At the end of last school year De Pere High School students were informed that the musical for the fall of 2024 would be Annie.
So far, since the announcement, there have been many mixed reactions from students.
The musical Annie is about an energetic 11-year-old girl (played by junior Jackie Cummings), who gets adopted by millionaire Oliver Warbucks (played by junior Ethan Flemmer) during the Great Depression. Annie believes that her parents are still alive despite everyone else’s thinking. Annie and Warbucks create a plan to offer a cash reward for Annie’s parents to reunite with her.
“I don’t like the music, “ says junior Ruby Mansbridge, an ensemble actor, “I just don’t find the musical appealing. I don’t know, I feel like, getting a little technical, there are plot holes, and just I don’t find it interesting enough.”
Drama Club President Olivia Kuhn said that the musical is too childish for highschoolers to play and would be better played by younger kids.
“Pretty much all the people that I’ve talked to have had something to say about it,” Kuhn said. “I mean me too, I really don’t think it’s a high school play. I think this would be more of a more elementary school, middle school play instead of a high school play.”
On the positive side, some students have said that the musical is a classic and one of the first musicals they ever saw. Additionally, there are many ensemble roles available so almost everyone that auditioned has at least one line.
The director of the musical, Raquel Lopez, said that she was not aware of the negativity but was not surprised. Lopez said that this has been the biggest turnout for auditions in the past 5 years.
“I’m sure there was some (controversy),” Lopez said. “There has been for every musical, and there will be for every musical to come.”
Lopez said that she and other directors tried a new voting style this year for the musical.
“We haven’t always gone with the top show even though there’s been times where one show was voted most but the second show made more sense,” Lopez said. “Everybody would want to do Wicked or The Greatest Showman or Hairspray and the shows that they see in the movies and headlines like Mean Girls and Legally Blonde, you know the big shows that. One, we wouldn’t have rights or two, they’re not even adapted for high school shows or three, they’re not appropriate.
“I had everybody send me their requests in a Google form, so the shows they wanted to do took everybody’s considerations. I made one big list, and then I met with directors, and we kind of narrowed it down from there,” Lopez stated.
Despite the mixed opinions, the cast and crew are working towards the musical being performed on November 14-16.
