I decided to interview my younger sister Marissa, she is currently going into her junior year of high school and I chose to ask her questions about being involved with Musical Theatre during the pandemic.
Before the pandemic she was about to be apart of her first high school musical as a freshmen, doing “The Little Mermaid”. She said she was heartbroken when it was cancelled, she felt like all of her hard work went towards nothing. Luckily, the cast was able to celebrate what they had done up to that point with a virtual talkback with some of the original cast of The Little Mermaid, including Sierra Boggess who played Ariel. Marissa says she asked Sierra about her other work starring in Phantom of the Opera and asked her about the intense training she went through to perfect the role.
When the new school year started in 2020-2021 Marissa was starting her sophomore year. She explains how difficult it was being in person one day and the next not. But that did not stop her from trying out for her school play. The show was Tuck Everlasting and she got the lead role as Winnie Foster. Due to Covid they were not able to preform in front of a live audience. So they recorded the show and streamed it live. Hundreds of people tuned in but she said it was super cool but also heartbreaking that she could not preform her first ever lead role in front of all her friends and family, knowing what a big deal that would be.
Fortunately during the spring semester they were able to put on a live in person musical showcase featuring some of the high schools best singers and she was able to perform in a duet with her classmate. Marissa remembers how being in front of a crowd again felt, explaining that it was unlike anything she had experienced prior and how she has a newfound love of music and live-theatre. Currently Marissa is heading into her Junior year of highschool, she says she plans on auditioning for everything she has the opportunity to go out for, lucky for us we will be able to witness Marissas talent soon and I personally cannot wait to se