This past weekend, both Santa Fe and Edmond Memorial had their annual spring musicals; Santa Fe performed “Matilda” and Memorial performed “Children of Eden.”
Matilda
“Matilda,” a musical about a young girl with telekinesis who overcomes obstacles caused by her family and school, was performed four times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The set included life-size alphabet blocks, stairs painted to look like books, a classroom, an old box TV and much more.
Junior Alyssa Hargis, who played the lead in “Matilda,” has been a part of Santa Fe’s theater department since she was a freshman.
“Musicals are so fun no matter what part you get,” Hargis said. “You get to make memories and meet a lot of different people in the school you wouldn’t have met otherwise. It is a great way to get involved in the school [or] community, and it provides a lot of opportunities, life lessons and skills that you get to keep forever.”
Weeks of hard work and preparation were put into the performances. Students rehearse after school most days while drilling dances, songs and lines in their free time; this dedication is what makes the show come together.
“My favorite part was putting it all together at the end and being able to see the amazing show,” Hargis said.
Outside of learning lines, Hargis learned new life skills.
“I learned a lot of responsibility and how to laugh at yourself when you do something wrong,” Hargis said. “I learned that we should all embrace not being perfect and as long as you try your best, it will be great.”
Children of Eden
“Children of Eden” is a musical based on the book of Genesis, which is a part of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. This show was performed three times on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The set included Noah’s ark, a garden, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and more.
Junior Madeline Reid, who played a storyteller in “Children of Eden,” has been doing theater most of her life.
“I love live theater,” Reid said. “It’s so important to me and getting to participate in it is so important.”
Memorial’s production of “Children of Eden” had many moving parts to it: the storytellers, the choir, the leads, the crew and more.
“My favorite part was the process of watching the show come together because at first, without all the parts, it was a little confusing,” Reid said. “It was cool seeing it all come together.”
With all of these various parts, “Children of Eden” had over 100 students putting in hours of hard work.
“Whenever you’re putting on a production as big as ‘Children of Eden,’ there are things that people don’t see behind the scenes; the crew and handoffs, the pit, all of those things,” Reid said. “I mean, you hear people belting beautiful solos and you’re like ‘wow, they worked really hard.’ Because they did.”
Overall, this past weekend was perfect for local theater lovers and anyone who enjoys supporting the arts.
“Support your local theater, your local high school productions, because you never know what will give you a new perspective on things,” Reid said.
