Larger than life characters, fabulous songs, big laughs and even bigger hair - Year 7 exploded onto stage with enough energy to power Chichester!
In his last minute pep talk with the cast, Mr Cousens, Head of Drama and Director, reminded the children: “There are three major priorities right now. One! Character, having fun with your character. Two! Having fun with your character. And three! Having fun with your character. I don’t care if you get it wrong, just go out there and leave tonight knowing you’ve put on one heck of a show. You are going to blow the audience out of the water.”
And wow, did Year 7 do this and more. They were truly EXPLOSIVE!
The cast of this show began working on this project when they were in Year 6, but Covid stopped them in their tracks and the production was put on the back burner for many months until they were in Year 7. Mr Cousens said: “It has been fun for the cast to study the video footage we took of early rehearsals, seeing how much everyone has grown up.”
“Much of the choreography in the show has been designed and delivered by the children. We have enjoyed pupils delivering group Zoom dances during lockdown with plenty of curious dogs joining in too. Thank you to our nine pupil choreographers for their contributions towards a hugely colourful team effort.”
From the audience’s point of view, the show was goose-bump inducing and breath-taking. Each scene was huge and it was hard to remember most of the cast are just 11 years old. A fact which makes the vast number of costume and prop changes even more impressive with the Year 7 team utterly in the moment and one step ahead of the game: the entrances, the exits, the props, the lighting, they knew what they were doing and where they were going. Mr Cousens added: “They should be proud of their professionalism behind the scenes throughout a highly complex full-length musical: they were efficient, slick and decisive.
“On stage, all the pupils put their all into their characters and took the audience with them to Maryland in 1962. It was a HUGE team effort and there were many stand out performances from so many of the pupils. Certainly our lead parts made the most of their flamboyant characters. A huge well done to everyone.”
Totally hair-raising! What an unbelievable volunteer team of Hair & Make Up stylists for Hairspray. The backstage dress room was full of pre-production excitement from the children and the mums brought high levels of concentration, a wonderful sense of fun and creativity, and so much encouragement. The outcome was clear to see - incredible stage-ready looks, quiffs and super-high beehives. And brilliantly, Hairspray certainly lived up to its name – with a fine mist in the air where every you looked!
Leaving a trail of West End sparkle in their wake, the Hairspray costumes were jaw-droppingly good. Matching belts and hair bands, wigs, jackets – the Millennium Hall swam with colour and shone with light. It was a mind-blowing feat to put together. A massive thank you to Harriet Baxendale, chief costume designer and head of wardrobe, and to her fantastic team of parent volunteers who altered, cleaned, ironed, organised, fitted and stored.
Harriet said: “I wanted the children to look individual, so all the costumes had something unique about them. Even the Baltimore Girls, in their matching outfits, had their own coloured headbands and matching belts.
"There were so many costume changes throughout the show. One character had eight changes and two characters had just 30 seconds to change. The children only had their first costume run through on Tuesday before the Friday show, and I was so proud of them for being focused and brilliant.”
