Because of various complications and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Akins Theater department has not staged a musical since the spring of 2020 with its production of Alice and Wonderland.
So when the characters of Troy, Gabriella, and the rest of the cast of High School Musical hit the stage in January, it marked a major achievement for the theater department.
Bugsy Podojil has taught theater since the return of in-person classes at Akins after COVID shut down big theater productions. Podojil asked students last year to vote on what musical they wanted to perform this year and most students voted for High School Musical.
They said that it was a difficult task to prepare students for such a big production after not having done one in so many years.
“So it was a big learning curve for everyone,” they said. “It’s my first full-length musical so I had to make sure that I knew the scheduling and collected everything all together. It was just a collaboration process.”
Podojil said the cast and crew sometimes struggled with attendance without understanding the amount of work that goes into staging a musical.
“There were a couple of attendance issues in the beginning that made it to where we couldn’t, you know, choreograph or learn the songs we wanted to learn because there were people absent, but I think now that everyone kind of understands the workload that goes into producing musicals. Things will be better in the future.”’
Senior Veronica Diaz-Reyes, who played the lead female role of Gabriella, said she was excited to get the chance to perform in a musical before graduating, considering it was her first and only chance to do it. She said the cast and crew started planning for the musical over the summer.
Diaz-Reyes, who performs with the Diamonds dance team at Akins, said she enjoyed getting to develop the choreography for the song and dance parts of the musical.
She said that it was stressful before the play opened because it felt like they ran out of time to practice.
“I wish we did have more rehearsal time because it did feel a little rushed in the end,” she said. “But I think that might be normal for everyone.”
Freshman George Whitehurst shared his excitement about landing a lead role in the musical, detailing the months-long preparation process he underwent to perfect his performance.
Despite this being Whitehurst’s first performance as a freshman at Akins, he had previously performed in six other musicals, starting in fourth grade. He’s also performed in Seussical, Mamma Mia, Beauty the Beast, Addams Family, Mary Poppins, and Peter Pan.
Whitehurst said the opening night was nerve-wracking, but his previous experience helped him keep his composure on stage.
“Since I’ve done these so many times before it was like it’s going to happen right before the show,” he said. “But as soon as I get on stage, it just goes away.”
