Behind the Scenes: The King and I

By: Cristina Salvador

It was just five-thirty on a Saturday night, when a swarm of people entered the room. There was still an hour and a half before curtain and the arts center was already bustling with noise. Some were trying to get in an extra warm up in order to reach those deathly high notes; others were gorging in the twizzlers that were conveniently hidden in the boy’s dressing room. Some were jumping up and down, while others where humming instead of speaking. Some were going over to Mike (Mrs. Davie) and complaining over a broken crown or a fallen button. Most people were in the lower school art studio, whether getting spray-tanned or “goldened” it seemed like everyone was convening in that one room. Now the whole mass of people was driven to the choral room where we were to begin our full cast warm up. After we had exhausted the number of vowel sounds we could, we were told that we had fifteen minutes remaining.

It was opening night; inconveniently, the play was Saturday instead of the scheduled Friday due to a snow day. We were ready to perform. Solos were being practiced and songs were being polished. In the midst of all the commotion, the spotlight hit the stage and the show started. At intermission, everyone swarmed over the tech crew, who had brought down cookies while others were running frantically to get hoop skirts on and a touch up on their makeup. And yes, the king was actually on his death bed during the last scene. To everyone’s relief the show ran smoothly. At the end of the performance we heard the heartfelt words towards the seniors. After a successful show, we all went home ready to wow the crowd one more time.

It was once again time to put on a show the next afternoon.  Everyone was in a rush trying to find those missing props, fixing costumes, and calling missing cast members. All seemed similar to the previous night, except many of us were looking forward to the pizza and cookies.  Although grapes, pretzels, carrots, and twizzlers were becoming scarce, we felt a sort of sadness that this would be the last night because we had worked for months to be able to put on the show for just these few times. Rushing to make our entrances and struggling to remember our lines and lyrics, the show finally came to a closing.

It finally came time to say goodbye to all those we had spent countless hours with rehearsing. While some of us have gained “children”, wives, or concubines, in the end I hope I can say we all felt that there was something memorable about our experience. Many of the cast members have articulated that their favorite part of the show was the random dancing occurring backstage during “A Puzzlement”. All the laughs we shared and hours we spent together will never be forgotten and the experience of being in a performance like this will always remain in our hearts.