When thinking about the musical for this year, Rebecca Blindauer, theater teacher, chose one of the first musicals she ever listened to: Pippin. 

After seeing one production in high school and then in college, Blindauer was attached to the musical.

“It always stuck with me, not only because the music is so great but because the way the story is told is so interesting and it can be told in so many different kinds of ways,” Blindauer said. “It’s a story within a story.” 

Pippin is about a mysterious musical theater troupe led by a character named Leading Player. The troupe portrays a story about a prince named Pippin who is dedicated to finding his passion in life by experiencing adventures like going into battle and political situations

For auditions, students had to prepare a song, one for girls and one for guys. Blindauer said this helped her not only see how the students performed the song, but also how long people took to prepare. 

Afterward, she held a dancing audition to see how quickly the students could pick up the dances. Finally, specific students were called back to read for their specific parts.

“We’re really happy with who we chose, but it’s a little bittersweet because we don’t want to see anyone upset because they didn’t get the part they wanted,” Blindauer said.

When Adriano Robins, senior, found out he got the lead role in Pippin, he raced to his parents with pure joy to share the exciting news. 

“This part has a lot of acting, singing and dancing — all the levels of theater,” Robins said. 

When building his character, Pippin the prince, Robins wants to leave an impression on the audience to explore the story even after the show is over. 

“I wanna let the audience take the show with them,” Robins said. 

As a senior, Robins said he hopes his last winter musical leaves the audience with a great story and performance. He plans to go further with his passion for theater in college by continuing to perform with MTC. 

 “I don’t want them to say that guy was really good, but to say that the show was really good,” Robins said. 

As stage manager for Pippin, Ginny Pisoni, senior, works with the cast, crew and Blindauer to make sure the musical will run smoothly. 

“It gives me leadership in MTC and I get to be at rehearsals while experiencing the community of it,” Pisoni said.

The interpretive nature of the musical is making this specific play special, Pisoni said. Instead of  characters just telling a story, it has many different elements like the different roles of each of the ancestors in the musical. 

“I’m excited for it because it is a lot different from some of the musicals because it is a lot more interpretive in the way that you do it,” Pisoni said. “One performance will never be the same as another.”

Rehearsal started four days ago and Pisoni is currently leading the read throughs of the script. 

“I absolutely love the cast so far, it’s a great community,” Pisoni said.