Schooling you on how to rock

Major productions are a big part of the high school experience, and this year, École secondaire Neelin High School has the honour to be the first school to bring Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “School of Rock” to the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium. This production will run Wednesday to Friday, with each show starting at 7 p.m. Tickets will be going for $25 for adults, $20 for students and seniors, and $15 for children under the age of 12.

When asked, staff involved in the production all highlighted the dedication and effort the students gave the production on top of keeping up with all their school work and other extra-curricular activities.

Mike Leach, our stage crew manager, said: “Some days stage crew are doing 14-hour days, and they put in the least number of hours.” He also talked about how fun it is to be a part of the stage crew with them overseeing starting and ending the show, and the backgrounds including all the props. He highlighted how stage crew are like ninjas due to them changing scenery and props all without being seen.

Tiffany Devlin, our hair and makeup manager, pointed out that while the hair and makeup crew don’t put in the most hours of work, they still have very early mornings and are what helps start the show.

“They are what starts the show for the actors, with the application of the makeup being the start of the actors’ transformation into their characters,” she said.

Marla Fontaine, the music director, highlighted the fact that due to the licensing agreement, the students must play actual instruments.

“There are seven students in the band, and four of them learned how to play a new instrument for this role,” Fontaine said. “Many of the members mentored each other, and they were all so supportive.”

She shared her admiration that this group of students were able to do this on top of all the other practices and the rest of their responsibilities.

Kristen Yuel, our choreography director, and our producer for this production, made sure to bring attention to how grateful she was that a handful of the cast were already exceptional dancers and many of them have previous experience in musical theatre, which helped with the fluidity and naturalness of the choreography and the acting throughout the production.

She also mentioned the help that came from the featured dancers during the main numbers with them being leaders and people the rest of the dancers could look at to stay on track. She also noted the number of people involved in the show being close to around 100 people when factoring in stage crew and the hair and makeup team.

For ticket inquiries, you can find more information at wmca.ca. We hope to see you stick it to the man!

» Alexis Grimeau is a Grade 12 student at École secondaire Neelin High School.