The lights dim and the crowd hushes, settling in for the show. The pit orchestra begins as Kim Keller’s (DRHS principal) voice rings through the auditorium making the crowd laugh before the play even begins. By the end, the faces in the audience would be sore from smiling.
Spamalot was a comedic musical hosted by the theater department at DRHS after months of preparation. It follows the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The play featured characters like the Lady of the Lake and, briefly, Nick Cummings, a math teacher at Dakota Ridge.
On March 7th-9th DRHS hosted a total of four Spamalot performances. Between the hustle and bustle of the cast members and costumes, everyone behind the scenes worked just as hard to make the play possible.
“We wouldn’t be able to do anything without them,” Tanner Lord, who played King Arthur, said.
But the enjoyment wasn’t just from parents and students. It was also enjoyed by teachers.
“It’s so cool to see, like, cute little kids that I had in class come out of their shell,” Jenessa Horan, fitness teacher at DRHS, said. Horan said she brought her eight-year-old daughter, and despite the fact that some jokes went over the little one’s head, she still seemed to enjoy it.
Sherrod Bott, an English teacher at DRHS, also attended the play. She said she enjoyed it and felt as though the cast had as much fun being in it as the audience did watching it. Similar to Horan, she loved seeing so many students have so much energy on a stage.
“I loved the comedy of it and how enthusiastic all the dancers were,” DRHS administrative assistant Jennifer Hastert said. Hastert also praised how natural the comedy felt and said it seemed as if they truly understood what the jokes were about.
Lord said that there was a lot of improvising from the cast, which made it difficult to avoid laughing on stage. So it could be said that depending on when you went, you may have gotten some special jokes that others didn’t get to hear.
Another thing that may have made the play more enjoyable was the enthusiasm one of the leads had about the role he was playing and the part he got. “I have family connections to it [Spamalot] from when it was originally casted,” Lord said. “So it is a real heart connection.”
In the end, the play had a lively atmosphere due to the audience, the cast, backstage crew, and even the pit orchestra.
“I loved it,” Keller said. “It was so much more fun than I ever imagined.”
