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| ‘The Sound of Music’ comes to Louisburg |
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| Education | |||
| Written by Aaron Cedeño | |||
| Tuesday, 10 November 2009 08:00 | |||
There’s a plan in place for the Louisburg High School musical theater program.  It’s one that involves not just the theatrically gifted students of LHS. No, but elementary, middle and high school students alike — with the goal of getting kids involved and strengthening the pipeline of talent. And it’s a plan to which everyone, particularly younger thespians, has responded with some serious enthusiasm. To illustrate, director Jason Sickel recounted a story from auditions for “The Sound of Music,” the fall theater production. “The night that we held auditions for the Von Trapp roles, we had 99 students show up,” he said. “I didn’t have that many for the high school auditions. The younger kids, when they showed up at those auditions, it was grueling. There were so many talented little kids.” Grant Lesher, a seventh-grader at Louisburg Middle School, is playing the part of young Friedrich Von Trapp, one of seven children in the Austrian family at the center of the musical’s plot. This is his second year of involvement with the LHS theater program, after dipping his toes into the performance pool during last year’s production of “Honk!,” a musical adaptation of the story of the ugly duckling. His participation, he said, already has provided him with a wealth of experience — skill he can put to good use in coming years as a high school student. “It’s a cool thing, because with having a middle school part, they don’t expect you to be as good as the high-schoolers,” Lesher said. “But that’s my time when I can prove to people, ‘Hey, I really can do this.’ ” The decision to bring “The Sound of Music” to the LHS stage was made in the summer, after a suggestion from musical accompaniest Barbara York. The past couple of shows have been more contemporary in nature, Sickel said, and they thought it was time to go back to a classic. Work has been ongoing ever since, with auditions taking place during the second week of school and rehearsals beginning right after Labor Day. It’s been a collaborative effort, among not only the cast and staff, but also a group of dedicated parents and stage crew. That’s why a comment such as “it always seems to come together” causes Sickel to shake his head a little. Not many people know how much work is required from many people to put a quality product on stage, he said. “What people don’t know is that the kids are spending hundreds of hours in rehearsal, learning songs, learning dances and learning lines,” he explained. In the end, however, the feeling of accomplishment everyone gets on opening night makes it worth all the work. They feel a unique rush that only the bright lights of the stage can bring, Sickel said. There’s another element to the satisfaction as well, noted junior Kari Bormann, who is cast in the female lead role of Maria Rainer. The camaraderie developed among cast members during the long hours rehearsal is a special benefit all in its own. “We bring card games, we play back stage, we order pizzas, everyone takes care of all the younger kids,” she said. “It’s just really funny. We like to play games and tease each other, and we grow really close.” Opening night for “The Sound of Music” is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20, with a follow-up performance on Saturday, Nov. 21. Should the LHS football team have a state playoff game on that Friday night, the two performances will each be bumped back a day. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact the school at (913) 837-1720.
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