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April
2005
ARTS
Preview
by M. G.
The applause has barely faded for the 7th and 8th
grade productions, as Day begins to anticipate the
6th grade production of “ Seussical, the Musical! ”.
Directed by Platinum Team English teacher, J. D. ,
and music specialist, B. M., the 6th grade production
will go up Thursday, May the 5th and Friday, May the
6th.
“ Seussical” is a musical which is based
entirely on the children’s books written by Dr.
Seuss. Auditions for this production were held over
the course of 2 weeks, with callbacks another week.
The students were asked to sing “Hello Dolly” for
J. D. and “Alone in the Universe” (a
song from Seussical) for B. M. They were also asked
to perform several acting activities to give the directors
a sense of their abilities.
On Friday, February the 11th, the roles were announced
to the students. J. D. and B. M. were thankful that
with 51 6th graders trying out, no one had to be cut.
The main characters will be played as follows: Horton
the Elephant will be played by E. G. of the
Silver Team; Mayzie will be played by J. Y.,
Platinum; Gertrude McFuzz will be played by K. M.,
Copper; and G. B., Silver, will be the Sour
Kangaroo.
Rehearsals have been extended to 5:30PM. Use the coupon on this page for advance ticket orders by mail.
“Once
Upon A Mattress” ushers in Spring with
its amusing love story
by R. O.
On the Thursday, March the 31st, Friday, April the
1st, and Saturday, April the 2nd, Day’s 7th and
8th grade presented “Once Upon A Mattress” in
the Day Middle School Auditorium. The music was by
Mary Rodgers and the lyrics were by Marshall Barer.
The story was based on the book by Jay Thompson, Dean
Fuller, and Marshall Barer. The show was directed by
Day’s drama teacher, J. S.
When the lights came up, the only person on stage
was a young minstrel, played by R. V., standing
in the middle of the stage. The lights then turned
to three ballet dancers played by E. M.,
M. K., and S. D., who danced the story
as the jester sang it.
The play tells the story of Dauntless, a young prince,
who is looking for love. The only problem is that his
mother, the queen, has to give each princess, who wants
his hand, a test.
Nobody can marry until the prince has wed and after
Lady Larken tells Sir Harry that she is carrying his
baby, Sir Harry has to set out to find a princess.
He comes back with Princess Winnifred, played by J.
H., who is the princess of the swamp. The queen
decides to test her sensitivity by putting a pea under
her 20 mattresses. When Princess Winifred passes the
test, Dauntless, and everyone else, is cleared for
marriage.
One of the first scenes included the song “In
A Little While”, in which Lady Larken, played
by R. B., and Sir Harry, played by I. M.,
sing about how very soon they will have a child.
One of the highlight songs was “ Shy” sung
by Winifred when she first comes to the palace. J.
H. did a great job in “Shy” by hitting
each note with preciseness.
Another highlight of the show was the song, “Happily
Ever After.” In the song, Winifred sings about
how she wishes that she could have some things that
other princesses had. As she mentions pricisely, they
each came on the stage and took their book from Winifred.
The princesses that were mentioned were Cinderella,
Snow White, and Rapunzel.
Throughout the whole performance, the cast
had extremely great, bright, different-colored costumes
which lit up the stage and gave the audience a better
feeling for the play. The simple set also helped the
audience imagine the scenes for the play. Many small
props were used in different scenes to help paint a
vivid picture.
Since “Once upon a Mattress” is
based on the story of the princess and the pea, it
helped the audience members if they knew the story.
This helped them connect with the musical and better
understand what was going on. This production did a
great job of portraying the story because the cast
used so much expression and enthusiasm in their voices.
Each cast member really got into their character and
put themselves in the character’s shoes.
It was evident that each scene of the play
had been worked on very carefully and had been perfected.
It looked great. Over all, the cast did a great job
and the whole play was fabulous from beginning to end.
by J. T.
The music in the 7th and 8th grade musical, “Once
Upon A Mattress”, was provided by the singers
backed by an outstanding orchestra. The orchestra was
made up of B. O., conductor and pianist, violinists
J. L. and F. L., oboeist G. F., percussionist
M. M., and trumpet player T. M.
20 songs were performed, by different people or groups
of people. These songs included a variety of types:
love songs, sad songs, happy songs, and amusing songs.
The orchestra was particularly effective in adding
appropriate sound effects to the proceedings.
Every singer was powerful, and added to the beauty
of the whole. Both the orchestra and the singers performed
amazingly well.
by R. O.
