The drama club spent five months working to present audiences with a production of Disney’s The Little Mermaid from March 8-10. The show faced many challenges, but overcame them to deliver an astounding show.

While there isn’t a calculated total cost, yet, the show is estimated to have cost over $35,000 between royalties, sounds, lighting, flying, costume making, and set building.

The already high cost of the musical was stress enough on the cast, crew, and directors, but that didn’t stop the many challenges that came with the show.

While all productions face setbacks, this year’s musical faced many challenges.

One of the most detrimental challenges was the new light board Drama Club had installed and it caused the directors, cast, and crew lots of problems.

The light board controls the different colors and lighting cues on stage. If the lights need to be a different color or dim for a specific song, the light board is where the crew changes that.

The light board broke the day before the cast and crew were going to put on their first show. Leaving the crew without stage lights during practice, and, possibly, during the show.

“It was tough,” said sound assistant Joe Arredondo, “we had to pretty much guess how things would look and act.”

The light board’s failure wasn’t the only struggle the production faced this year.

A few months before the show, Senior Dan Riale replace the actor previously cast in the role of King Triton.

The change felt like a set back for many of the cast and crew who had worked with the previous actor. In addition, the sound team had to adjust to the new voice and lighting had to be adjusted for the change in height of Riale.

Despite the sudden change, Riale performed amazingly. Lead actress Paige Carbonell said, “I think it was unfortunate, but Dan did an outstanding job.”

There were other minor setbacks that came before the first show.

There are scenes in the musical that call for fog machines, so the directors rented them. They then learned that they might not get to use them in fear of triggering the fire alarm.

Even the week of opening night, the production faced the fear of weather setbacks that came with the forecasts of snow storms.

Opening night of the production also had its fair share of issues.

Many of the props, including King Triton’s trident, broke during the show.

“When props were broken, [the cast and crew] fixed them right after the show, and, despite what may have gone on backstage, it didn’t change how well the performers did the show,” said pit member Victoria Baum.

Baum is right. The show may have faced many problems, but it was executed beautifully with the help of everyone involved.

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The show was definitely a hit amongst the community. Many people are even saying it’s their favorite show the school has put on.

“I believe that the show was a success, everyone I talked to loved it and loved it so much, we even had our first sold out show,” said Arredondo.

The cast and crew weren’t the only ones that loved the show. Students that attended really enjoyed it as well.

“I thought it was clear that everyone involved put in a lot of effort, and it looked really professional for a high school musical, and I think it was a good show for all the seniors to end on,” said sophomore Alyssa Davis.

The ticket sales also reflect the popularity of the show. The show averaged over 700 tickets sold per show, meaning over 3,500 tickets were sold in all.

The production was also popular with the cast, crew, and directors.

“We, as directors, are very pleased with how the show turned out.  Our students always perform at a professional level and do an outstanding job,” said director James Craley.

Carbonell also loved the show and all of the positive feedback.

“It’s definitely very exciting and I’m very happy to have made so many people smile, and allow so many children to ‘meet a Disney princess,’” said Carbonell.

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Junior Julia Wecker performs as Ursula