‘Grease’ Rehearsals in full swing As reported in the Fort Frances Times on March 4, 2015 By Cameron Penney, FFHS co‐op student Greased lightning will be rolling into Fort High this spring. The cast and crew of this year’s spring musical, “Grease,” already are hard at work rehearsing for the show, which will be staged May 6‐9 at the Townshend Theatre. “Grease,” written by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey in 1971, was popularized by the 1978 film of the same name starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton‐John. Memorable songs like “You’re the one that I want” were written for the movie and never appeared in the original musical. “People who are used to the music in the movie won’t be disappointed,” promised Fort High musical director Lisa Loney. “We have music from the movie that we bought the rights to, but there are also songs that aren’t in the movie,” she noted. The musical was chosen a lot earlier than usual this year after Loney and stage director Susan DeGagne had noticed how well some students performed together during the “Musical Revue” back in the fall. “’Grease’ is a large ensemble musical so it was really important to have a group of kids that knew how to work well together,” Loney explained. In addition to preparing for the musical, vocal coaches and students from the University of Brandon visited Fort High last week to assist with the production. “They worked with us on our ‘Grease’ songs like “Summer Nights,’” noted Anne Jean, who will be portraying “Sandy.” “They performed various musical scenes and they gave us a taste of what university theatre is like,” enthused Cole Turcotte (“Kenickie”). “It was very helpful,” echoed Jean. “I noticed there was an incredible amount of improvement [at the next rehearsal]. Hearing them made us want to be so much better,” she remarked. Auditions for the musical were held in January and rehearsals began soon after. “We rehearse two days a week for a couple months,” noted chorus member Cam Cawston. “I think roughly 200 hours,” said Turcotte. “Ms. Loney and Ms. Degagne put in an insane amount of work,” stressed Jean. “They commit so much time and they do it all for us,” she added. “They’re my role models.” Meanwhile, many of the cast members are excited to perform in a musical much different than their previous experiences. “I can relate it to life now since I’m a high school student playing a high school student,” explained Chelsey Skirten, a chorus member and veteran of three high school musicals. “It’s a more modern play compared to other recent musicals at Fort High,” noted Turcotte. “We have lots of fresh faces this year,” he added. “The majority are in Grade 9 but there are some Grade 10 and 11 faces too.” “For as long as I can remember, I’ve been coming to the musicals here at Fort High,” recalled Maria Gilbert (“Frenchie”) as she prepared for here first high school musical. “When I came to the high school, Ms. Loney was my music teacher and she talked about how much fun and memorable they are.” “I heard stories about the fun times people have and I knew it would be a good experience,” enthused chorus member Kassidy LeDrew.