“I thought the singing was really great and
the costumes were colorful,” said J. L.,
7th grader on the Jade Team.
“There were good songs and good acting. There
was never a boring moment,” said A. S. ,
7th grader on the Coral Team.
“It was hilarious, and everyone did a good job.
You did a great job, J. B., S.
S., and R. V.! Everybody did a great job,” said
H. H., 7th grader on the Coral Team.
“Shout outs to R. V., S. S., and J. B. The
play was amazing. R. V. and S. S., you both have amazing
voices,” said E. B.,
a 7th grader on the Red Team.
by J. T.
The costumes in “Once Upon A Mattress”,
the 7th and 8th grade musical at Day, were borrowed
from Becky Petrin at the Lynnfield Middle School Drama
Department. These elaborate, brightly-colored, well-designed
costumes made the play much more alive. They showed
up well on stage.
They adapted well to Day’s production. Careful
fitting served to flatter the actors and actresses.
The girls were fitted with ball gown-type dresses,
long and trailing. The boys wore long tunics with fur
lining, and tights or pants.
These costumes reinforced the Medieval setting, and
made the production quite believable.
by R. O.
The lighting for “Once Upon A Mattress” was
carefully planned, balanced, and well executed. The
light crew always had everything under control, and
had spotlights on the right character at the right
time.
During the entire show, the lighting crew brightened
up the stage, making the play all the more beautiful.
The lighting enhanced what was already a wonderful
experience for the audience and cast members.
The lighting crew included M. M. and J. B. The spotlight
crew consisted of J. A., S. C., R. D., T. K., M. S.,
M. S., and B. W.
by R. O.
In the 7th and 8th grade musical, “Once Upon A
Mattress” the use of many bright and colorful props
helped paint a vivid image for the audience. Of course,
the sign of a good prop is one which does its job but
does not call attention to itself. “...Mattress” was
full of such enhancements.
One of the main props was the bed on which Winifred
slept. From the audience, the set piece looked like it
had 20 mattresses on it, when in fact there was only
one. Other props included the life-size bird cage, the
goblet with gems, and the lute that the Minstrel carried.
Many of the props in the show were made by Jessica Shulman’s
7th grade drama elective.
Review
“Sigh/Omelas” has
8th grade on edge of their chairs
by A. H.-B.
“Sigh/ Omelas”, an oral interpretation
of Ursula Le Guin’s short story, by Stephen Kidd
in the Day Auditorium, Monday, March the 21st, was
presented by the Day P. T.O.
"With a clamor of bells that set the swallows
soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city, Omelas,
bright-towered by the sea," began Stephen Kidd,
his powerful voice echoing throughout the Day Auditorium,
dramatic movements captivating each member of the audience.
The program, organized by the P. T. O. Creative Arts
and Sciences Committee, was shared with the 8th grade
on Monday, March 21st.
Kidd’s performance, entitled "Sigh/ Omelas" was
inspired by his time working at a summer camp for children
suffering from HIV/AIDS. After listening to the stories
of each child, Kidd skillfully wove several of the
experiences into his presentation. As he portrayed
6 year-old Sirus, imitating everything from the young
boy’s fidgety mannerisms and endearing lisp,
Stephen Kidd slowly faded from the auditorium as the
audience raptly listened as a small child shared the
touching story of him and his disabled friend, Philip,
at summer camp.
Woven into the first-person monologues, Kidd orated
excerpts from Ursula Le Guin’s powerful short
story, "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas." Students
had been asked to read the story in advance, so most
were familiar with the reading. But Kidd’s theatrical
rendition of the story brought the small town of Omelas
to life, and many found themselves at the edge of their
seats, completely enraptured.
Green Teamer J. W. said that she, "...loved
the presentation. It was amazing how he did the whole
thing himself."
However, Kidd had not shared beforehand that the characters
were afflicted with HIV/AIDS, and the play took a serious
turn as this became apparent. After a section of the
Omelas story, Sirus returned, this time a 13 year-old
blinded by his condition. But his everlasting spirit
and charismatic personality continued to capture the
attention of each student and teacher in the auditorium.
Unfortunately, the affliction of each character was
eventually made apparent, and the end of the Omelas
story and a passionate monologue by Sirus’ stepfather
left many audience members in tears.
At the end of his performance, Stephen Kidd spoke
briefly about his experience at the summer camp and
encouraged others to make an effort to respect each
individual despite any differences, in addition to
participating in the invaluable act of volunteering.
"Although it was sad, it was also very moving," said
8th grader K. C. "It inspired me to get
involved."
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