Southridge Presents Grease as the school’s annual musical Thursday, Friday, and Saturday Night

The Greasers; Joe Schwinghamer (left) and Irvin Rocha prepare to take the stage for the dress rehearsal.

Most students at Southridge High School had school off Monday for Presidents Day, but not the cast of the annual musical. The students have been rehearsing lines and preparing music since they received their parts and libretto books in December. It’s a familiar story, Grease, and the students have invested a lot of time to capture the familiar character’s voices and antics.

Sandy played Steinkamp — Molly Steinkamp (far right) plays Sandy Dumbrowski, at the school lunch table with a few members of the girl gang Pink Ladies, played by Kathleen MacDonald and Katie Kendall.

Molly Steincamp, a senior at Southridge, plays Sandy Dumbrowski. “Putting together a production like Grease takes hours of practice inside of, as well as outside of rehearsals.”

The cast has three rehearsals a week that last anywhere between two to three and a half hours. To Steincamp, being involved with the musical can be rough but it pays off. “Everyone in the cast becomes a family,” she said.

Joseph Halisky, who is also a senior at Southridge, plays Danny Zuko. “My favorite part of musical is being able to do what I love with people who share similar interest and won’t ridicule me for it.”

Both agree that hearing an ovation on performance night makes participation in musical payoff.

Southridge High School will be performing the teenage drama in the Southridge auditorium on Thursday, Feb. 23; Friday Feb. 24; and Saturday, Feb. 25 starting at 7:30 p.m. Ticket costs will be $7 per person.

phillip and irwin — On left Phillip Smith as Putzie and Irvin Rocha as Johnny Casino.

“The students have poured an enormous amount of time and talent into the show,” says Cathy Weil, the music director of Grease. Although, Weil jokes and says she is required to direct musical because it is her job, she admits the students are wonderful to work with. “The community will be amazed to see the students bring the characters to life.”

The students in the musical ask the community to come watch their performance because they would love the support and want the public to see youth in the community acting. They believe Southridge musicals are marvelous and thank Keith Younker, the stage director, for his hard work and skilled instruction as well as Carolyn Randolph the choreographer.