Energy is high in the Vanier Collegiate drama room as the students prepare for their upcoming debut of this year’s show: the Tony Award-winning musical Sister Act, adapted from the movie of the same name.
Creative director Ben Sackville and the team of teachers helping put together the show felt that it was time for Vanier’s theatre department to debut a show that nods to the high school’s Catholic identity, as well as their cast.
“[We wanted to do] a show that really sought out to explore our identity as a Catholic school,” said Sackville. “And we thought it'd be great to do a comedy.”
With the medium-sized female-centric cast, Sister Act stood out as a modern musical that was sure to catch the audience’s attention.
“We thought that the cast of the show being mostly made up of women really reflected the kind of students that we have often coming up for our shows, and so it was just kind of a perfect fit for us,” said Sackville.
With about 50 students making up the cast and crew, the production is entirely student-constructed — from the acting to the choreography to the set and technical aspects.
Sister Act features music written by Alan Menken, made famous by his incredible work on musicals like Newsies and Little Shop of Horrors, as well as lovable Disney classics like The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
“The music is really, really awesome. We have a lot of fantastic vocalists in our show. Our students are just doing such a wonderful job,” said Sackville. "All the dance pieces in the show are entirely student choreographed and so I'm really proud of the work we've done there as well.”
For many students in the cast, this is hardly their first time putting on a professional show at the Mae Wilson, but each experience is an exciting one.
“I think it will be both like really spectacular and an amazing experience for those students,” said Sackville. “It's always fun to see the way that students kind of react to that week, and how they support each other and how we find ways to support them.”
Sackville is really looking forward to the show, especially seeing all the hard work his cast has put into their performance.
Sister Act will debut on Nov. 13 at the Mae Wilson Theatre, and run each night until Nov. 16.
For those considering attending the Nov. 13 show, Sackville shared one more feature of their production — 10 per cent of each ticket for Nov. 13 will be donated directly to Riverside Mission.
“We're really hoping that we get a good crowd out to our Wednesday night because it's sort of a charitable evening that we want to use to give back to our community,” said Sackville.
Tickets are available through the Cultural Centre’s website, or from the Box Office either in person or by calling 1 (306) 693-4700.
