At 3:45 on December 17th, students eagerly hurried into the craft theater for the mass meeting of CET’s winter musical, “Curtains,” marking the official start of the production season for this show – a journey that will be filled with creativity and , teamwork and performance. CET’s mass meetings always occur prior to the auditions of every CET show, and are a vital time for new and returning members of CET to come together to discuss the production, learn the expectations of joining the show and hear from Emily Wilson-Tobin, CET’s the director.
Having only quickly listened to the soundtrack for “Curtains” over the summer, CHS jJunior Maggie Williams attended the mass meeting hoping to learn much more about the musical and to inform herself if she wanted to join the cast for it.
“I want to figure out more about what the musical is about and see if I want to participate in it or not,” Williams said. “I think this semester is going to be really busy for me, so I’m not sure if I’m actually going to do it, but I want today to be a way to better make my decision.”
Emily Wilson-Tobin, the CET director, began the mass meeting of “Curtains” by introducing herself. Then, the CET student board introduced themselves: Ionie Steudle and Claire Lewis as the co-presidents, Jacqueline Boynton as the publicist, Mallory Towers as the secretary, Bee Whalen as the merchandise manager and Lucy Lowenschuss as the underclassman representative.
Following introductions, Wilson-Tobin gave a brief summary of the musical. Set at the Colonial Theater in Boston in 1959, “Curtains,” by Rupert Holmes, is a musical-theatre parody, comedy and murder mystery. On the opening night of “Robbin’ Hood,” a western musical based on Robin Hood, the unthinkable happens: Jessica Cranshaw, the untalented lead of the production, falls dead. Detective Frank Cioffi, who’s ironically a huge musical theater enthusiast, is sent to the theater to investigate the murder. With only 24 hours remainingawaiting before the next performance of “Robbin’ Hood,” it’s up to Cioffi to solve the case and save the show. Wilson-Tobin believes the interesting plot of this musical, in addition to the many fun characters in it, makes “Curtains” a perfect fit for CET.
After Wilson-Tobin gave her synopsis of the musical, she offered a little insight into how she envisioned CET producing such a show and informed everybody of the expectations and information regarding joining the musical. People wanting to join the cast or crew must fill out a registration form, and people signing up for cast must additionally sign up for and prepare an audition, including a piece of music and a scene with a partner. Auditions will be held on the 7th and 8th of January, and audition callbacks will be held on January 10th. Wilson-Tobin made it very clear that everybody who auditions will be cast in the musical.
“I like that there aren’t any cuts, and it’s so friendly,” CHS sophomore Caitlin Dick-Ruíz expressed at the mass meeting. “This lets everybody display their own individual talents, and you’re not telling someone that they’re not good enough to be a part of the show this way.”
The mass meeting concluded with Wilson-Tobin answering questions regarding auditions in addition to giving general advice on how to approach and prepare the audition.
“What’s most important in the audition is that you choose something that showcases your strengths and that you feel comfortable and confident with,” Wilson-Tobin said.
Learning about the show and hearing how CET could potentially put it on at the mass meeting inspired many attendees at the meeting to sign up for this musical. Prior to the mass meeting, CHS fFreshman Mira Authier felt very conflicted with herself whether she would try out for the musical or not.
“I listened to the soundtrack of “Curtains” and I’m not huge about it, but if it sounds fun from this mass meeting then I probably will join the cast for it,” Authier said. “I was a part of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” [CETs fall play] and I had a lot of fun in it, and I just really want to check out what’s in store for this show and see if I want to be a part of it as well.”
Going to the mass meeting made Authier very enthusiastic about this play and assured her that she would try out for the musical.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing how we will produce this musical because after hearing about it, it sounds so cool,” Authier said. “There are also going to be lots of new people joining so I’m excited to meet all of them.”
Once the meeting was over, Wilson-Tobin sent out a mass email providing more details about audition materials, audition sign-ups and cast and crew registration forms. Setting the tone for the upcoming months of rehearsals, hard work, creativity and excitement, the CET mass meeting served as the perfect opportunity to introduce the winter musical.
