Nordonia Drama has spent months preparing for The Little Mermaid by rehearsing, practicing, making costumes, and creating stage props. Many people including former graduates of Nordonia have come back to volunteer their skills helping with the musical’s success.
A success it was! Opening night for The Little Mermaid had an attendance of approximately five hundred. Families of drama students, fellow students and friends, along with Disney musical fans filled the spacious auditorium. Students in the pit orchestra provided the background instrumentals for the cast members to sing along with. Many drama students have had voice lessons prior to or during their Nordonia Drama experience.
It takes a team effort to put on a musical performance as spectacular as this one was, and lots of rehearsals. Many actors and actresses mentioned why they liked playing their character’s part. Read on to hear what cast members said about their grand opening night’s performance.
Ezekial Rayle, a freshman, has been performing on stage since he was six, and played the part of Sebastian, Jamaican red crab. Ezekiel played in the musical called Puffs in the fall with NHS, finding out he needed to tweak his Jamaican-sounding accent to sound more British, he was ready for the Sebastian part to audition for. Ezekiel states, “he likes the sass and snarkiness of Sebastian’s character that makes people laugh, and says he thinks he also makes people laugh in real life, or at least he hopes so”.
Hadassah Rayle, a former NHS graduate of 2022 directed and acted all four years with NHS Drama, she also volunteered with makeup for the Little Mermaid performance.
Michael Satola, a junior, who played Chef Louie, just joined Drama this year and started voice lessons a handful of months ago. He said he wanted to play a funny part, one that made audience members laugh. Satola said that in order to get into his character’s personality that he would play a video game, listening to a French character in it, and sing along with the accent. He also watched the Little Mermaid movie to reconnect with Chef Louie’s part.
Loghan Alexander, a senior who has been in Drama all four years, had begun in the backstage area of production her freshman year. She admits she wanted to be on stage so after that first year she said she would just push herself harder. She also said that she worked on her vocals in choir so that she would be ready. Loghan says she is completely opposite of her snarky, evil character, Jetsam. She says she is always nice to others, but it was fun to play someone who is different from her.
Ella Bovan, is a sophomore and played the beautiful red-haired mermaid Ariel. Ella has always loved The Little Mermaid; it has always been her favorite Disney movie. She has been taking voice lessons since she was six years old because she always loved to sing. When asked to give advice for younger kids who aspire to be in drama, Ella said,” that it is fun to play a character, that once you play them so much, you become them and it is so much fun to do.”
Mason Tyler, a freshman, played the pilot and dance captain. Mason said, “being with the cast as a whole boosted their confidence as a group.”
Richie Nyce, a senior, played Prince Eric, has been in the Drama group for five years, starting out as one of the munchkins in Wizard of Oz in his eighth grade year. He said Nordonia’s musical director, Ryan Delaney, had some of them doing planks while singing their parts during the king Triton scene, to practice exercising their breaths. Richie was also in charge of social media marketing for the Little Mermaid performance.
Grace York, a senior, played Flounder and has been in Drama for five years but has been performing since she was three. Advice that was given to her was to go all out, to give it her all, and not hold anything back. Grace also served as costume manager.
Claire Marchant, a junior with four years of Drama experience, played Ursula and also helped with makeup for the cast. She has loved drama since she was a kid and she said that she really admires how confident Ursula is, doesn’t care what people think of her, and it was fun to play the villain.
Chris Simmons has spent countless hours, along with his numerous staff and volunteer members. A lot of thought goes into the musicals, or plays they choose to do, who/what they have to work with, and the interests that students have in them. He said that the Drama group makes many of their costumes, purchases some, and/or hems bought items. The “heelies” some cast members use on stage to glide across easily were bought for them to wear during the musical. Chris saw the idea in the Broadway version. Chris has spent a lot of time and hours organizing, along with lots of coffee, but has enjoyed every minute.
Tickets can be purchased at the door to see The Little Mermaid Sat. April 22nd at 7:30pm, and Sun. April 23, at 3pm. Also, tickets are available for purchase online at nordoniadrama.com.
Donations will be collected for the Drama program and also for Rockin’ Frocks, an organization that collects dress donations, and also donates to students in need of formal dresses.
