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The musical is fast approaching, and it’s always a great time, isn’t it? Every year, countless students and adults from around the area come to support what many may consider to be the crowning achievement of our arts department: a wonderful production, put on by our very own Hempfield students. Each year the musical brings students, teachers and many more a chance to wind down and enjoy the show. But have you ever wondered how much work goes on to make that show come to light? In the lead up to Hempfield’s production of Pippin, I conducted interviews with the faculty members and students who poured so much of their time into the production that you can see in just a brief few days.

My first interview was with Mr. Ramos, Hempfield’s choir director, and for the musical, Music Director. Here is my interview with him:

• C: The show being put on this year is Pippin. How was this decision reached, and were there any other shows in contention?
• R: We as a directing team, there’s about 10 adults, meet over the summer. We find that’s a nice time to get together because a lot of our team has dance theater, and dance theater runs until May. So it’s tough to talk about the show right after our show because a lot of our team’s still busy. So we find the summer is a good time to kind of talk about a lot of different avenues. We talk about, of course, shows we like and shows we value. We talk about shows that we’ve never done before or it’s been a while since we’ve done—we like to think about that perspective. We also like to think about students that we have, students that are upcoming or eighth graders—I like to go see the middle school show, so I like to see what ninth graders we’re gonna have next year. The amount of seniors—there’s a lot of layers that go into it. We sort of like to think, too, about something more old-school classic or new-school modern, like there’s kind of two waves of theater that we try to go back and forth between. I’m not going to share the titles only because they could still be potentials for years to come. So there were probably four or five show titles that we were in between as the team.
• C: All right. Could you give us a brief preview for the story of Pippin for those who are lost?
• R: Sure! Pippin is a story about a young man named Pippin, who is trying to find himself. It is a self discovery show. He is thinking about life and where he wants to go in life. It reminds me a lot about high schoolers, and they’re thinking of, you know, life after high school. That’s exactly what Pippin’s doing. So he actually is a part of a traveling actor troupe. The entire ensemble cast is an acting troupe, and they go around the world sort of performing the story of Pippin. And, the comedy of our show kind of goes in and out of the story and talking to the audience, sort of breaking the fourth wall, if you will. So there’s some great comedy with that. There’s some great life lessons with it. And there’s beautiful music. Stephen Schwartz, the composer, just wrote the Wicked movie. So if you’ve seen the Wicked movie, he wrote Pippin before Wicked. So, it’s a great, great musical with great music in it.
• C: What were tryouts and selecting the cast like?
• R: Tryouts are a very rigorous process. It’s about a week’s worth of intense endurance. Students have the opportunity to review or ask any questions about the audition excerpt on a Monday. They will audition with a vocal excerpt and a dance call on Tuesday. If they get a call back, they have a day or two to get that ready, and on Thursday, we have callbacks. It’s an invitation to the second round. The cast list is posted on Friday after school. So it is a long week of ups and downs, of glows and grows.
• C: Why did you cast who you did? What went into casting specific people for specific characters?
• R: Yeah, it goes down to how well their audition was on that Tuesday, how well the callback was in that Thursday, and really if we can trust it just in two days worth of auditions. If we can trust the weight of the roll with the actor or the actress, maybe that comes from experience that they’ve done outside of Hempfield or outside of this production, but not always. I can think of a few leads over this year and last year who we’ve never given a lead to, and they’re doing really well. So it’s not always the experience piece, although it really helps, especially with the callback, right?
• C: What sort of work has gone into or on the parts of the students?
• R: Meaning, like the preparation?
• C: Yeah, just everything that’s gone into that.
• R: Students, I mean, students will prepare the role completely on the road. We give them the script very early on. I tell them, I give a lesson or two on how to read the lines and on how to think about the lines, and then that’s all on them. When they come to our rehearsals in January, they know the lines, they know the idea, they know the story, they know the context of the scenes. And we maybe help guide them through some blocking or acting choices or styles, but we let the actors at Hempfield play and we let them experiment with how they want to do the role.
