Brian Roebke photo
Anna Ward and Katy Segerstrom do their makeup for Sunday’s rehearsal of, “Freaky Friday,” to be held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. at Wrightstown High School. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Purchase your tickets at wrightstowntheatre.ludus.com.
By Brian Roebke
Editor
With the COVID-19 pandemic still hanging around after 17 months, school is mostly back to normal and with that, theatre performances have resumed at Wrightstown High School.
With so much serious stuff that’s happened during that time span, the school chose to look away from the serious side of theater and do a comedic musical this fall.
“Freaky Friday,” focuses on Ellie Blake and her mother Katherine, a mother and daughter who cannot see eye to eye on anything because one is a teenager and the other is a single mother working to support her family.
In the story developed by Disney Theatrical Productions, when an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again before the mom’s wedding.
The show is held Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. at Wrightstown High School.
Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for students and seniors. Purchase your tickets at wrightstowntheatre.ludus.com.
The title of the show is best known from the 2003 movie starring Lindsey Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, based on a book by Mary Rodgers.
“The argument reaches such a climax that they end up magically switching bodies for a day,” Director Elizabeth Graber said. “So two students who play those roles get to be both characters at some point, depending on where we are in the show.”
The mother (played by Janet Seidl, a senior) ends up having to attend school and participate in classes and student activities as her daughter (played by Paige Gilson, a junior), and the daughter must be interviewed by a magazine and prepare for her mother’s wedding the next day.
“They end up learning a lot more about each other than they realized and finding where their communication has been lacking and realizing that the words they have been meaning to say to each other for years, and that’s sort of how it all comes around and how they end up back to themselves,” Graber said.
She noted there are many different kinds of roles in the show so it works for a cast of any size.
This year’s cast is down slightly from the past but still has 19 students.
“Most of the roles are substantial enough that everyone’s got something to do in addition to being ensemble,” she said.
The director team includes Heidi Warnecke as student director, Jennifer Smith as technical director, Debbie Schaeuble as conductor, Rebecca Ludtke as choreographer, and Laura Klein as student choreographer.
Heather Gee is the volunteer coordinator.