Every year, the Lafayette Theater puts on a winter musical. This year, they will perform “Anastasia” from January 30 through February 2. The story is set in Russia during the communist revolution. After the royal family is murdered, the young princess Anastasia survives and escapes, losing her memory in the process. She meets two criminals, Vlad and Dmitri, and together, they work to escape to Paris, with plans to “pretend” to be Anastasia to get some reward money. Throughout the show, they grow close, and under the pressure of communists hot on their tails, Anastasia learns who she truly is.
As the cast prepares for the performance in January, many things go on behind the scenes. One of the biggest aspects of preparation is after-school rehearsals. The first few rehearsals were about learning the music for Anastasia. Current rehearsals in December consist mainly of blocking, where actors learn the choreography for individual scenes. These rehearsals last till about 6:00 P.M. every weekday, but people in the ensemble, who have small roles and are usually not named characters, are typically able to leave by 4:30 P.M. The people in the main cast, who play the roles of the main characters who star in most scenes, are expected to stay the entire time.
After blocking, the cast moves from working and learning individual scenes to running through the show. The whole cast will run a certain number of scenes as if they were performing. They will then receive feedback and leave the theatre between 5:00 P.M. and 6:30 P.M. The cast runs through an entire act or more every day, staying until about 8:30 P.M. every night during tech week, and they have weekend rehearsals all day Saturday. Finally, at the end of January, they begin their four days of performances, two in school on January 30 and 31 and multiple over the weekend following.
Throughout the rehearsals, the tech crew does some of the most important work. They make costumes, scene backgrounds, and props at rapid fire. They get them done as soon as possible so they can fix any mistakes and have them ready to run through scenes with them. The costumes are some of the hardest things to prepare, as they are easy to mess up and often need to be tweaked because they have to fit perfectly. Certain tech crew members assist the directors, Ms. Kisling and Ms. Gorrell. They help by writing down notes on choreography and positioning for every scene and sometimes even helping teach choreography.
All this work goes together over four grueling months to create a wonderful show enjoyed by all, cast, crew, and audience. Maya Duggal, a sophomore member of the ensemble, told The Times how rehearsal for “Anastasia” has her and the rest of the cast excited for the upcoming performance. She said, “I’m so ready for this show!” Despite the amount of work that goes into the performance, the cast still loves the experience, from rehearsal to performance. It’s sure to be a fun and exciting experience for everyone involved.
