By Sarah Hines, Year 11
Every year, the campus of La Grande Boissière organizes a musical featuring students from all across high school. The script of the musical is always based on a classic story that everyone knows (like Grease, Mary Poppins…). This ensures that people will be more motivated to feature in the play, but also makes it easier for the cast to learn the script and the dances since most of them will already know the relevant movies or books. They usually try and stay as close to the original script as possible (using the same script, songs…To choose the story, they usually do a survey at the end of the previous year to find out what students would prefer, but occasionally decide without the survey, depending on the choices. This year, the musical will be Beauty and the Beast, and it will take place on the 5th and 6th of December.
At the beginning of the year, the students from grades 9 to 12 had the opportunity to sign up for the musical and audition for different parts that they wished to play (they prefer not having year 13 since they need to concentrate on their IB). To audition, all the students interested learn a simple dance that they do all together. They then each do a part of the dance by themselves. Next, grade by grade, each student needs to do a monologue from the character they wish to play and an extract of a song. Mr White is the one in charge of choosing the actors, and he tries to vary who gets which roles depending on their previous experience. For example, if someone has already been the protagonist of the play two years in a row, he might not give them that role the following year to give a chance to other students (since it is usually most of the same people who sign up, he knows what roles they’ve played previously). He also wants to vary the ages of the actors, so that it isn’t just the older students who get the more important roles, but the younger ones too. For instance, this year, Belle will be played by a year 9 student. Once Mr White has decided the roles of the different students, they get told if they got the part they wanted, and if they haven’t, then they usually get to be another character or part of the ensemble or even the backstage crew. Mr White always makes sure that everyone who auditions gets a part, even if it isn’t what they originally wanted. In the cast this year, there are just over 40 actors, not including the backstage crew.Â
They meet up every Thursday afternoon after school from 4h30-7h30 and once a week at lunch break for their singing rehearsals. They also have to meet up during the weekends occasionally. Indeed, they have to rehearse as much as possible since they have to be ready for the final performance that will take place on the 5th and 6th of December. This means the cast has only 3 months to learn the script, choreography, songs, and to prepare all the props, costumes, and scenery.Â
During rehearsals, Mr White is in charge of the actors to help them memorise lines and gives them tips on what gestures and intonation they should use. Secondly, there is Mr Davies, who is the singing and musical director, so he is there to help the students with the songs: to learn them, sing them on cue, and in sequence with the other actors. There is also a choreographer who helps with all the dances and who works with Mr Davies, and of course, since the singing and dancing are both directly linked. There are also lots of other teachers and adults in charge of many other important jobs, such as backstage director, costume creation, and helping with the scenery and props…$
For each rehearsal, first they warm up by singing and dancing for 10-15 minutes, then the ensemble and extra characters do a dance while the other actors go into another room to practice their lines without distraction. They continue like this throughout the rehearsal and alternate between longer and shorter scenes and variations in crew.
Finally, outside of the time already dedicated to the rehearsals, there are many students who help outside of school, doing extracurricular activities linked to the play. For example, there is a group of students who are part of the play who enrolled in the fashion ECA at the STEM centre to help Sonya (the person in charge of the costumes) with the creation of the clothes.
The play’s goal is therefore not only to entertain but also to help students develop their skills and talents in certain domains (acting, singing…) and also build their self-confidence. This creates a community inside the school as the students get to work with people they wouldn’t normally interact with, who are of diverse ages and backgrounds, to create a beautiful and comedic musical.
A special thanks to Olivia Relander and Maé Esi Liengme, who helped with writing this article by giving all the information needed!
