It’s been three years since the last all-city musical. This year the musical “Legally Blonde” will be performed, including three Southeast students among the cast. The musical is being directed by Southeast theater teacher Martha Gates.

“This is a monster. This is a big deal we did one at showcase, we do other events together, but this is something we tackle every three years,” Gates said. “It’s a lot of money, and time commitment on everyone’s schedules.”

Students from all eight USD 259 high schools will be participating in this musical both on stage and behind the scenes. 

“There are a lot of people that are working backstage so it’s kind of hard to say there currently is, I think, 57 in the cast,” Gates said. 

The themes of the musical could be impactful for students in many ways. 

“It’s about a young woman who empowers herself to become a lawyer. Her first intention was just to follow her boyfriend, but then she realizes that she has a good mind for the legal field, and she surpasses all of her own expectations and everybody else’s,” Gates said. 

Some students in the cast will also be playing more than one part, meaning they have to work harder with the choreography that they have to learn for each part. 

“I’ve never done a musical before so it’s a little different for me since usually when you’re just auditioning for a play you just read like a script but for musicals you do dancing and singing so it’s a little different,” Southeast cast member Natalia Bell (10) said. “I have, I think, four characters, so you kind of make up your own little backstory for your character, a personality, when you’re in the ensemble.”

“It’s much choreography and it’s a lot especially as someone who has never really been formally trained with dancing it’s been a lot also being able to work with upperclassmen whose been doing stuff like bigger district plays like this for a while is really fun,” Seth Streater said (10).

Because all the USD 259 schools will be participating in this play, students get more opportunities to interact with other students and practice skills that would be used in the outside world with other directors and people.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out since it’s a very big deal and any other plays that we will be doing later on, I think so I am very involved in the theater department here so hopefully I’ll get to keep acting,” Bell (10) said.