“When it comes to show nights, you just realize all your hard work and all the tears and sweat- it all built up to something amazing and it is all worth it.” Quoted Trin Ruvio.
Rocky Mountain’s musical theater is no easy feat, seeing as it takes dedication and a lot of hard work to create a production for audiences, however, it may be more rewarding than difficult in the end, seeing as not only do they create an incredible musical, establish a welcoming community, but they overcome challenges that they might not have accomplished otherwise.
So, what does it take to be in musical theater, what opportunities does it give its performers, and why do people decide to be in musical theater?
First off, what even is musical theater? Musical theater is an activity ran by the school that requires some talents in singing, dancing, and acting in front of an audience to produce a musical play. But what impacted the decisions of students wanting to be in musical theater? Some performers have interests in dancing, singing, acting and having fun, so musical theater was something that they planned on doing. However, for some students, like Caleb Taylor, by experiencing a musical production, and by being inspired by this, he wanted to be in musical theater in high school ever since he was younger.
He said, “When I saw my aunt do Footloose as her school musical, I thought that was super cool, and I knew I had to do this in high school.”
Lots of students have reasons for being in musical theater, while some career-based, experience based and simply for the fun of it, all the musical theater performers can come to one conclusion: that they have no regrets.
Obviously, musical theater has lots of challenges in it already with singing, dancing and acting, but what makes it much easier is doing all those difficult things in a community that has a fun, entertaining and supportive environment.
All the performers are very supportive of each other and help each other with their difficulties. They’re very open-minded and are very reliable to go to when in need of a friend. Perhaps the reason this community was built was because of the difficulties of musical theater and the support needed to create something amazing. Or perhaps it’s the other way around, maybe the close bonds were created as an output of the hard work, effort and incredible focus put into musical theater.
Olivia Truax remarked, “My favorite thing about musical theater is really everything- the dancing, singing, acting, but also getting to know the people. They are so fun, kind, and welcoming!”
The Rocky Mountain Theater has been referred to by its performers as a family who dances, sings and acts, and it’s the perfect place to go to for those who have those interests in mind. Not only is musical theater a wonderful place to go to for fun, friends and to make a musical production, but it has some amazing opportunities and rewards as well.
Musical theater itself is a reward, seeing as creating a production for competitions and for the school could be exciting, but a lot of people aren’t aware of the incredible opportunities it has to offer.
Trin Ruvio said, “We constantly have opportunities to go to a competition in the winter which allows us to win awards for the school, and during the spring, students that get main roles are offered this thing called the Jimmy Awards, which can give you scholarships and even opportunities to work with professional Broadway directors.”
Not only are there personal accomplishments in musical theater, but they can accomplish winning awards for the school, and have the opportunity to even work with Broadway directors. Musical theater takes a lot to be in, but in the end, it’s worth it.
“It’s fun, outgoing and it gets you out of your comfort zone.” Said Alyssa Garcia. Musical theater performers are constantly getting out of their comfort zone with difficult roles, competitions, and performing in front of audiences. Although these difficulties are something our students face, they never cease to accomplish amazing things.
