Grease

From Mchs Theater

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== Bye Bye Birdie ==
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== Grease ==
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The first Spring Musical for MCHS, ''Bye Bye Birdie'' was performed in March of 2003. Middle Creek had just opened up the previous fall, so the student population was very long on enthusiasm, but short on experience.  [[Matt Scialdone]] had stepped into the breech to teach technical theater while the program was getting started. Initially, people were disappointed - the first MCHS show was supposed to be ''Grease'', but unexpectly, a touring production of the show was coming through town. This prevented Middle Creek from getting a performance license. ''Bye Bye Birdie'' was put forward as a substitute. Although the Baby Boomers easily remembered the movie with Ann Margaret, the show was not familiar to most Middle Creek students. Some of the references, like the veneration of Ed Sullivan, were a little hard to appreciate! It took a while, but the cast eventually warmed to the show. 
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Established theater departments have stack of stock platforms, costumes, and reusable materials to pull from. MCHS had nothing, and the team was not yet experienced enough to be handed a sketch and the instructions "Go make me one of these".  But everyone stepped up.  [[Theresa Crawford]] assembled a 'Costume Army' of dedicated adults who scrounged and sewed all of the costumes.  [[Matt Scialdone]] and other adults did on the job training in stagecraft for the emerging crew. The few set pieces went together slowly.
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In parallel to the technical efforts, the actors were being introduced to the discipline of being in a high end high school production. [[Mike Gilliam]] had enlisted the services of Elizabeth Grimes-Droessler, who worked the dancers very hard and brought out talent that some didn't know they had. Also, Mr. Gilliam knew what he wanted out of the actors and didn't let up until he had gotten it. He also instilled important lessons like being still and quiet backstage, respect for the work of others and the constant drive for improvement. Middle Creek actors have passed on these values down to successive generations.
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Middle Creek's first show was far from perfect, but it set the initial expectations and started to build the experience base needed for future show.
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In spite of the fact that and water, or snow in this case, do not mix, we have have overcome four snowstorms to present our second Broadway musical to the Middle Creek community. we will never forget the winter of 'O4. Actually, it has taken nearly eighteen-months to put Grease on this stage. Last fall, in h e ! ~s~nil.lnagt' !!l(:iIS's fir.t :.eai of 0~~:.:1;iGlw:.e i h oCt~Te;~l.Ct ' .i\\ ~ I L ~ T
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first !argr-scale musical produc:ion, One hundred jtudents. (I:< ;. Id('o ct our stlident body, .iii:!lr~o~iri!: ( ! * :!:e sho~i.t' lnc t i n hetort
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annouiliing the cast, we were infornied that dur to a professionai produciiori of Grease in illi art.j. i1.e woulci no: rt,;eivc ihi. 1iii.il~t.
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to produce the show.
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Bve Bye Bird- became our inaugural production. It was a fantastic production. Many students and parents discovered the thrill of
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the theatre for the first time or rekindled the old flame. Patrons, friends, and family could not believe that most of the students on ~
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stage were freshman. Many folks told the directors "brait until these kids are older, they'll be unbelievable." hkll, they are a little bit I
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older and they ARE "unbelievable." i
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i
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What terrific talent we have at "the Creek:' \\te have pushed this cast and production staff hard to get ready for &ease. Il'e
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anticipated maybe one weather-related interruption, or two at most. Rut in spite of the weather, these cast members and
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crewmembers, costumers, and set builders have been relentless in their resolve to produce a high caliber production.
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In addition to recognizing and complimenting the on-stage talent and effort, m7e the directors, would like to express our
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appreciation to the behind-the-scenes students, teachers, parents, wives, and husbands who have made this production possible.
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We speak of the dozen costumers, the set-builders and painters, the prop gatherers, the technical team, the MCHS Graphics
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Department, musicians, the ticket sellers, the poster and billboard designer, photographers, snack donators, and the teachers and
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administration. All of these people have supported and created this production. The directors would like to dedicate our second
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production to the real strength of Grease, to the behind-the-scenes production staff. A great big THANKYOU is in order.
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We hope you enjoy the show.
=== Cast ===
=== Cast ===

Revision as of 17:36, 14 June 2007

Contents

Grease

In spite of the fact that and water, or snow in this case, do not mix, we have have overcome four snowstorms to present our second Broadway musical to the Middle Creek community. we will never forget the winter of 'O4. Actually, it has taken nearly eighteen-months to put Grease on this stage. Last fall, in h e ! ~s~nil.lnagt' !!l(:iIS's fir.t :.eai of 0~~:.:1;iGlw:.e i h oCt~Te;~l.Ct ' .i\\ ~ I L ~ T . . first !argr-scale musical produc:ion, One hundred jtudents. (I:< ;. Id('o ct our stlident body, .iii:!lr~o~iri!: ( ! * :!:e sho~i.t' lnc t i n hetort annouiliing the cast, we were infornied that dur to a professionai produciiori of Grease in illi art.j. i1.e woulci no: rt,;eivc ihi. 1iii.il~t. to produce the show. Bve Bye Bird- became our inaugural production. It was a fantastic production. Many students and parents discovered the thrill of the theatre for the first time or rekindled the old flame. Patrons, friends, and family could not believe that most of the students on ~ stage were freshman. Many folks told the directors "brait until these kids are older, they'll be unbelievable." hkll, they are a little bit I older and they ARE "unbelievable." i i What terrific talent we have at "the Creek:' \\te have pushed this cast and production staff hard to get ready for &ease. Il'e anticipated maybe one weather-related interruption, or two at most. Rut in spite of the weather, these cast members and crewmembers, costumers, and set builders have been relentless in their resolve to produce a high caliber production. In addition to recognizing and complimenting the on-stage talent and effort, m7e the directors, would like to express our appreciation to the behind-the-scenes students, teachers, parents, wives, and husbands who have made this production possible. We speak of the dozen costumers, the set-builders and painters, the prop gatherers, the technical team, the MCHS Graphics Department, musicians, the ticket sellers, the poster and billboard designer, photographers, snack donators, and the teachers and administration. All of these people have supported and created this production. The directors would like to dedicate our second production to the real strength of Grease, to the behind-the-scenes production staff. A great big THANKYOU is in order. We hope you enjoy the show.

Cast

< Cast list goes here

Crew

  • Lighting Design: Erik Minton
  • More needed......

Production Staff

Bye Bye Birdie Stories

First day of construction

I remember the first day of construction when I looked at the pile of brightly colored scaffolding that the Sun Belt rental people had dropped off. It looked like a huge pile of teenage sized Legos and despite my previous theatrical experience, it was very hard for me to image that this was going to be the set of Bye Bye Birdie. But, we just started putting the pieces together and slowly the platforms took shape....... Al

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