Yesterday after school, callbacks for the Starlight Theatre Company’s production of Mamma Mia were held. The list included actors of all ages.
The callback process involves students singing a warm-up song together, then individually singing a song from the musical. The process can be stressful for people of all grades, no matter how many times they’ve had a callback.
“This is my third time getting a callback for a musical. Last year I got a callback for Sandra and Witch in Big Fish, and I got the role of the Witch,” senior Audrey Nixon said. “My sophomore year I got a callback for Medda in Newsies, which is a showgirl character.”
Even holding roles as leads in the past, the process of callbacks can bring performance anxiety and worries.
“I’m so nervous,” Nixon said. “There’s a lot of really good people in the callback room, and we’re all friends so it’s not really a competition, but we’re all very hopeful. I think we’re all nervous.”
This year, Bowie’s Choir director, Aaron Bourgeois, is assisting as the Music Director. This role is an exciting step for Bourgeois, as he’s always had crossover with the Starlight Theatre Company, whether it’s students in both electives, sharing an auditorium for shows, and having musical events.
“In the past, the choir program and the theatre program have always been intertwined,” Bourgeois said. “We have a lot of overlap between our students.”
For this musical, the actors will be singing ABBA songs like “Slipping Through My Fingers” for Donna, “SOS” for Sam, or “Honey, Honey” and “Under Attack” for Sophie and Sky.
With such a large musical with many different leads and vocal parts, a challenge faced by the directors is selecting songs fit for the variety.
“The difficulty of callbacks is prepping all the different types of tracks we have,” Bourgeois said. “For Mamma Mia there’s a ton of different leads in the musical, so for each one of those, we need to figure out what ranges they have, what the needs of the singer working with that particular character are, and then finding audition cuts and ways to be able to test that range and be able to make sure that we are able to cover in the audition what they have to do without them having to do a lot beyond what they’re supposed to.”
But no matter the challenge, it’s with passion and drive that the directors and students are able to work together to create a beautiful show.
“It’s just amazing to be able to work on something as big as the school musical,” Bourgeois said. “It’s one of those times where the whole school really looks at the fine arts programs even more so than usual. We have such an amount of talent here in various music programs. I think it’s gonna be one that everyone really enjoys.”
