Victoria Matz
With endless hours of preparation and rehearsing since the start of the spring semester, the school’s theater program performs the hidden gem of a musical, “Between the Lines,” March 21-23 and 27-29.
“I love [my] role so much because I really get to express myself and show another side of me on stage,” senior Emily Cromar said. “[My character] is really fierce with an outgoing personality and I’m honored I get to play this role.”
The musical, based on the novel written by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, follows a teenage girl, Delilah, who reads books as an escape from her reality. She falls in love with a fairytale prince, Oliver, who comes to life and guides her through finding herself.
“[‘Between the Lines’] is a very new and unknown musical that not many people have done so it really feels like it’s our own and we can do whatever we want with it,” junior Marko Karovic said. “It’s not a familiar musical that everyone compares to other versions, so it’s truly a unique experience.”
With music written by Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson, the musical has allowed the theater program to truly show off their voices and all the preparation that has gone into making each performance flawless.
“We immediately started working with our vocal director Ms. Brennan because the songs are extremely difficult,” Karovic said. “[But], I think our performances will go so great [since] we have all been working so hard from everyone on stage to behind the scenes to make this show as great as possible.”
Rehearsing both after school and on weekends, the cast puts in an extremely large amount of effort into each rehearsal as the performances get closer. The rehearsals consist of a lot of technical preparations, as well as the cast members putting together their final touches on their acting.
“The theater is such an amazing place to create such strong bonds with your castmates as you spend so much time together,” junior Elissa Rosenhaus said. “I have made so many friends and strengthened so many lasting relationships by doing shows and theater and I think it’s one of the best experiences out there to make new friends, socialize and use teamwork.”
After spending countless hours together rehearsing and having fun, the cast and crew members have formed strong bonds with one another, making the final performances more genuine and entertaining for audiences to watch.
“My favorite part of the play process is seeing the growth from the actors and the set progress throughout rehearsals,” Rosenhaus said. “Seeing people find their characters, sing their hearts out and the world build around your very eyes during the process of bringing a show to life is such a cool feeling.”