Giovanni Díaz-Infante Posadas, Grade 11
UWC Maastricht
It was still ‘Intro Week’ at UWC Maastricht when the whole community woke up to an email from a certain Tan Kitapli calling for auditions for the school musical. The first few lines of the email read:
Is Footloose still the greatest film in history?
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are thrilled… excited… delighted… overjoyed… and ready to introduce this year’s musical; Footloose!!
It is our pleasure to announce the beginning of our journey, starting right here with your contribution and enthusiasm, and ending with a magnificent show on the 3rd and 4th of December.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are thrilled… excited… delighted… overjoyed… and ready to introduce this year’s musical; Footloose!!
It is our pleasure to announce the beginning of our journey, starting right here with your contribution and enthusiasm, and ending with a magnificent show on the 3rd and 4th of December.
For a theatre nerd who has always been obsessed with musical theatre and the idea of studying at a prestigious conservatory like Juilliard before having a Broadway breakthrough, this email seemed to be a sign from heaven telling me to seize the day and take my shot. I had never heard of Footloose or the name Ren McCormack, but I was ready to audition for it and add him to the list of lead characters that I have played throughout the years (plus being in the musical was an approved creativity for CAS).
I thought that achieving my goal would be a piece of cake because I did not expect a large number of students (especially guys) to be interested in a school musical, but after viewing the number of names in the auditions’ mailing list, I realized how wrong I was. I did not know this at the time, but the school musical has been a long-standing tradition at UWC Maastricht that the whole community looks forward to year after year.
The auditions went on for around two weeks, and they involved singing, dancing and acting trials, after which, my second year (César Almeida) and I got a call back for Ren. I was terribly nervous, but after a second singing audition, I was officially given the role, and Cesar was given the role of Willard Hewitt, Ren’s best friend.
Rehearsals started right after the auditions with a play reading, and after that, we began meeting every Monday and Thursday from 15.30 to 19.00 and every Sunday from 12.00 to 17.30. I cannot think of any other activity that I was involved in this year that required such commitment, but I also cannot think of any other activity with such ambitious goals; we were short of time and the directors wanted to finish the first act in less than two months, before the October break. Footloose became my life during that first term. I can still remember the hours we spent learning all the songs and harmonies, going through the choreographies again and again, and rushing to the music wing during every free period just to rehearse a bit more.
We met our goal a few days before the October break and left the campus with a feeling of fulfillment, but after coming back, time flew by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, the team doubled in size because now we had a make-up team, a PR team, an audio team, and a stagehand crew; tickets went on sale; we began to skip meals and lessons to have more rehearsal time, and we were less than a week away from opening night.
I could not believe the fact that we had a full house that night. It was amazing!
As I was getting ready to go on stage and heard the first bars of the opening number, I felt a rush of adrenaline run through my body that lasted for the next two nights until we sang the last: “Everybody cut footloose!”.
If I had the chance, I would do it all over again. In my opinion, auditioning for ‘Footloose’ was the best decision I took this first year because it was the best way to immerse myself in the community and because it gave me a new way to connect with many friends that I would not have met otherwise.
The story was fun, the music was catchy, and the group was amazing. We set the bar high, but hopefully next year I can raise it to a new level.
I thought that achieving my goal would be a piece of cake because I did not expect a large number of students (especially guys) to be interested in a school musical, but after viewing the number of names in the auditions’ mailing list, I realized how wrong I was. I did not know this at the time, but the school musical has been a long-standing tradition at UWC Maastricht that the whole community looks forward to year after year.
The auditions went on for around two weeks, and they involved singing, dancing and acting trials, after which, my second year (César Almeida) and I got a call back for Ren. I was terribly nervous, but after a second singing audition, I was officially given the role, and Cesar was given the role of Willard Hewitt, Ren’s best friend.
Rehearsals started right after the auditions with a play reading, and after that, we began meeting every Monday and Thursday from 15.30 to 19.00 and every Sunday from 12.00 to 17.30. I cannot think of any other activity that I was involved in this year that required such commitment, but I also cannot think of any other activity with such ambitious goals; we were short of time and the directors wanted to finish the first act in less than two months, before the October break. Footloose became my life during that first term. I can still remember the hours we spent learning all the songs and harmonies, going through the choreographies again and again, and rushing to the music wing during every free period just to rehearse a bit more.
We met our goal a few days before the October break and left the campus with a feeling of fulfillment, but after coming back, time flew by in the blink of an eye.
All of a sudden, the team doubled in size because now we had a make-up team, a PR team, an audio team, and a stagehand crew; tickets went on sale; we began to skip meals and lessons to have more rehearsal time, and we were less than a week away from opening night.
I could not believe the fact that we had a full house that night. It was amazing!
As I was getting ready to go on stage and heard the first bars of the opening number, I felt a rush of adrenaline run through my body that lasted for the next two nights until we sang the last: “Everybody cut footloose!”.
If I had the chance, I would do it all over again. In my opinion, auditioning for ‘Footloose’ was the best decision I took this first year because it was the best way to immerse myself in the community and because it gave me a new way to connect with many friends that I would not have met otherwise.
The story was fun, the music was catchy, and the group was amazing. We set the bar high, but hopefully next year I can raise it to a new level.
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