2016 sound of music
Shasta High’s 47th Annual Musical
Press
Shasta High Presents 'Sound of Music'
By Jon Lewis, Special to Record Searchlight
Published April 2016
Gavin Spencer knew it’d be difficult to effectively stage Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “The Sound of Music” without some little kids to portray the von Trapp children, so the Shasta High School music teacher turned to the district’s feeder schools for help.
“We held open auditions and had some really great kids turn out. The von Trapp kids are awesome. We have two high school students and five younger kids,” Spencer said. Grade-school students from Sequoia, Grant, Redding School of the Arts, Turtle Bay and other schools showed for auditions.
The young performers have received plenty of support from the veteran stagehands, Spencer said. “It’s been fun working with the younger kids. My high school kids have taken them under their wings like they’re their own. It’s been so awesome; they are so great to those little kids.”
Shasta High School has a long (45 years and counting) and proud tradition of staging spring musicals, but this year’s production marks the first time “The Sound of Music” has been produced.
Spencer, who is in his 14th year of directing musicals at Shasta, said the school has probably shied away from the show in the past because it does not call for a large chorus. “The Sound of Music” has fewer parts for the boys, but that works out because he has fewer boys among his junior and senior ranks this year. The show has some great roles for the girls, however.
“Two years ago we did ‘South Pacific,’ which has more of a guys chorus, and I told the girls I’d make up for it,” Spencer said.
On a personal level, Spencer said he was happy to pick “The Sound of Music” for the spring musical. “I grew up with this show. We watched it every year when it came on TV. My mom loves Julie Andrews. That was the show of shows in our house growing up. It’s one that a lot of people, 40 and older, absolutely love.”
Julia Cushman, who played Belle in last year’s “Beauty and the Beast,” has been cast as Maria. “She’s my Julie Andrews,” Spencer said. “She’s only a junior but has fantastic stage presence and is really a leader in our cast. She just makes everybody better.
“One of the hard things in high school is for people to be 100 percent committed to those characters on stage, but she is so committed to the character that everybody else commits to theirs.”
Once again, Lou Polcari conducts the student orchestra. This year’s edition is large — “it can barely fit in the pit,” Spencer said — but it is a key component of the show. “This is one of the best orchestras we’ve had over the years. I’m very impressed with what they have done.”