By Maya Rotman
This year’s high school musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, debuted on Thursday to a sold out crowd. Directed by High School Musical Director Marci Schein, the musical tells the story of the murder of Edwin Drood, played by Emily Ferry. Every night, the play ends differently, with the audience getting to vote on who murdered Edwin Drood. During the voting scene, all the possible murderers such as Rosa Bud, played by Alison Kessler or Jasper, played by Kyle Mayblum line up on the stage. The ensemble goes into the audience with chalkboards and tallies up who the audience believes the murderer is.
The cast and crew have prepared for the musical over the course of the year with three rehearsals a week. In the final two weeks leading up to the show, the cast and crew have been rehearsing everyday, even on the weekends, until nine, at the latest.
The cast goes to great lengths to prepare for each of their shows. Whenever they have free time between classes during the school day, they practice lines and songs together. As the show approached, the cast continued doing runthrough after runthrough.
“I stayed up until one in the morning while my mom was curling my hair so then it could be prefect for the show,” sophomore Alison Kessler said. Kessler even came to school with curlers in her hair, showing the level of dedication that these actors go to for their performances.
Most of the cast and crew are very pleased with their experience and are so happy to be a part of the Schechter Arts community.
“I joined the play as a way to make friends, and I’m so glad that I did because I’ve found such a close community here in the Schechter Arts family, that I am so lucky to be a part of,” said sophomore Aline Chalfin.
“I have been involved in many school productions and each one is more impactful than the last. I have learned so much from the process and made so many new friends along the way,” said Stage Manager junior Hava Goldman
Even Schein, who has directed over 200 shows, has grown from the working on the show. When asked about how her experience has been thus far, Schein said, “I must say what a delight it has been to discover and learn alongside these bright, eager young actors and technicians.”
The show was supposed to go on Saturday night at 8:00 but that performance was rescheduled for Monday due to the anticipated snow. The cast and crew were expected to arrive at school at 6:00 pm for the show on Saturday. Since some cast and crew members live in New Jersey or Manhattan, they had to leave their homes a little bit earlier for the show. Once the news was made public, most members of the cast and crew were already at school.
High School Principal Eric Bassin and Schein made the decision on Saturday night after Shabbat to postpone the play. Some students involved in the show expressed concern over the new date because of junior finals beginning the following day.
“Even though [the Administration was] being cautious from the snowstorm in November, it wasn’t right to let everyone know after people were at school, and then making it a date that we did not all confirm on. To be clear I’m not upset about the canceling the show I understand it’s for safety it’s just how they handled the situation,” said junior Emily Ferry on the situation.
Nevertheless, the show will go on: performances took place on Sunday at 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm, and the final performance will be on Monday at 6:00 pm. All shows are currently sold out but there is waiting list for tickets on the school website.
