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Last updated on Thursday, April 5, 2012
(WASHINGTON) - Godspell was written by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. The structure of the musical is that of a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew.
The production has proven to be one of the most ambitious and expensive shows to be produced at West Washington in many years.
"Godspell is a very unique show," says Director Kayla Seybold. "It's a show I fell in love with when I was younger. It is just one of those shows you really never forget seeing the first time. I think it has taken a while for the cast to get a grasp of what the show is and what it's all about. As a result, practices have went from being very technical to start, to be being more fun in the past few weeks."
The musical stars junior Thurston Edwards as Jesus. This is Edwards' first drama production. He says he was first drawn to the production for its musical score.
"I love to sing and figured that this was something I could do to improve upon my singing and also get over the shyness I have of singing in front of others," said Edwards.
The lone senior and six year member of drama, Genna Hoover, also stars in the play and sings the most popular song from the musical "Day by Day." Hoover will be attending Indiana University Bloomington next fall, pursuing a degree in theater and drama.
Eighth-grade student Sabrina Bays may be one of the younger members of the cast, but she is no stranger to the stage, performing in many Pied Piper and other school productions. She was drawn mostly to the dramatic parts of the script. She sings the lead in another crowd favorite in the show, "By My Side."
Audiences will also notice a technical upgrade to the performances thanks to a new wireless microphone system purchased by the drama club.
"One of the things we discussed at the very beginning of the year was the fact that it was very difficult to hear all the dialogue and lyrics in the shows," said Technical Director Darrell Myers. "The fact that the only space we have to perform in is a gymnasium only complicates things when it comes to acoustics. We bit the bullet and bought an eight-channel wireless head worn mic system. We hope by improving the sound quality we will keep, and maybe even increase, audiences and offset the high cost of the upgrade. We have some real talent here at Dub Dub, we just wanted to make sure it could all be heard."
West Washington's production of Godspell runs through Good Friday, on the elementary stage. All performances begin at 7:30 p.m. More information, including photos and video clips, can be found by searching West Washington Drama on Facebook.
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