WeGo Drama kept actors and singers on their toes for musical tryouts for “SIX: Teen Edition” last week.
The fall musical, “SIX”, takes on the story of the six wives of Henry VIII in a style of pop. With a mix of sad, empowering, and silly stories, actors and singers reported they could not wait to try out for their roles. Given a packet weeks before, the actors studied the packet and were given the choice to choose 32 bars from a song. Most chose to sing “Don’t Lose Your Head” or “All You Wanna Do.”
Then, on September 24, actors and singers lifted their voices at WeGo Drama’s tryouts—but not without warming up first.
“We usually do some sort of movement—a physical little thing to warm up everybody. And that will continue; this one will just be because everybody has to be able to move in a unison fashion with this show,” Mr. Mark Begovich, WeGo Drama director, said.
Begovich then asked those trying out to do some sort of movement that the actors had not known about beforehand. These movements could be something like a silly dance that everyone has to build on, allowing Begovich to see how everyone would work together.
After finishing these group activities, Begovich announced they would have a random order of people, who lined up outside the hallway, and one by one, performed what they had been practicing for weeks.
“I practiced after school just by finding tracks on YouTube, and also just practicing the lyrics with the practice packet we were given. I was terrified, and I was so nervous, and was still nervous after auditioning. Callbacks, however, I was just chilling—like it was ten times better,” sophomore Lia Bellosa said.
Callbacks gave an actor another chance to prove what they were capable of, and allowed Begovich the opportunity to test if an actor could handle humorous parts or very emotional and/or sad ones.
Following the auditions, the actors had to await the announcement regarding the cast.
“After auditions, it was a nice moment. I saw everyone supporting each other after every song, and it was all individual, so when someone would walk out, everyone would be very supportive and encouraging,” senior Wil Cooper said.
The musical will be performed in Weyrauch Auditorium on Nov. 15-16.
Update: shortly after auditions, the cast was announced, and is listed as follows:
Catherine of Aragon: Ramiah Joy McElroy
Catherine of Aragon’s Champion: Calysta Sokolewicz
Anne Boleyn: Natalia Bellosa
Anne Boleyn’s Champion: Alex Rocha
Jane Seymour: Mariah Varnado
Jane Seymour’s Champion: Elisa O’Brien
Anna of Cleves: Ava Bloniarz
Anna of Cleves’Champion: August Gutierrez
Katherine Howard: Sentia Irakoze
Katherine Howard’s Champion: Abigail Ballard
Catherine Parr: Ja’Nyah Villa
Catherine Parr’s Champion: Gianna Branly
