[Title of Show] cast discusses performance and process

Natalie Hsu

WHS seniors Jenia Brewington, Sophia Calder, Andrea Ponce and Clare Lippincott performed the Broadway musical [Title of Show] on Friday and Saturday. The modified play follows four actors, Jenny, Hunter, Susan and Heidi, as they write a musical about writing a musical. The seniors changed one of the character’s names from Jeff to Jen, since the play contained an all-female cast.

“[[Title of Show] is about] these four real life people named Hunter, Jeff, Susan and Heidi,” Ponce said. “They had a festival coming up so they decided that ‘We need to write a musical and have three weeks to do it’ and ‘Why don’t we write a musical about writing a musical?’ They submitted it and it kept going and they kept adding in everything that was happening to them.”

“It’s a comedy, and there is music and dance in it, but it’s a nice combination of a lot of different aspects,” Calder said.

The girls wanted to perform one final musical, since this is their last year at WHS.

“There are some who are seniors who helped us out along the way, but basically we took a show and now we’re performing it,” Ponce said.

They have performed together in various other plays before, but this is the first time they have organized and directed their own musical.

“[Calder, Brewington] and I made a show together called Garden Patch Girls, which we performed with [Class of 2016 alum] Naiya [Davis], [senior] McKenzi [Thompson], and [senior] Clara [Lagor], which we performed at Emerson Festival and then we shortened it for TEDx. It isn’t the first time that [Calder, Brewington], and I have collaborated in something, but it is the first time we have as a group,” Ponce said.

“We directed it and choreographed it all by ourselves. [Drama teacher Richard] Weingartner is not part of it because we wanted to try doing that ourselves. We wanted a chance to be in a piece that he wasn’t controlling,” Calder said. “[Lippincott] has been the costume designer for a lot of shows, so we really haven’t gotten the chance to act with her. We have performed with [Brewington] for ‘Garden Patch Girls’ and with [Ponce]. I’ve performed with her in so many shows. We’ve done a lot together.”

The seniors hope to send an noteworthy message to viewers of the musical.

“I can’t really sing, and I have multiple solos, and that’s the joke about the show is that the character Susan can’t sing,” Ponce said. “It’s kind of inspirational in that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. If you want to be a Broadway musical writer, you can.”

Cast
Hunter – Sophia Calder
Jenny – Jenia Brewington
Heidi – Clare Lippincott
Susan – Andrea Ponce
Larry – Casey Troost, Annie Ge
Susan’s Voice – Athina Apizidis

Tech Crew
Isabelle Goodman
Ariella Fuzaylov
Rosa Vitiello
Aviva Pansovoy
Kate Brown
Maya Golod

Musical Numbers
Untitled Opening Number
Two Nobodies in New York
An Original Musical
Monkeys and Playbills
Part of it All
I am Playing Me
What Kind of Girl is She?
Die Vampire Die
Secondary Characters
Awkward Photo Shoot
A Way Back to Then
Nine People’s Favorite Thing
Finale