The musical theater class has prepared their musical, “Spamalot”, since the beginning of the school year.
However, the team met a unique problem: a bomb cyclone, causing widespread power outages, which started during their rehearsal, where all power shut down at UPrep at 6:30 on Tuesday, Nov. 19. School was canceled for a day, and many families wouldn’t get power for days. Fallout from the storm also forced the musical team to cancel the Wednesday performance. Performances were held on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 21-22, The show brings to life a comedic retelling of King Arthur’s quest for the Holy Grail. Delivering a well-done musical is no simple task. However, the cast just worked harder to meet demands with tough restrictions.
Sophomore Katherine Knobbs who played one of the Knights of Ni highlighted the challenges of balancing the demands of the production with other responsibilities.
“Time management skills. Because I just do not have as much time in the evening anymore,” Knobbs said. “Also, just kind of working as a team, because if one person screws up, it kind of drags everyone else down.”
She also noticed stress and nervousness in her peers.
“A lot of people seem to alternate between tired, which fair school is tiring, in general, excited, like super energized,” Knobbs said. “Then sometimes people just randomly flip the switch.”
The second night of performances experienced some technical difficulties, including mistimed sound cues. After the second performance, senior Karsten Stuyt, the lead light technicion for the musical tech team, said “We were supposed to have a show on Wednesday, though, due to the weather, that was canceled. But pulling through, we’ve done two shows. We have one more in like 20 minutes. We’re gonna do the damn best that we can.”
After the final performance, audience members gathered in the lobby to share their thoughts and enjoy refreshments. Feedback was largely positive, with many applauding the cast’s energy and commitment. “I think it went really well, and I think everybody did a great job this time,” Freshman Emily Wang said.
Though not without its challenges, the production reflected the dedication and hard work of everyone involved persisting through obstacles.
“We ‘sold out’ all three shows. We sat 265 in Founders each performance”, said Leroy Timblin technical theater teacher and theater manager.
