Disclaimer: This was written right after Tech Week rehearsals had ended, but before most of the performances.

Every year, the school’s theatre program puts together two different productions for the year: a fall play for November and a spring musical for April. This year, the theatre program here at Santiago has put together Disney’s Descendants: The Musical. The production, written by Nick Blaemire and composed by Madeline Smith, is a musical theatre version of the first Descendants movie that takes music from both the movie and the TV show and adds their own spin to it to fit the plot and make it seem fresh and fun. As the ticket site describes, the show is “a brand-new musical comedy featuring the beloved characters and hit songs from the films”, which I honestly agree with, as the whole four-month experience was a fun adventure I’ll never forget.

Stage One: Auditions

Auditions for the musical took place in December, where the first part called for us to sing part of a song that matched the vibe of Descendants. I’d dabbled with theatre classes before, even going as far as to audition for different musicals in the past, but nothing ever really lined up for me, at least not in the acting department. In spite of this, however, I decided to go for it for the sake of giving acting one last try (and because Descendants was one of my favorite Disney Channel movies back in middle school), and if things didn’t work out, then I’d move on from the acting dream for good.

I went into my audition with the song “A Guy That I’d Kinda Be Into” from Be More Chill, and after messing up a little bit but getting through it, I left thinking that there was little chance I’d be called back. That is until one of my friends sent me a callback list with my name included, which surprised me, as I’d never gotten this far with the theatre before. This didn’t necessarily mean I was automatically in. I still had to pass the callbacks…

Stage Two: Callbacks

Callbacks were about a day or two after auditions. I went in not knowing what to expect, as this had been my first callback ever. After waiting for a little bit and recognizing some of the faces from the auditions, we entered the theatre where we were taught some choreography for “Rotten To The Core”. After about 30-45 minutes of learning the choreography, we were told to perform it in groups of five. Once everyone had finished, a couple of people were allowed to leave for the day, me included. I was initially worried that that meant the end of my chance of getting into the show but ended up relieved with the final results…

Stage Three: Casting

The day after callbacks, I received an email regarding casting decisions. I could tell right away that the announcement would be good, as the email began with “Congratulations”, however, I opened the email just to be sure. I looked through the list before finding my name under the ensemble category, and while I’d wanted a character role, I was grateful to have been cast all the same. Rehearsals were to start after Winter Break, which gave me something to look forward to when we got back to school.

Stage Four: Rehearsals

Once the winter vacation had ended, rehearsal began on the first day back, where we talked about what to expect from the rehearsals for the production and read through the script. The next few weeks that followed consisted of rehearsals where we either blocked the scenes (placements of what/who goes where in different scenes), learned the choreography to different songs in the show, or learned the music of the songs (as a full cast, we only had two of these rehearsals, but cast members with character roles had more). There were weeks when I was an ensemble member who needed all three rehearsal days (usually Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays with some Tuesday rehearsals for main roles), but there were also weeks where I wasn’t needed at all for the week. Usually, it depended on what was to be worked on for the week. Eventually, weeks flew by, and before we knew it, the production days were drawing nearer. Firstly, however, we had to get through the biggest rehearsals for the show: Tech Week.

Stage Five: Tech Week

Once Tech Week had arrived and the cast started staying until 7:30 to run through the show (or 8:15 in the case of Wednesday), we started picking through the show and making sure everything would sail smoothly for the performances. The rehearsals, though chaotic, proved beneficial for the show, which will hopefully lead to four successful performances.

Overall, the show was an amazing experience to be a part of, and I’m thankful to have been part of it, from the fun rehearsals (even if it meant not getting home until after 5) to the energetic choreography to the wonderfully composed soundtrack. Never did I think four months ago that I’d be part of such a wonderful experience given my lack of experience with theatre productions, but I’m happy that Descendants allowed me to explore that opportunity and give acting another try.