MAC Report

In Week 5 Term 1, we held our first MAC meeting to announce the auditions for this year’s production, The Wizard of Oz. The buzz was in the air. Over 150 students attended that first meeting and we are pleased that over 100 students committed themselves to the 3-4 months rehearsal period. Students who have been involved in previous MACs know they are signing up for several afterschool, weekend and holiday rehearsals and the results of all that hard work were truly evident in this year’s production.

 

The reviews have been fabulous and you can see from all the wonderful photos taken by Thomas Lam, Seijiro Nishioka, Sarah Weston and Kellie Pham that the show looked beautiful. Mr D’ Aglas outdid his usual high standards with this year’s spinning house and windmill; the wizard’s chamber and balloon were both also equally delightful. Mr Orchard again skilfully lead his band of musicians who beautifully supported the cast and sounded as if they were completely at ease with the complex music. On stage, our students are now expected to be a triple threat, as they say in the theatre. We expect them to sing, dance and act. Luckily, our leads were all able to do this and they were very well supported in their singing by vocal coach Ms Emily Simoes. We were fortunate to have 3 choreographers this year: Ms Meaghan Hocking, Ms Tania D’Silva and Ms Melrose Tran and they all brought a different energy to the performance which allowed for great variation and spectacle.

 

It is a credit to Ms Chloe Marie who took on the role of producer in her first year of teaching. She really kept things on track and made sure all the different aspects of the production came together. Ms Marie was supported in the production team by Ms Anda Cavar and Ms Helen Kent who both sourced various props and costumes to make sure the show was a treat. Ms Kristy Le also provided valuable support leading up to and during the week of production ensuring that everything went smoothly front of house. Several other staff also supported this production with many of them giving up time on weekends and for the working bee held in Term 2, so a heartfelt thank you to all who came in and contributed in some way whether it be with cutting sheep, making props, labouring over the spinning house, organising food or supervising students. Also a huge thank you to all staff who assisted with tickets, posters, publicity, room changes, staffing and general support. This was a massive team effort and really appreciated by the cast and crew.

 

Congratulations to all the students who were involved. You really were a fantastic bunch to work with including those on the stage, behind the scenes, in the pit and front of house; committed, talented and caring of one another.  Some Year 12 students have been involved in every MAC production since Year 7 and for those students I am sure this show was bittersweet. You have all made an amazing contribution over the years and I thank you for your leadership. I know that you will cherish the experience for the rest of your lives. In the end, it seems as if the journey down the yellow brick road was certainly worth it, for all of us.

 

Janet Mckenzie

Director