• C: What sort of work has gone into the musical, and is there any behind the scenes work you’re doing without the cast of students?
• R: A lot of work I do without them. Pretty much everything you see in the final product of our show week had so much going into it. There was building the program, there’s buying the T-shirts, there’s building the sets, there is getting the costumes together, there’s ordering the makeup, there’s getting together the program and the poster design, there’s getting tech weekend set up with all kinds of food and volunteer hours. There’s a lot that goes into the musical, and it is not just the final product on stage with acting, singing and dancing. There are pit musicians playing the music, there’s tech crew in the back, getting things together with the props and the sets. There’s people helping with costumes and makeup. There is probably 150 students involved in the total musical production and about 25 to 30 adults. So when you get about 200 people in a room, there’s a lot to do. and there’s a lot that’s done outside a rehearsal.
• C: What does a regular rehearsal look like?
• R: Yeah, I think they pretty much stay the same. We start at 3:15, go to 6 o’clock. In those two and a half hours, it’s about whatever needs done. That sounds so simple, but if I need, if I have a to-do list so long of just music things and teaching things, that’s what we’re going to do. If we’ve done all that and we just need to run scene two and three, that’s all we’re gonna do. the directors and the production team like to lay out a calendar of the entire process of different things from the accomplished, so everyone understands, but theater is all about sort of taking what’s in the moment and and sort of hitting it right on, so you got to leave some move for flexibility in the rehearsal process.  But overall, from three to six, we just work really hard, sometimes we call everybody, sometimes I only work with one or two people. And we, we roll with that type of layout from like December to February. Around this time, everybody’s called. and we’re just running the entire thing. So sometimes students are sitting back waiting for their scenes and so, I got two characters that are on stage every scene, two acts. They’ they’re they’re on for three hours. They’re on stage from three to six. So it sort of depends on the role, your role in the show, but we, we have a to-do list usually every day to get done.
• C: Right. How many people are working on this front of the musical with the students?
• R: From like an adult perspective?
• C: Yeah
• R: We have myself as a music director, we have a stage director, we have a choreographer, they’re the Johnsons—they are married, Asher and Jordan—we have a pit conductor, Ms. P, we have a technical director, Mr. Eide and Mr. Kling and Mr. Martel-he’s an assistant, we have a set designer, we have a costume advisor, makeup advisor, ticket sales director, and someone who helps our, build our programs. So that right there is 12 adults that are managing one to 50 students at a time.
• C: How much work from the students is going on outside of rehearsals versus inside of rehearsals?
• I think the three to six time frame for the students is to show the directors what they’ve been working on. I think they do a lot of things outside. I think when during the school day is a great use of time for students to actually practice the nitty gritty of their lines or ask questions, where three to six is not really a question and answer time. Of course if there is a question we answer it, but not so much question and answer as in showcasing, as in running things, because without, from three to six, you have the directors, so you can, you can see the flow of things with the directors. When it’s not three to six, that’s a time it can be very individualized. So we try to be communal and collective from three to six. And we ask the individual work happen outside of rehearsal.
• C: And one last question for the interview, what would you say to people who are interested in performing the musical next year, but aren’t sure if they want to try out?
• R: Try it out. If you sit at home, and all you do is go to school, you’re probably looking for something to do. The musical is a great thing to do. It’s a great way to express yourself. It’s a great way to get out there. It’s a great way to be a part of a team that is reputable and is a part of a program that matters. And I’m always telling students, even if you’re on the fence, it’s just a try out, because even if you don’t get in on the stage cast, we have pit, we have crew, we have ticket sales, we have costumes, we have makeup. We got a place for you to do the thing if you want to do the thing. So, um, come out and support, come see the show.
• C: That’s all I have for you, thank you for your time.

