A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the CRHS Musical!

The Little Mermaid was a major success with three great performances. However, there were a fair amount of mishaps and behind the scenes issues that, hopefully, went unnoticed to the audience. Here’s everything you may have missed:

For one, there were a number of medical issues that took place during the time leading up to and during the shows As many people know, senior Hayden O’Sullivan, playing the lead of Eric, had the misfortune of getting a concussion the week before the performances.

Leading to a period of medical appointments and, I’m assuming, headaches. On top of this, many cast members became sick. This includes senior Jenny Zaclli, playing Ariel, junior Dylan Montemurro, playing Grimsby, and freshman Brie Pascarelli, playing Andrina, to name a few. Some members of the cast were even absent from the dress rehearsal the night before the show. Safe to say, lots of stress, tea, and medication were present opening night.

Besides this, during Friday’s performance, the main backdrop was knocked partially off of its track, making it unusable for a portion of the show. This became known when one of the performers was hit by a piece that had fallen off the track. The student was all right and, thankfully, sustained no injuries. After discussing with multiple audience members after this particular show, this issue was, unfortunately, very noticeable from the audience. What was not known to the crowd was the unique process that took place during intermission in order to put the backdrop back on its track. It definitely was interesting to see someone climb up a ladder, King Triton’s trident in hand, to fix this issue within the fifteen minute span.

Another mid-show mishap was when one of the set pieces, the mast of the ship, was broken only moments before it needed to be put out on stage. However, this happened on closing night, so it did not have a major effect on the functionality of the musical. Some audience members did later ask what the “large crashing noise” was that they heard mid-show.

Not a major focus or surprise, but there were some issues with the microphones across the weekend. The most memorable being when King Triton’s, played by Spencer Babbitt, microphone stopped working all together on opening night. Seeing one of the adults sprint backstage asking where Spencer is because they needed to let him know that his microphone had lost connection, only to realize that he was actively on stage, was definitely a sight to see. This led to multiple microphones being swapped last minute between the cast and some major changes to the microphone schedule taking place mid-show.

Overall, these three performances went extremely well, but not without a few bumps in the road! Thank you to the entire cast, crew, and pit for creating such a comfortable environment and doing so well with every issue that arose. A special thanks to Mrs. Schilling and Mr. Fisher for handling these situations and others with grace and kindness. Thank you to all who came to see the show and I hope you enjoyed your time “under the sea.”