Rocky Heights Middle School ‘Shrek the Musical Jr.’ was a mega hit
By Alexandra Jacot, student writer; photos courtesy of Julia Rene Photo
Over the years, Rocky Heights Middle School (RHMS) has put on countless plays and musicals. However, their last musical, “Shrek the Musical Jr.” was a huge hit with a full house all three nights. Everyone loved seeing the musical and participating in it for good reason; they sounded spectacular.
Even the directors thought the show was amazing. When asked what he would rate the show on a scale from one to 10, Geoff Whitesell, the drama teacher at RHMS said, “A 10, I thought everyone sounded great. The costumes looked great and the sets were awesome.” Deanna Thaler, the choir teacher at RHMS, stated that she rated the show a fifteen. “I thought it went really well and everything turned out great.”
Pictured left to right: Eighth graders Kendall Meibos (Shrek), Kaitlyn Falcon (Donkey) and Stella Catalano (Fiona). Shrek shares a “s’nuthers” (similar to a s’mores but with squirrel gizzards and mulch) with Princess Fiona. This is during the song “Make a Move” where Shrek is starting to like Fiona and Donkey is in the background trying to encourage Shrek to make his move.
Why does RHMS produce a musical each year? Whitesell said, “It introduces everyone to the theater program we have here and gets them interested.” Performing a musical is hard work. Thaler explained one struggle they faced was, “There were some hard things about the tech aspects of the show like figuring out the logistics of having ogres. At first, the spotlight operator, Kieran Sullivan, attempted to spot the ogres with a green light. “This worked only when no other stage lights were on, so in the wedding scene, we just had to deal with only having the green ogre hands.”
Eighth grader Kendall Meibos, who played the part of Shrek, and Ella Bearman, who played a knight and a Duloc guard, agreed that their favorite part was all the amazing people that they got to know through the musical. Devon Barclay, who played a townsperson of Duloc and a woodland creature said, “My favorite part of the musical was seeing the show come together.”
Being part of the props crew is just as important. Sean Gaffney, a seventh grader who ran the props crew said, “The reason I participate is that I get to meet new people and make new friendships. The best part of it all is the amazing final product.”