I also interviewed 9th grader Derek Harris, who this year is acting as the lead role of Pippin, the title character, Pippin. Here is my interview with him:

• C: So how many shows have you been in before?
• D: Pippen is going to be my 25th, so 24 shows.
• C: Wow, that’s a lot, what was your favorite?
• D: Favorite show I’ve ever done… probably either Newsies in 2022 I think it was, or Tuck Everlasting in 2024.
• C: What did you know about Pippin before auditioning?
• D: Honestly I had only known “Magic to Do” and “Corner of the Sky”, and I just knew that it was a really like, tender filled show, but otherwise I knew nothing about it.
• C: Did you have a feeling you would be cast as lead, and what were you thinking when you found out you were?
• D: Absolutely not, I had to go to a show directly after callbacks, so I was like, “Ok, I’m not making it. I’m definitely not making it.” Then, I saw the callback list first. I was like, okay, maybe there’s a shot, and then the cast list comes out. That was one of the most surprising days I’ve ever had. It was awesome. I, it was just a mix of just joy, kind of fear for how big the part was, and overall excitement.
• C: Does the role of Pippin mean anything to you personally, and if so what?
• D: Oh, I feel like it tells a lot of like, it’s so applicable to so many different people’s lives like, trying to find who you are, trying so many things, it not going well, feeling helpless, and just standing true to who you are. And it can be difficult to like find what you’re good at, find what is meaningful to you, but it’s important that you do. So I feel like Pippin is just really applicable to so many people’s lives, including mine.
• C: What did you do to prepare for your auditions?
• D: I just sang through it a lot. A lot of times with auditions I go to my voice teacher, make my parents listen to it, just getting notes on what I can do better than just rehearse rehearse rehearse rehearse till it sounds good enough.
• C: What do you find interesting about theater?
• D: It’s such a unique environment because no matter how long the show process is, whether it be a week to a couple months, you get to know people really well. And it’s just, such an opening environment. Like you’re always going to have it at least one to two people that are just your people. You can hang out with them constantly, you never get tired of them, no matter how tired you actually are. It’s just such a fun, like experience to have.
• C: How much work have you put in for the role outside of school and inside of school?
• D: Way too much. I spend more hours rehearsing than I have sleeping or anything else for that matter. Like outside of school, always helping with voice, just running everything at home. I got a college music teacher to like, be my voice teacher for a couple of lessons just to really dig into some of the material.
• C: Have you ever like, run through the entire show just on your own?
• D: Yeah, once or twice. Most of the time, though it’s just picking off work for that day, but yeah.
• C: What did your rehearsal schedule look like regularly in the lead up to running the show?
• D: It’s a lot. Luckily, I’m only doing one show right now because a lot of times I’m doing multiple and sports, but I took a break just so I can really focus on Pippin, so really just rehearsals basically every day, right after school until six and then DT (Dance Theatre) every now and then, but pretty normal schedule.
• C: What’s your favorite part of the show this year?
• D: Ooh, that’s good question. Probably “Corner of the Sky”, just cause it’s such a fun “I Want” number that, you really get to like control the stage, like, get to interact with the audience, interact with everyone else on stage. It’s fun to just run around singing your heart out, because it’s also just such a beautiful song to sing, or another really fun part is, I gotta say “With You” at the very end, like during “Frolic” (Part of “With You”), “Frolic” is a fun part to do, cause it’s just this running around crazy dream sequence which is awesome.
• C: Do you have any last things to say briefly about the show, about the role, about the cast, the crew, anything? This is a really impressive show because there’s so many different aspects that go into it, whether that be the, sets, the casting itself, all the random props you need. It’s really well put together, and I’m, I know that Hempfield’s really good at music. Their music department is fantastic. I’m impressed, it’s really come together well.
• C: And finally, last question, what would you say to people who are interested in performing in the musical but aren’t sure if they want too try out?
• Go for it, like, the worst thing you could do is not try out cause then you’re never gonnna know, like if you’re good at it, if it’s something to stick with. And even if you don’t, I highly doubt it, but if you don’t end up having a good time, then at least you know, but I’d say like worst comes to worst in auditioning, you get cut, boohoo, that’s it. We’re going to try it again next year. I would say it’s worthy.
• C: That’s all that I have for you. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview. I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing beforehand.
• D: All right, thank you so much.

Of course, the musical’s not just singing and dancing to music. T`here’s a lot more work that goes on beyond what you see on stage from the actors. I interviewed Mr. Eide, one of the people working first and foremost with the student crew. Here’s my interview with him:

