Production

This year Healesville High School was proud to present our musical production of Frozen Jr! 

Many people have asked me how we got to Frozen as a production choice and to be honest, it was the obvious enthusiasm from the students for this show that made the choice really. It seems that many students fondly remember the Disney film from their childhoods, and have great affection for the characters and the songs. This was evident in the primary school show where the audience were singing along so loudly that they drowned out the singer and made some of their teachers cry with amazement at their enthusiasm. 

Even Kerry Davies cried because she said she couldn’t believe how much the show meant to them.

Whilst not a particularly long show, running at about an hour, Frozen was definitely a full show, challenging students to work particularly hard to learn to sing and dance at the same time! Congratulations to the students for their commitment and hard work. As a director and not a choreographer, I was extraordinarily grateful when Jessica Dennis, our media teacher, and Tiani Heatherich, an ex-student, offered to do a few dance numbers. Year 12 students Ettie McCarthy and Nikita Mullens also gave up lunchtimes to polish some of the dances.

This show would simply not be possible without Pam Kelly, our volunteer singing coach, mother of Hayden in the crew, and Rhiannon who was responsible for the magical moment when Else’s dress changes, instantaneously.  Thanks again to Pam for her many hours of time and effort to make singers of our students, many of whom had never ‘tread the boards’ before, and her children, for their commitment to theatre at Healesville High School.

Huge appreciation for the technical crew, led by Daniel Glenn. Dan’s behind the scenes work is immense and his team, consisting of Jack Carrington, April Hoiles and Aaron Fabrikant, really pulled the show together with their lights, sound and technical expertise. I said to the tech crew early on that I wanted snow, ice, fog and magic and I think you’ll all agree that we got those in abundance.

In regards to sets, thanks to Danny Zemp and Simon Cross for their help in constructing and decorating sets. Both Simon and Danny were able to help in the little time they had during school hours and I thank them for their time and skills.

I’m extremely grateful to teaching staff who volunteered their time and energy to the show: Kerry Davies, Nella Lithgow and Jad Gardner for work on costumes, Karl Fritzlaff and Kerry for their acting and energy, Shelley Morley for catering rehearsals, Allan Rennick for manning the ticket sales, office staff Maidi Mitchell and Karyn Adams for their general patience with my chaos, and Mark for filming the shows.

Thanks so much to Dakotah, Tiani and Misa Heatherich for their wonderful costumes, many of which they made from scratch.

Finally, I’d like to acknowledge all of the students who gave so much time and enthusiasm to this show, both from the cast and crew. Many of you may know about some of the personal struggles many cast members had going on in the background during this time, and the fact that they were able to bring such fun and joy to their performances was truly remarkable.

I am very proud of them indeed.

Shane Coady 

Director of Production 2023

HHS