Every year the Newton High School drama department performs a musical to start their performance year. During the 2022-23 fall semester the drama department put on the musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” After weeks of work, they were able to put on three performances of the musical.
Auditions for the fall musical were held on Sept. 11 after school. Nine people were cast as the main characters in the musical. The musical was a comedy special that involved kids performing in a spelling bee and audience participation was heavily involved during this musical. Senior Taylor Redington has been involved in the drama department since her freshman year. Redington said her favorite part of being able to participate in these shows is the relationships she’s been able to make throughout the years.
“There are seven crews that go into making any production possible, set, makeup, lights, sound, publicity, costumes and props,” Redington said. “ Each crew has around seven to 10 members, some have more, and work really hard to get their part done. During tech week, we had people working on sets to do finishing touches, publicity was setting up the lobby display, there were people in lights handling cues and the makeup crew was getting all the actors ready. Other obvious contributors are the three stage managers, the 10 cast members, the choreographer, the music director and pit musicians and the director.”
Junior Hayley Ruth went on the second night of the musical, Saturday, Nov. 12. There was a $7 entree fee for students and a $10 fee for adults, the money from the tickets went to support the drama department.
“I would like to tell the drama department that they are doing a great job being able to put everything together including costume, props, lights and overall performance,” Ruth said. “My favorite character was Leaf Coneybear who was played by Jacob Antle. [The show] was a 10 out of 10. Everyone in the play did a great job and looked like they had a fun time doing it.”
There are around 30 to 40 people that helped put on the “25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee.” The crew was able to practice their lines every day, except Fridays, after school since September, which rounds out to two months of practice on their lines. Senior Beetle Hatch played the character Olive Ostrovsky, who was a shy student that opened up by the end of the musical.
“My favorite part of being in the performance was the relationships that I made with everyone involved. Even with the people I didn’t get incredibly close to, there is a shared bond of the experience. It’s something really, really special,” Hatch said. “I am looking forward to the last couple of productions this year and the experiences and memories that I will gain. I would love to add how amazing of an experience this has been. The cast became our own little family and seeing them every day was such an honor. The cast, crew and director of this production were all superstars.”