• C: How many shows have you worked on in the past?
• E: So as a staff member, this will be my third musical with Hempfield, but as a student, this will be my sixth musical with Hempfield. And I’ve done a few other Dance Theatres and stuff in there as well.
• C: How much work in progress does the crew usually put in on any given building session?
• E: A good bit. It definitely depends on the building session, when we’re first getting started, it looks like a lot more work is getting done because things are growing in shape and size, but it’s actually towards the end where a lot of the work, the detail work actually gets done and a lot more gets done in a single session.
• C: How long has the crew been working on the show?
• E: So we actually started building this year’s show, bits and pieces of it, as early as early December, uh late November, early December, started on a few elements that we could, prior to getting the whole stage in January.
• C: What sort of work has gone into the musical on the part of the student crew?
• E: So they build all the sets, they paint all the sets, they help accumulate and build a lot of the props and paint some of the props, they, any lighting and stuff like that that you see in the show, they worked on in some way shape or form. So there’s, there’s a lot of elements that the crew partakes in.
• C: What sort of work has gone into the musical in the parts of adults like you working with crew?
• E: So myself and my two coworkers, Andrew Martel and Ben Kling, our job is to organize what’s gonna happen in a cruise session. So we work with Mike Gage, who is the set designer and we take his set plans and we build them into a set, and we use the kids and we organize how that’s gonna happen.
• C: What was the hardest prop to make and how long did it take?
• E:Oh, I don’t even know. Uh, probably I would say this year one of the harder props would be the swords, cause there’s probably close to 40 of them, and they all look pretty much the same, and they’re all painted, they’re all cut out by hand.
• C:It’s just a lot of that repetition?
• E: Yeah, I think it took like three or four kids about two weeks to just knock them all out.
• C: What does a regular building session look like?
• E: We’ll start off in a big group on the stage or in the back, and we’ll start divvying out jobs to students, whether it’s picking up where they left off last time they were here, or assigning them new jobs. and once they get their job, it’s, off to the races and we get working.
• C: How many adults are working on this front with the crew?
• E: Including volunteers?
• C: Yeah.
• E: So, between paid and volunteers, we probably had close to 20 adults help with the share this year.
• C: What has been your personal favorite prop for the show this year?
• E: Personal favorite? I think, I personally like the head that was built, as far as props go because it’s a little head that gets tossed out on the stage and they have to take that, put it in a box and there’s actually a human inside the box that then pops up, but looks like the head and starts talking. It’s uh, but you can’t see his, you only see above his shoulders, so it looks like, the way that everything was designed, it looks like you’re tossing the head in a box and all of a sudden now the head’s popping up and talking.
• C: Yeah, it’s pretty cool. And finally, last question, what would you say to people who are interested in joining crew, but aren’t sure if they want to?
• E: Give it a try. When I was a student here at Hempfield, I joined crew and didn’t do musical or Dance Theater the first year, but helped out with build, and concerts here and there, and then I kind of fell in love with it and now here doing it as a job. So all you gotta do is come out, give it a try, you can message myself or Mr. Kling on Schoology and we’ll get you in the group. and bring a friend.
• C: All right, thank you, uh, for your time.
• E: Yeah no problem, thank you.

I also talked to multiple student crew members, among them was 12th grader Natalie Franck, Deck Manager for the upcoming show. Here’s my interview with her:

• C: How many shows have you worked on in the past?
• N: I have worked on three musicals, so this is my fourth one, and I’ve worked on three DTs.
• C: You’re on the show crew, right?
• N: Yup, I’m the deck manager.
• C: All right, can you describe what that job entails?
• N: Yeah, so the deck manager manages all that goes on on the deck, so all of the crew moves, anything with props, and just the whole deck experience, really.
• C: Did you do any building?
• N: Yup, I, I haven’t done a lot of building for this set in particular, but I’ve done it for past shows.
• C: What was your favorite thing to build? It can be set, it could be a prop, whatever.
• N: Favorite thing? I think the stained glass for this musical, don’t if you seen it-
• C: Oh yeah, I’ve seen it. It’s really beautiful.
• N: It’s looking really nice.
• C: Why did you join Crew?
• N: I did it in middle school. I just kind of carried over um, but I like the experience, I like the people, I like making musicals happen.
• C: Would you explain what tech week is for those who don’t know?
• N: Tech week is the week leading up to the shows, and it’s where all the cast, crew and pit come together and rehearse the shows a lot until you get it right and until you make the show happen.
• C: How well would you say the show has come together on the crew end?
• N: Well, the crew hasn’t practiced any of our moves yet, we do that during tech week, so the set is coming along pretty good, um, but we haven’t run through anything yet.
• C: How much work goes in from the members of crew each building session?
• N: There is a lot of work. We have nine hours a week, so three days a week since, like October working on this. So, and that’s not counting tech week, so there’s a lot of work that goes on for crew.
• C: What’s the most enjoyable part of crew to you?
• N: I think the people, and then just seeing the show come together at the end.
• C: What’s your personal favorite prop for the show and why?
• N: I’m really liking the puppets that are used for a specific thing, I think they came out really well and they’re looking good.
• C: And lastly, what would you say to people who are interested in joining crew but aren’t sure if they want to?
• N: I think you should come to a meeting, see how it is. It’s all volunteers, so it’s not like you’re gonna get turned away, and it’s not like you have to come for a certain amount of time, so if you’re interested, just come to it.
• C: All right, that’s all. Thank you for your time.
• N: Of course!

