Later this month, the Marquette Theatre Company (MTC) will perform its rendition of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”
Set out west in the 1850s, the story begins when Adam, played by Connor Jenkins, senior, goes into town looking for a wife and finds Millie, played by Kathryn Milla, junior. They quickly fall in love and are married that same day. Upon arrival to her new home, Millie discovers Adam has six brothers in search of love and she also needs to care for them. The brothers then decide to go into town and begin to kidnap girls to be their brides.
“We’ve got a pretty good sized cast, about 31,” Judi Greene-Jones, theatre teacher, said. “We had two audition days, one for singing and acting, and then the other was for the dancing auditions.”
Professional choreographer Mary Fedak assisted the cast in learning their multiple dance numbers.
With the large amount of musical talent at MHS, Greene-Jones said choosing a cast was difficult and the need for experienced performers is necessary.
While this show is going to be as elaborate as ever, it is still quite different than shows MTC has done before.
“A major difference between this show and those done previously is that this show is very dance heavy,” Jenkins said. “We usually do very high school musicals and this one is very mature.”
After the vocal director recently stepped down from her position, Jenkins has taken over her responsibility of helping the cast learn their lyrics for the time being.
“She was overwhelmed with the job and qualifications and she stepped down,” Jenkins said. “So for now I’m considered the vocal director and I’ll be running the rehearsals with the choreographer. It’s a lot of pressure, but this is what I want to do when I grow up and I love doing it; it’s just a lot of things to learn.”
As for the crew working on this production, they have the job of making sure everything runs smoothly out of sight of the audience.
“The main job of the stage manager is to control all of the technical aspects behind the stage,” Rumby Wilson, senior, said. “During the show I’m up in the sound booth queuing the show.”
The crew is also responsible for all of the hair, makeup and costumes for the cast and these jobs are spread over each separate crew department. Most of the costumes are being built by the costume crew, and a few parent volunteers are lending their skills as well.