This year, Green High Schools Musical Theater presented Kiss Me Kate from November 21-24.
The Broadway classic, Kiss Me Kate is a musical about Fred Graham, played by junior Anthony McMichael III, and his ex-wife Lilli, played by senior Madison Cohen, reunited when they are forced to play the main couples in a musical reenacting Shakespeare’s play ‘The Taming of the Shrew’. As they are performing through their bickering, they realize that they are still very much in love. Meanwhile, Lois Lane, played by junior Kaylee Miller, supports her boyfriend, Bill, played by senior Aiden Brueck, who attempts to flee local gangsters, played by seniors Connor Roarty and William Richardson. There are so many more exciting elements to the plot, as well as a multitude of comedic elements that left the audience laughing and cheering throughout the duration of the show.
The success of a show like this is to be credited to everyone involved and all their hard work to put on a performance as spectacular as this one was. As mentioned above, Senior Madison Cohen was one of the leads in this year’s musical. To prepare for a role as big as this one, practice starts months before the performance, where a majority of her rehearsal time was completed at school with her scene partners.
“When the ensemble was needed for a dance or song, I would work with Anthony, who played Fred (the male lead) on lines or our duet, or I would work on my solo songs,” Cohen said.
Additionally, Cohen spent a lot of time running lines with her parents and singing in her room or a practice room at school. Rehearsals started in November, and they ran for a duration of two hours the first week, and three hours the second. When it came time for show week, the practices ran for as long as needed, in order to run through the show once. They also practiced at school for two periods (90 minutes) each day.
When show day arrived, Cohen would try to finish her makeup before her call time, which was 5:30 on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and 1:00 on Sunday.
“I kept my makeup light as we were trying to make a contrast between my character (Lilli) and Kaylee Miller’s character (Lois), so the makeup wasn’t too hard,” Cohen said.
Cohen would then put on her first costume and do her hair, while getting help with pinning it back. After that, she would get her mic on to prepare for mic check on stage. Mic check involves singing a portion of a song, while the sound people would check her levels and make sure everything sounds the way it is supposed to. This then leaves a little free time to finish getting ready.
“During that time, I tried to help others get ready or practice some of the harder portions of my songs (practicing lyrics, high notes, etc),” Cohen said.
At 45 minutes till show time, their director, Mr. Hofmeister, would bring the whole cast into the choir room to warm up.
“We then would spend a little time hyping each other up,” Cohen said.
At showtime, places would be called while Cohen waited backstage in her dressing room set piece, watching the opening number and waiting for her entrance. Partway through the opening number, Cohen would make her first appearance of many. When not on stage during the show, Cohen would spend her time backstage either changing for her next scene, or working on her homework. She would also make sure that all her props were in place for the scenes to come. During the intermission that took place in the middle of the show, the cast spent their time changing or goofing around on stage while the curtains were closed.
“Once the show was over, the cast would gather behind the curtain to chant and celebrate,” Cohen said. “All the students who had mics took them off immediately, and then we were free to mingle with the audience. I always found my parents and brother first thing.”
After heading home, Cohen would spend some time talking with her family and shower, then immediately go to bed, and then get up and do it all again the next day.