Of course, no musical would ever be complete without the music, and you can thank the pit for that. I interviewed the Pit Director, Ms. Pershouse. Here’s that interview:

• C: Ok, how many shows at Hempfield have you conducted?
• P: This is my third musical for Hempfield, but I was involved in one other and I’ve done lots of musical theater outside of Hempfield.
• C: How many years have you been playing in pits professionally?
• P: I first played in a pit professionally when I was in high school, so almost 20 years now that I’ve been doing that as I love it.
• C: What is your favorite part about conducting pit?
• P: I love being the connection point between what’s going on on stage and the music that’s happening underneath it. Somebody has to translate so that everything can happen at the same time and we get the best possible experience for the audience. And it’s a really crucial role. It’s somewhat anxiety-inducing because if I’m not on my game, a lot can go wrong in the show, but then there’s this huge adrenaline rush when it all goes right and the show is amazing.
• C: What’s your favorite number to conduct this year?
• P: It kind of changes week by week, but I really love the finale of the first act, which is called “Morning Glow.” It’s a big musical number with the whole cast singing and the whole pit playing and it’s really, really beautiful.
• C: What was the auditioning process like?
• P: So for the audition for this year, students who were interested got a piece of music from the book that they would be performing out of. We call it the book. And, because it’s almost a hundred pages long for each student, they just got 16 to 20 measures from the book and then they were, had about a week to ten days to work it up, video themselves playing it, and then send it to me.
• C: What does your normal practice schedule look like?
• P: For the students or for me?
• C: For the students.
• P: So students in pit rehearse two nights a week starting in January, although this year we were able to have a sight reading rehearsal, so where we just kind of read things that for the first time back in December, which we don’t usually get to do, but it was a really amazing start to our season this year. So that ends up being about two months of rehearsals, two nights a week for two hours each.
• C: How much work goes in from the students inside and outside of pit?
• P: It’s a ton of work. It’s, you’re doing something that usually people hire professionals to do. So naturally as a high school student, you’re going to have to practice a little harder than maybe a professional who’s played the show or who has played other shows would have to do. So our rehearsal time is four hours a week, which doesn’t sound like a ton, but you have to count in that the students are probably practicing that much or more on their own time outside of the rehearsal. Now, that obviously gets easier as the students do pit more often. So, like your freshman year or the first year that you do it is going to feel the hardest. And then, you know, you could talk to the seniors in the pit and they probably would tell you that this year has been the easiest because they’ve had the experience, they know what goes into it, and so they come with a little bit more knowledge already ready to use.
• C: What cues do you look for when starting a number?
• P: A lot of times I’m watching the actor who starts the number, and I’m really watching their breath. I’m watching how they’re breathing, and what I always tell the actors is if they can just do it the same way every time, which is hard, it’s a hard thing to do, but we have amazing, amazing people in our cast. And so I watch them a lot during rehearsals earlier in the process and I start to get a feel for where they’re going to be on stage, what it looks like when they’re about to sing, and then I start to practice breathing with them and moving with them, even when I’m just like sitting in the dark auditorium while they’re rehearsing, so that I can feel for myself what it is to guide the pit along with the singers.
• C: What’s the hardest part about conducting?
• P: You have to forget that you’re conducting, and really just focus on the music and try not to worry about what you look like, right? You have to focus on the role that you need to play, what the rest of the people making music with you need from you and try to embody that without worrying about, did that look right, or do I look silly? You have to really just focus on the music and let go of any sort of like ego or um, you know, self-consciousness.
• C: Last question, what would you say to people who are interested in joining pit but aren’t sure if they want to? I would say if you love playing your instrument, if you love the idea of making really cool music that thousands and thousands of people love to hear, and you love working with a team to make something truly special happen, then Pitt’s probably the right place for you. The high school musical is a huge undertaking with a large team behind it, but every single person in that team is so crucial and the pit is part of that. And so we need people who have skills, but also who have a passion for performing, and making amazing musical moments with their teammates with the other people in the pit and the people on stage and behind it.
• C: All right, that’s all I have, Thank you.

I hope now you have an even deeper appreciation for all the work that goes into the musical. Every single person working on it, whether they be working with or amongst the actors, crew and pit, and all the students in these groups, as well as many more people, pour hours of their life into the musical every year for everyone to see. Each year, the musical is an enjoyable experience for anyone who sees it. If you’re interested in seeing Pippin but haven’t bought tickets yet, you can buy them online two hours prior to each performance and in person 45 minutes prior to each performance. For more information about the show and tickets, go onto the Hempfield website to learn more.