessarily know what college looks like for me right now.”
Originally, as announced at the 2019-2020 Thommy Awards, the musical of the year was meant to be “The Little Mermaid.” However, with the pandemic’s changing how typical theatre can work, a huge production with an ensemble and pit, some changes definitely had to be made. Still, the choice to do “Little Women'' was not a last ditch effort at maintaining a musical this year, in fact it all came down to a stylistic choice in terms of comparing the two musicals.
“The style of the original play was done with only ten actors. Most of the actors with the exception of Jo were doubled so they’re intentionally supposed to be playing multiple roles. That was a decision that was made based off COVID where we thought [about] what a really great show we could do that’s a smaller cast, unlike “The Little Mermaid.” If we were going to do “The Little Mermaid,” we’re gonna cast 60 students, minimum. We can’t cast [that many] students and have them be socially distant. One person gets it [and] your whole cast is in quarantine,” said director Jeffrey Dalstrom. “Smaller cast is a smaller risk and the quality of the show is just fantastic. It’s not like we compromised because of the pandemic, I think we were able to find a show that has extremely high quality, which is what we’re known for, that is also protective of the show itself from a pandemic standpoint.”
From enjoying the show itself, to the cast members who put it together, was an enjoyable piece of work brought to the Warrior Nation by a group of people all empowered by their care of theatre and their fellow cast members.
“It’s just been great overall, really working with any show it’s just great. You have all these people with you, very supportive, everyone in the cast is really great and I think that energy kinda bounces around between everyone, so I think it’ll really help us be hyped up for opening night and the shows,” sophomore Brandon Young, who played Mr. Laurence/Knight, said.
While things looked pretty grim for theatre at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, the show was allowed to go on. That being said, maintaining health and safety is a high priority to keep the show from getting cancelled.
“Definitely masks [have been] a must always, that is non negotiable, we have had to cut out some scenes from the musical, like kissing scenes. We’re talking about doing some kind of angling to make it look like something is happening, but also still keeping the distance. There is also limited touching, very limited touching, yeah we’ve been doing stuff like that, the little things,” senior Amaary Mills, who played Braxton/Mr. Brooke, said.
This show has been more than just another production to the cast. It has given a lot of hope to people who find happiness in the theatre department, whether they be new members or returning from previous years and experiences. Or in some members' cases, whose journey in theatre was meant to start last year, but was interrupted due to COVID-19, and were unsure as to whether or not they would get a second chance.
“I really enjoyed the whole ‘Lost in Yonkers,’ the cast was amazing. I really wish we could have performed the show, but being a part of ‘Little Women’ has been so much fun, I got to meet a bunch really talented and amazing people and I think it was a great experience for me to come back after not being able to have that one opportunity and then coming back with something better,” sophomore Sophie Eastman, who played Aunt March/Mrs. Kirk, said.
The show was viewed either in person, socially distanced, or live on YouTube thanks to the help of the WCTV crew Thursday May 13 through Saturday May 15. While it may have come later in the year than expected, this show was still one to remember, COVID-19 or not.
“I would say [the show is] a message of hope, [and] I think a message of hope is fantastic because it’s something we need in this time with the pandemic. This show has a strong theme of that where a main character passes away in the show that comes out of nowhere because of a disease. It’s absolutely heart wrenching, but there is hope in moving on, and finding the positive in life, and I think that’s part of it. We’re turning the page and there’s going to be a new chapter in everyone’s life as we slowly go back to normal or whatever that’s going to be in the world. I think that transcends multiple aspects of people’s lives, I think that is ultimately what matters is [that] it’s a message of hope,” Dalstrom said.