This fall, the Blessed Trinity Fine Arts department will be performing, Emma! A Pop Musical. Mark your calendars for November 4th and 5th at 7:00pm. The diverse and entertaining music selection includes many decades of beloved songs and artists. Some cast member favorites include “Heartbreaker” by Pat Benatar and “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul. “I think my favorite song would have to be a toss-up between ‘Heartbreaker’ and ‘Straight Up.’  These are both iconic songs that I feel everyone should enjoy!” says Mrs. Amanda Ketchum, the director of the school musical.

 Emma! A Pop Musical is a modern retelling of Jane Austin’s classic novel Emma. The story is about a senior in high school named Emma and her friend, Harriet, who is a sophomore. When their teachers get married, Harriet catches the bouquet, and Emma sees this as an opportunity to get Harriet a boyfriend. Emma attempts to match Harriet up with someone with her matchmaking abilities, but things don’t exactly go as planned. 

Ketchum and Ms. Alyssa Harris are responsible for curating the cast. Careful consideration is taken when choosing the cast. Ketchum says, “I have the potential cast members perform a monologue and an excerpt of a song from the musical.  This shows our vocal director, Miss Harris, and myself the student’s vocal range and ability to portray a character.  Once students have auditioned, we choose the students that best portrayed the character in their monologue and have the vocal ability to sing all the songs for that character.” Everyone who has an interest in theater is encouraged to audition for all the productions. “The theater has a place for everyone!” says Ketchum. 

The directors worked hard to choose the cast, and all the members are so excited to be a part of this production. Maria Deirisarri, who plays Harriett, shares a little about her character.  “My character is romantically uncommitted. She is very sweet and naive but is overall cute.” Kevin Kellner describes his character, Phillip, “My character is very snobbish and politically driven. He is running for student council president and is trying to get everyone’s votes. He is self centered and doesn’t care who he falls in love with; he just wants everyone’s vote.” Both cast members play the roles perfectly and really get in character when performing. 

Both Ketchum and Harris are very excited to be working with the cast this year. Ketchum states,  “My favorite part of directing is getting to work with such a wide variety of students here at BT.  Getting to interact with them and encourage them to work hard on the musical as a team is inspiring and rewarding all in itself.” 

One of the many responsibilities of the director is choreographing the show. “There is a lot that goes into each section of choreography in a musical.  Not only are you trying to tell a story through song and dialogue you are trying to match the choreography so that it adds to the development of the scene and does not overpower it.  I try and balance all those elements along with the use of the entire stage and cast.” 

Every scene is well thought out, and the cast is excited to learn this musical this year. “I am excited for the song ‘Straight Up’ because we get to dance with kazoos,” says Deirisarri. Kellner’s favorite scene is when his character is introduced, stating, “I get a moment to shine.”  Ketchum interjects,  “‘Heartbreaker!’  It is such a fun song that the cast really enjoys performing, thus making it a crowd pleaser and very entertaining.” 

The whole cast is so excited to show off all of the hard work they are putting into this musical for everyone to see. Ketchum says “I would like to encourage all BT students to come out and support their fellow classmates!  We are one school, and we should unite and support everyone in ALL the amazing opportunities we have to offer at Blessed Trinity.  The BT Theater program not only includes the actors on stage, we have students that run the backstage area, along with students running the lights and sound and 53 students in Stagecraft classes this semester that are busy building the 2 story set for the performances.  I bet if you asked around just one of your classes you would know somebody who is involved in the production. Show up for ALL of them!” 

Emma! A Pop Musical can be seen on November 4th and 5th in the BT theater, and it is a Marquee Event worth double house points. What a great way to support the theater department and your house at the same time!