The production of “Clue” marks a perfect ending for the fall season and the beginning of the audition processes for the Winter Musical. This year, director Michael Driscoll and the Art Department will present the Lake Forest Academy community with the rock and roll musical “Grease.” The show takes place in the 1959 north west side of Chicago. The story surrounded the teenage love story of Danny Zuko – a charming greaser – and Sandy Dumbrowski – a sweet and innocent girl. The two protagonists fell in love during summer before their senior year, and their story unravels as Sandy, originally from the south side of Chicago, transfers to Danny’s high school: Rydell High School. When asked why the art department decided on this musical, Driscoll claimed that he wanted to bring this story based in Chicago back to its land.
“We have a wonderful turnout, and we have so many talented students, ” Driscoll said. During the audition process, students are required to memorize a short piece of choreography, 32 measures of music that they choose and students will be selected and put on the call-back list for the characters that they will possibly be cast as. According to Eden Cortes ‘26, a past singer and actor in LFA Drama productions, the most challenging part of the audition is that students only have a short amount of time to prepare for a song that they are not familiar with, but it is also an effective way to reflect students as actors and creative people. When asked why she returned to the Cressy stage, Cortes emphasized the great friendships and bonding during the musical production, especially when students shared their experience and challenges on stage.
The production will be collaboratively constructed by the entire Art Department, with Peg Plambeck and Tim Plambeck as the voice instructors, Valerie Gonzalez as the choreographer, Jason Koenig as the production manager and technical director and Sally Stephenson as the pit instructor. Hence, it is exciting to see the final production and the performance of student actors on the stage of Cressy Theater once again. Most importantly, beyond music and stories, the show hopes to communicate the message that “in the world today, we need to laugh, and we need to feel that there is joy” Driscoll said.