Despite what many people may have thought, the New Providence High School Musical, run by Craig Duke and a few others, is planned to happen this year. The musical selected was The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee!

Priscilla Senger is one of the people that are helping to run this musical. She is the stage manager. She has been selected for this position by Duke since she was the assistant stage manager last year. This is her first year of actually being the main stage manager.

For those that don’t know what a stage manager is, “stage managers act as liaisons between cast and crew while they handle the day to day running of the production making sure rehearsals and performances run smoothly,” Senger said.

Pre-audition meetings were on Thursday, February 11th, at 4:30 pm. The virtual acting and singing auditions were due by Tuesday, February 16th. The callbacks for the actors that were picked for roles other than ensemble were supposed to take place on Friday, February 19th. Due to the poor weather conditions, the date was pushed back to Monday, February 22nd.

Six performance dates are scheduled for the musical: April 23rd, April 24th, April 25th, April 30th, May 1st and May 2nd. Performances will be outdoor if the weather allows, but if it doesn’t it will be indoor.

Rehearsals will start soon. They will start over Zoom, but will eventually change to in-person rehearsals. This musical is also double casting, meaning that someone may have to play more than one character, which could make rehearsals a lot different.

Samantha Molle, an actress for the musical, auditioned for characters Marcy Park and Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre. Yes, her name is that long.

“I originally had my eyes on Olive and Rona, but after watching the musical more thoroughly and learning more about the characters, I became drawn to Marcy Park and Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre,” Molle said. “I auditioned for Marcy Park and Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre. I chose these two characters to audition for because they have fun monologues and songs that I found really funny and entertaining.”

Molle made the callbacks.

“I got callbacks for both Marcy and Logainne,” Molle said. “I also got a callback for Olive Ostrovsky, which was a character I didn’t originally audition for. The musical is doubling casting this year, so they are allowing for more people than usual to audition for certain parts.”

Molle and Senger say the process of rehearsing and performing will be strange, and rightfully so.

“I think it’s going to be very weird,” Molle said. “Wearing a mask during callbacks was weird enough, so I can only imagine what in person practice is gonna be like with a mask on. Starting practice over Zoom is definitely gonna be strange, but it will probably get to a certain point where it will feel like a normal process after a while. Even with the struggles, I’m sure we will make it through and put on a great show!”

“This is a very unique year for us,” Senger said. “The pandemic has immensely affected how we operate rehearsals. As we deal with this situation, there will be many new hurdles we haven’t faced before, but I am sure that the cast is capable of working through this and delivering a great performance.”

Molle thinks that putting the musical together will be harder this year than usual because of all these changes.

“This year will definitely be much harder than previous years,” Molle said. “I have no clue what to expect for the zooms and practices. It’s gonna be much harder singing and acting on Zoom, just like it was when wearing a mask during callbacks. Doing callbacks with a mask was such a hard thing to do, since nobody could see your facial expressions, taking away from your acting and ability to bring your character to life. Masks play a big part in the struggles of acting and singing for the musical.”

In addition, there are ups and downs to outdoor and indoor performances. Outdoor performances make it easier to cut down on the probability of catching the virus. However, Molle prefers indoor performances.

“I would definitely prefer an indoor performance,” Molle said. “The past two years of being on stage was so much fun and all the effects the crew was able to do were amazing. This year since we are gonna be outside, as of now, there won’t be any crazy affects, since there wouldn’t be bright show lights or any colorful lights shining on the stage. It’s just so much more fun and memorable to perform on the stage indoors, not needing to worry about what the outdoor environment brings (like rain, bugs, etc…).”