Our 2019 College Musical, Disney’s The Little Mermaid has been our biggest and best musical to date and I am extremely proud of our entire team. Our cast, crew and musicians have worked so incredibly hard, over such a long period of time to bring this production to life. For those of you who were able to attend, I’m sure you would agree it was a magical experience showcasing the extraordinary talents of more than 150 of our performing artists.
Behind the scenes, there has been a core group of staff working on making this production a reality since the venue was confirmed and the executive team gave go-ahead in July 2018. Leads were auditioned and have been in rehearsals since Term 4, 2018.
Ben Henderson, our Director, worked closely with Michelle Wilson (Musical Director), Sophie Mathison (Vocal Coach and Musician in the Orchestra), Alison Terhorst (Secondary Campus Choreographer and Musician in the Orchestra) and Bryce Berrell (Assistant Director) at weekly after school and lunchtime rehearsals, holiday rehearsals and production days to bring the best out of our cast. Our P-6 team of Jaz Osborne (Primary Campus Choreographer), Kayla McNaught and Paige Kenna came on board in Term 1 and did an amazing job with the 52 little P-6 cast. ‘Under the Sea’ was epic and showcased the impressive skills of our two choreographers in highlighting the unique skills of all 150 plus students on stage at once.
Our costumes looked fabulous thanks to the creative vision of Zoe Koris and Corinne Gilday with the support of a sewing and crafting crew, including our own Michaela Corias and Aly Innis. These ladies had a huge task of ensuring every one of our students were appropriately costumed for their roles and had a musical t-shirt as a memento.
Grady Rodgers worked magic with his team of backstage crew to build, paint and move things quickly and effectively on stage. He also arranged for us to hire set pieces at a reduced fee for those we could not build. Our boat builder and Music teacher, Geoff Watson, was gracious in lending us one of his prized boats for the ‘Kiss the Girl’ scene.
Our orchestra Musicians did an outstanding job and included Instrumental Music and Classroom Music staff: Mat Caulton, Nicolette Griffith, Mikael Strand, David Kemp, Geoff Watson, Sophie Mathison and Alison Terhorst, our Music teacher aide: Jo Byrnes, Varsity Alumni: Tyler Chamberlain, Ian Ng, Jai Byrnes and Zandra White, and our Volunteers: Todd Byrnes and John Campbell-Cardno as well as some Aspire music students. The hours of rehearsal they did individually and collectively was appreciated and enhanced the professionalism of the whole production.
Luke Sciacchitano did a thoroughly professional job of the logo, program and advertising on social media. His short films of ‘Behind the Scenes’ capture some of the moments on our journey. Tyler Chamberlain also had a role in capturing these memories for everyone to enjoy.
We had the support of a few staff from both Primary and Secondary Campus during our days and/or evenings at the venue for which we are very grateful. Every little bit of support counted towards making this such a wonderful and memorable event for the students involved.
As Production Manager, it was an absolute pleasure being able to see the final performance with our Director, Ben Henderson. I was overwhelmed with joy to see all of our hard work and that of our dedicated staff, students and volunteers culminate into an enchanted experience. Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen!!
