Two acts in less than two hours.

Two acts, and 25 students, countless musical numbers and even more hours spent memorizing lines. Drama students have spent seven weeks singing, dancing and acting their hearts out in preparation of opening night.

Musicals are made of magic, people say. They believe when the lights go out and the band begins, every motion after that is flawless coincidence.

What they don’t realize are the 81 hours of rehearsal each student has put in to this production. All of their hard work comes down to less than two hours to captivate an audience into passionate love with each character.

Two hours to fall in love with a hero, Bobby Strong. Two hours to laugh at the comedic relief and sarcasm of Office Lockstock, and two hours to see the nature of goodheartedness in Hope Cladwell.

These students have rehearsed five days a week and have become a family. Not everything is fun and games for this group however. The time limit and the looming threat of opening day, has become a crucible of pressure.

Each student is expected to memorize hours worth of dialogue, their own personal vocal parts and as much choreography as possible.

Freshamn Duncan Vivanh, new to the stage and a lead, expresses his opinion:

“Because I am new to the stage and new to drama it has been very difficult because I didn’t know what to always do. The hardest part was memorizing staging and all of my cues and each of my lines.”

Vanessa Brady, the choir director at North, has put in immense amounts of time and energy to make this musical successful.

“The music is a major challenge. Some of the music is eight parts or more, so it is more difficult music than we have done at North in a long time. And then for students who are good actors, but don’t have experience with singing, it becomes an added challenge.”

Mark Rixner, drama director at North, recounts his work with student actors and what challenges Urinetown has presented: “Its always difficult when you have so many students with so many different things going on, whether they have jobs or athletics – or have personal issues. Its hard to juggle putting on a major production as well as all the other responsibility students have. Another challenge is getting the most out of your actors when they might of never had any experience on stage before – whether it being middle school or just never being involved in drama before. A lot of teaching and reteaching needs to take place. Kids don’t realize how difficult musicals are.

Junior Rebekah Ostermann stars as Hope Cladwell in the production shares her experience. “The music of this show is very interesting. The musical also includes a lot of different genres like jazz chords and blues. Our past musicals like Annie, were pretty straight forward with  only some harmonies. But with this musical it is more complex because each vocal part is different. There are multiple Soprano parts. We are doing the best we can, and putting in a lot of practice. We put a lot of work in choir, and outside of rehearsal” she said.

Junior Valerie Natale said, “I envy everybody involved with the play, it takes a lot of time and skill to pull off an amazing play.I think it takes about 1 to 2 months to put together, build sets, learn scripts, and add dancing on top of that.”

Junior Michael Xayavong plays Bobby Strong and completed his sixth production at NHS. “A lot of work has been put into this production, from the acting all the way to the technical aspect because I work on both. I’ve been pretty busy. The amount of work I’ve given into this is more than our other plays. When we put on these kinds of productions everyone really has to come together and make it work which is why I enjoy this,” he said.

These students have faced massive amounts of work between juggling their classes and this rehearsal regime. But some beautiful things have come out of the struggle.

Between each and every scene you will find students in groups laughing and practicing their lines. New friendships have been forged within these hours of hard work.

Vivanh adds, “My favorite part however is that I get to jump into a character and be someone who isn’t me. Preforming is great to me because it allows me to transform myself into another person on stage. Even though it was difficult I feel that I have worked very hard in this role.”

Rixner says, “There are so many things that have to be considered, all the time spent at rehearsals – the dancing – the singing – the acting. It isn’t just lines, its lyrics and dance moves. But all of those things are what make it so great in the end, the melding of all of these responsibilities into one fantastic production.”

Vanessa Brady also expresses her excitement “So many students have found their voices, 25 students in the past seven weeks have found their voice–and how exciting is that?”

North High School is famous for its theater program. The dedication of the cast and the hours of work put in by the tech crew make each performance a wonderful experience for the audience.

This isn’t a play review.

This piece is about the dedication and creative genius that these young actors have. The audience may enjoy the experience of the stage for only two hours, but these student will carry it with them for the rest of their lives. These young people have fallen in love with their roles, and the friends they have made because of the stage.

Although the pressure can be overwhelming, it brings out the best in all of us. It pushes students to work harder, become closer, and take pride in their own work.