Senior School Production - A Roaring Success

On 4 May, our Senior School students presented the wonderful "Annie Jr". Every performed exceptionally well and the audience all enjoyed it. Let's see some highlights of the show: 

Our drama teacher, Mr Ben Wills also shares his views on the production:

Drama Teacher / Head of Year 12 / TOK Coordinator

It has been a long road from our auditions last September to our performances of Annie Jr. In early May until February, we were unsure if the show would be able to go ahead, especially after the cancellation of last year's production. I am immensely proud, however, of how all involved have come together to put on a wonderful Senior School Production, the first such show at DCSZ for several years.

We chose Annie Jr. for this year's production for several different reasons: Because this was the first time that many of our students had ever been in a show, we wanted a play that had plenty of parts for beginners. With its large number of bit parts and big chorus scenes and dances, Annie Jr. perfectly fit the bill. It was also chosen because it is a musical, allowing for many more students to be involved besides the actors and for them to get a taste of the magic that is a full-scale production. Finally, this show was chosen because of its theme. The last few years have been difficult for all of us, students in particular. The message of hope encapsulated in the final song ‘Tomorrow’ really is one that we all need to hear, as the sun comes out on a new, post-covid DCSZ, where we can once more offer students the opportunity to take part in live performances like this. 

Let's see what students learnt from this production:

“Annie Junior: The Musical” was a once in a lifetime experience that I feel very honoured to have been able to be part of with such a wonderful big family. Being casted as Miss Hannigan is one of my biggest honours of my life, I feel very fortunate to have been able to embody her in the best ways possible. Miss Hannigan in my opinion is a very honourable women who is independent, sassy and doesn’t really care about what others perceive her as, she is MISS HANNIGAN after all. 

Since I had never performed in a musical before, taking on Miss Hannigan's part pushed me to venture outside of my comfort zone in several situations. I want to thank Miss Hannigan for helping me become a more self-assured version of myself on stage. There is something magical about acting, and I love being able to perform, so that's one of the main reasons I joined the musical. It felt amazing to realize one of my childhood dreams. Every persona we adopt, in my opinion, contributes something unique to us because we can always learn something from them and implement it into our own lives. 

Being able to act in front of such a large audience was just phenomenal, the crowd was amazing as well, this musical altered the way I view my own acting abilities. I am proud to say that I DID IT! I’ve overcome my stage fright and got out there putting on an amazing show that I’ve used my own abilities to make happen. I also want to express my gratitude to Mr Wills and Ms Mulliner for their unwavering support, without whom I doubt I could have accomplished what I did. Finally, I want to thank my castmates for all their hard work—WE DID IT! Nothing but gratitude is felt towards them.

I’m Alice C from 8C, and I played Molly for the musical. To talk about the musical we've done, it was such a great experience to play this musical with my friends and teachers. Before the show started, I didn’t feel any feelings of nervousness or scariness. However, when the band started to play the music and the curtains were opened, my heartbeat went so fast that I almost forgot my first line. But after all, acting on stage was so exciting and fun. It was a great pleasure to act out one of the characters in this famous musical. As mentioned before, I was so nervous right before the show began. I was so scared that I might forget the line. However, I encountered it by swallowing the bad thoughts and only concentrating on my character. My favourite part of the show was when we all came out and sang "Tomorrow". I could say that this was the best time since everyone participated and it was the last finale song.

Hello I’m Hayoon K from Y8, playing the role of orphan in the production. The production helped me a lot. And it’s also a memory that I don’t want to forget. It’s always fun during the play. My acting and singing improved a lot. It was so much fun to practice together and move forward. Sometimes it was hard to memorize lines or songs, but it was okay because the song was good👍👍I was really nervous on stage, but I can’t forget how I felt afterwards. 

Thanks to Mr Ben Wills(Director), Ms Rebekah Mulliner(Music Director), and Mr Edmund Shellard (Producer) for their hard work! 

Thanks to the families of the performers who helped them during their rehearsals and by attending their performances: it is your support and encouragement of your children that makes shows like this possible, and that enables them to grow into the confident, self-motivated, and successful performers and students that they have become.