School Production

What Does a Mary Poppins Jr. Rehearsal Look Like?

With an onstage cast of 65 students and a 9 piece show band, coordinating rehearsals that meaningfully involve everyone is no small task.

This week, we take a behind-the-scenes look at what actually happens in rehearsals and how we keep all students actively engaged in the process.

Whole cast rehearsals typically begin with a physical and vocal warm-up. Students stretch and move their bodies to prepare and focus for the rehearsal ahead, followed by a range of vocal exercises, from tongue twisters to scales and arpeggios, to warm up and strengthen their singing voices. While scenes are being blocked or run, students not directly involved may be participating in parallel activities such as character development tasks or choreography consolidation.

We are currently in the process of blocking all scenes of Mary Poppins Jr., which involves setting stage directions, learning cues, and supporting students to deepen their character work. Students who are not on stage at a given time remain actively involved, supporting ensemble numbers and contributing vocally to create a full and dynamic sound.

In addition to whole cast rehearsals, we run smaller group sessions before school, at lunchtimes, and after school. These sessions primarily focus on scene refinement, vocal coaching, and targeted rehearsal work.

We also have weekly sessions during the 5 to 8 Sport blocks dedicated to choreography, covering a range of styles including classic musical theatre movement, high-energy tap, and expressive ballet.

Our band members rehearse every Monday morning before school, developing a repertoire of musical theatre selections that will be performed live before each show.

Next term, rehearsals will expand further as we bring in our student production crew, including backstage, lighting, film, and audio teams. This crew plays a vital role in bringing the production to life, managing scene transitions, operating lighting and sound cues, and filming the performance to create a high-quality recording for the school community.

With just eight weeks to go until Opening Night, excitement is building across the cast and crew as all elements of the production continue to come together.

Tickets are on sale now.