While the lights shined on the performing actors and actresses on stage as they brought River City, Iowa to life in the performance of the Music Man, back in the dark, there was a whole different show going on. The stage crew of the Music Man worked feverishly alongside the actors to perfect the show. Work began in early March for the stage crew, painting sets built by woodshop teacher, Mr. Fennel, and setting up the scenery for the show.
Co-stage managers Olivia Boisnier and Adele Hyman led the group in making sure the work they put in would result in an interesting and beautiful show for the audience. With their work, along with the other stage crew members, the set quickly came to life.
While working backstage seems easy and simple, it’s a lot more work than it seems. As the performers rehearse lines and song lyrics, the backstage stage crew paints, rehearses scene changes, and sets up lights and the backgrounds. The stage crew of the Music Man worked long hours to perfect every scene change.
“The scene changes really varied depending on the scene. Some scene changes were easy to execute because we would have a lot of time to prepare for the change backstage or simply because there just wasn’t that much stuff to move. Other scenes were pretty difficult because we would sometimes have to clear the whole stage and then bring out another scene within a few lines of the script being said,” said junior Samantha DeLara. With the help of lighting director Brian Lynch, the crew memorized all light cues and background changes as well as finished painting the set.
It may have taken many hours of hard work, but the end result was a beautiful and colorful set for the amazing actors to perform on. The backstage is truly the foundation to a fantastic performance.