Orchestra, band work to help bring ‘Seussical’ to life
January 12, 2023
Since November, musicians have volunteered hours of their time to perform in Seussical the Musical. Tonight, they will perform together as the orchestra, band, choir and theaters students combine for their opening night performance.
“The theater kids and the choir kids get to see what it feels like to be able to experience music with an orchestra because a lot of the time they’re [theater] playing with one piano player or they’re playing with a track,” orchestra director and conductor of the music, Evan Farmer.
The musical will be held three different days with a runtime of about two hours. According to Farmer, the musicians play for 90% of it and much of the music is much more difficult than what the musicians are used to.
“The key signature given isn’t used as much in the music we play in band,” Alexandra Linares, 10, said. “I was scared at first but once I practiced the music, I got it down.”
Members of the chamber orchestra play in the musical alongside members of the band. They dedicated hours of their time inside and outside of school to rehearse with the theater and choir.
Musicians put a lot of time into making this happen with late night rehearsals, which were sometimes stressful.
“The time where I wanted to quit the musical was where we were practicing with the actors,” Linares said. “For it to be my first time being part of a musical, it was weird to me how we combined the orchestra and the band with theater.”
The musical was a different experience for the musicians because they challenged themselves in a way they’ve never done before and learned to work in a different environment.
“Being a part of Seussical the Musical is an honor,” Linares said. “I would like to have the experience again to be in a musical.”
