Springtime at GRC brings a variety of exciting events, one of the most prominent being the musical that the theatre program produces every April. This year, students performed the Tony Award-winning musical “Urinetown”.
“Urinetown” is a dystopian satire where the residents of a town have experienced an extended drought and the government forces people to pay to use restrooms. It explores themes of water conservation, sustainability, political corruption, and the nature of revolution in a lighthearted but heartfelt way.
There are numerous aspects GRC’s theatre directors, primary director John Lawwill and music director Kris Olson, must consider when picking what show to put together each year.
“We primarily try to choose a show that presents a new educational and experiential experience for all the students involved,” Lawwill said. “For this year, we wanted to do a show that had an elevated challenge in the music.”
With this in mind, “Urinetown”, which was nominated for the Best Orchestration Tony and won a Tony for Best Original Score, seemed like the perfect choice for this year’s production.
“‘Urinetown’ is a difficult show musically,” Olson said. “Complex rhythms, lots of lyrics, five to six harmony parts at a time, large vocal ranges, and lots of emotional nuance. And that goes for the orchestra too, as the instrumental parts stretch anyone who plays this show.”
While the process of learning “Urinetown” may have been challenging at times, junior Addison Moore cherished how castmates of all ages lean on each other to create a fantastic show.
“This just gives me so much more time to spend with my friends from different grades,” Moore said. “You get to merge with them and laugh with them and learn with them.”
Students in GRC’s theatre program not only help their friends out, they are given the opportunity to be leaders among their peers in many different parts of show production.
“We have students lead our choreography, design our set, play in the pit, and of course take on the characters themselves,” Olson said. “This show is hard to produce, and watching students up their game to get there has been a beautiful thing to behold.”
Finding similarities between an actor and character can help with portraying a character to one’s best ability. Senior Jillian Ison played the character of Little Sally and draws on her personal experience for acting inspiration.
“Little Sally is represented to have insight on things that will happen, but where she’s seen as a little girl, she’s not really believed,” Ison said. “I feel like I have that same insight, but I have tried my best to portray it to others.”
While acting in the show is a large responsibility for students, senior Belle Galloway has been choreographing dances for the theatre program her entire high school career. What started as an activity she loved soon turned into something she wanted to spend the rest of her life doing.
“It’s a really great test of teamwork and patience,” Galloway said. “I never really thought that I would be a good teacher, but I found that I actually really do enjoy teaching dance. I love seeing people fall in love with dance who haven’t had experience with it in the past.”
Not only has GRC’s theatre program been a place where students can cultivate new passions, it paves the way for students to gain experience in areas they want to take part in after high school.
“This is the most Broadway feeling type show that I’ve ever been a part of,” Moore said. “I have finally gotten to feel what it would be like if I went into this in the future. That has helped me actually realize that this is what I want to do in the future.”
