The Little Mermaid Rocks the House!
This year’s production of The Little Mermaid was exciting! The students and teachers worked hard to deliver a series of powerful performances, with shows on March 1st at 6:30, March 3rd at 1:00 and 6:00, and March 4th at 2:00. There was also a meet-and-greet at 3:00 on March 3rd in between the shows.
The Little Mermaid was Amanda Colonna first directed show at Manalapan High School. She held rehearsals 4 times a week since January in order to get the entire cast ready for the performance dates. Ms. Colonna worked with Richard Berger who was in charge of sets and props; Jose Maunez who directed the pit orchestra; and Brittany Cohen who was the choreographer. In addition to teachers, there were 27 people in the cast and about 80 members of the crew who worked on the show. Together, each member of the cast and crew was able to put on a memorable experience for everyone who came to see it!
There were several challenges the directors faced in order to put on a successful play. “The biggest challenges were getting the cast to appear as fish, birds, and animals and maintaining their character. Distinguishing between between land and water was challenging too,” said Ms. Colonna. Despite the challenges, The Little Mermaid was an exciting and fun-filled experience for everyone involved.
Many talented students from Manalapan High School were part of the production. Danielle Blume, a senior, portrayed Ariel and said that in her four years of being in drama, this was her first as a lead and said that “ the role seemed to be naturally fitting.” Prince Eric was acted by sophomore Blake Wallace who felt that “[he] grew as a leader and [he] enjoyed people looking up to [him].” The vivacious character of Sebastian was acted by 11th grader Jakob Schuler who felt that the more mistakes he made, the more experience he got and the better character he was able to portray.