Every year, FM has two major stage productions, one being the Fall Play and the other being the Spring Musical. This year’s play was 12 Angry Jurors, which was an adaptation of the famous production 12 Angry Men. The musical, however, is titled The Prom. It is a stage performance about a high school prom that has a very important message about empathy, acceptance and unity for anyone regardless of age. The first show will be on March 7th at night, with follow-up performances on March 8th, March 14th and March 15th.
The cast of The Prom is filled with many talented students throughout the high school, ranging from freshmen in the ensemble to seniors playing the main characters. No matter which character they portray, every cast member gets a chance to shine in this year’s show. According to Matthew Scaringe, a senior student in the main cast who plays Trent Oliver, a Broadway actor, “The show is about two plot points that eventually meet. These four Broadway actors are just failing again and again because they’re so full of themselves, they’re narcissists. And there this girl named Emma who wants to go to prom with her girlfriend, but the PTA won’t let her. The actors go down to Edgewater, Indiana. They claim to help Emma, but are just furthering their own agendas and getting good press. Throughout the show, all kinds of people, especially the Broadway people, really learn empathy and compassion. By the end, it’s all just a message of unity and kindness and community.”
Harper Shute, also a senior in the main cast, plays Emma. “This is one of my dream shows, so I’m really glad that we (seniors in the cast) got to do this as our final show and it’s really fun to do it with all the friends I’ve made along the way and be able to celebrate that together,” Harper said. And that is precisely what The Prom is about. It may seem silly based on its summary, and it definitely has purposefully satirical musical numbers, but in the end, The Prom is much more than that. It is a show about being empathetic towards all people, being kind and leaving feeling an energized happiness due to the upbeat nature of the performance.
Matthew Scaringe shared the cast’s enthusiasm for particular moments in the show, “My favorite song to perform is ‘Love Thy Neighbor.’ I just love the message, I have a lot of personal connection to it; it’s probably the most analysis I’ve done in a number. I’m really excited not only for the students here to see it, but for the parents and everyone to come out and see it because I think that it’s really something spectacular.”
The performance would also not be possible without everything that goes on behind the scenes, which is the job of students known as “techies.” They are the ones who do the “magic” of controlling lights, tuning audio, moving props between scenes and much more. Evelyn Anzalone, a senior “techie,” said, “In the early weeks we usually start off with just lights and audio, the cast go through with one of our lighting designers and they go through the show and work everything out. Then, we start building the set, which for this show we have four large wagons that are constantly moving on and off stage between scenes. It is actually coming together very well, the wagons are very big and heavy, so they can be hard to maneuver, but with all the work we’ve been putting in, we’ve been here until 7 most nights and it’s turning out great.
Every person involved in this major FM production has worked extremely hard over the last months, especially in these last few weeks. Although audiences see a near flawless show, there has been countless planning and practice to achieve this final result. The Prom is an exciting, upbeat performance with an important message, as stated by main cast members. It also features some incredible musical numbers, which of course are only possible because of the orchestra pit and all the behind the scenes tech work. So, be sure to support your peers and friends this year! You can get tickets and read more about the play on www.fmmusical.com.
