Behind the Scenes of This Year's Glenbrook Musical: Cinderella

Join host Dr. R.J. Gravel on this episode of the Glenbrook Insights Podcast as we go behind the scenes of this year’s district musical, Cinderella. Debuting on April 23rd, this massive production showcases the incredible talent of 148 students across the cast, stage crew, and orchestra pit. We explore the collaborative effort required to bring this timeless fairy tale to life on the Glenbrook stage. Whether you are a fan of the arts or a member of the local community, you won't want to miss this look into our students' hard work. Tune in to hear how our "impossible" production became a reality. 

Guests:

• Mandi Corrao, GBS Musical Director
• Tim Broeker, GBN Musical Director
• GBS senior Maddy Preston, Cinderella
• GBN senior Teagan Thunholm, Orchestra pit

Host: Dr. R.J. Gravel

Transcript

Welcome And Show Preview

Speaker 2 0:08

Hello and welcome back to the Glenbrook Insights Podcast. I am your host, RJ Gravel, and today we are talking about one of my favorite activities of the entire school year, the Glenbrook Musical, which this year is Cinderella and debuts on April 23rd. This year's district production features 148 students. That's right. 148 students across the district who are part of our cast, stage crew, and orchestra pit.

Meet The Directors And Student Leaders

Speaker 2 0:40

And today, joining me are four wonderful, talented individuals, adults, and students. We'll start with Mandi. Mandi, do you want to say hi and what do you do in the district?

Speaker 4 0:52

Hi. Yes, I am the drama teacher at Glenbrook South High School. I also teach English and broadcasting. And of course, I direct uh the musical along with Mr. Broeker here. And um I also direct Fall Play and I work on other productions at Glenbrook South.

Speaker 2 1:08

Excited to be here. Excellent. Thank you for being here. And across Willow Road, we have someone else. Tim, who are you? What do you do?

Speaker 1 1:15

Hi, my name is Tim Broeker. I am the theater director, English teacher, and theater teacher here at Glenbrook North High School. Uh, and I direct the musical when it's hosted at uh GBN. All right.

Speaker 2 1:27

And Teagan, I recently heard you are multi-talented, and we're gonna get to that in a moment, but give us a little background of yourself, your age, your school, and what excites you about being part of Cinderella this year.

Speaker 3 1:39

Um, I'm a senior at Glenbrook North and I play viola for the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra, and I am in the orchestra pit for Cinderella, and I have been for my past four years. Um, and I think what excites me is like getting to be with everyone from the whole district and not just your own school and creating that music.

Speaker 2 1:59

Now, Teagan, right before we got started with recording, you did say you used to have an interest in drama itself. What was where did that come from?

Speaker 3 2:08

I was really big into theater. I'm still in choir and stuff here. Um, I've just found that for me personally, my people and my preference is within the pit. So I can still be a part of the production, and but I can still be with the people that I enjoy and still create that music with everyone else while still enjoying something that I've always been doing.

Speaker 2 2:27

Well, that's awesome. And I love that you have people in the pit. That is very cool. Um, let's move on to GBS Senior. Maddy. Maddy, tell us a little about yourself.

Speaker 2:37

Uh hi, yeah. Um, I am one of the Cinderellas this year. Um, I am loving Cinderella so far. The show has been so amazing. Um, it's definitely one of my favorite productions that I've done at South and or North, I guess, because I've done a few musicals. Um, and it's just been a great time.

Speaker 2 2:57

So naturally the question is Cinderella is a wonderful story that's told from a variety of different perspectives and approaches. There is a recent Hollywood movie, and then of course, there is the Disney classic. Since you are Cinderella, which which have you enjoyed as you're preparing for your role? What have you learned from?

Speaker 3:17

Honestly, I feel like I am the most familiar with the production we're doing, like with the Rogers and Hammerstein version, because that's kind of the way I grew up. I grew up around like musicals and stage performances and whatnot. Um, and so I and it's also the music I enjoy most. So I've kind of surrounded myself with in terms of ver versions of Cinderella, definitely with the version with this music.

Speaker 2 3:41

Excellent. Well, thank you all for taking an opportunity to introduce yourself.

Why A District Musical Matters

Speaker 2 3:45

As we dive in, just wanted to give a little bit uh history of the Glenbrook Musical. So for those who may not be familiar, the musical is very unique in that we have a combined performance for both Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South students. It's an annual production that's been going on since both schools back in the opened back in the 1960s. Now, Tim, we often hear about theater families, but what is the energy, what is the energy like when students are making friends and collaborating with peers they otherwise might never have met?

Speaker 1 4:18

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I I think one of my favorite parts of the process is the audition process because you get to see them coming together um for the first time. And and for a lot of them, it's the only opportunity they have to collaborate cross to cross uh the district. Um in sports and whatnot, they compete against one another more than uh work together. Uh, but this is one of the few rare opportunities of the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra, obviously being another one, which is a part of this project as well, um, where we do get to see them interact. Um, and and during this time, I know we do a lot of uh our choir program does a lot of like social events and they try to bridge the two. And so they invite like the GBS choir to come and join as well because we're already doing a lot of the things together in the rehearsal process. So it's kind of fun in the beginning of the process because you see a lot of the South students hanging with the South students and a lot of the North students hanging with the North students, but then as a change at some point, yeah, you see it start to evolve and mix in a little bit. And it's kind of fun to see that uh happening on stage.

Double Casting And Rehearsal Life

Speaker 2 5:15

So, with so much talent across two very large high schools, let me ask you a question, Mandi. Um, a lot of people don't realize it. In fact, I didn't realize it maybe until my third musical, and I know that might sound bad, but that there are two complete casts. Tell us a little about that experience and how it all comes together.

Speaker 4 5:35

Yeah, um, so it's not actually two completely different casts. We only double cast the lead roles, and then the ensemble is the same across all of the performances. And so one of the coolest things about that opportunity for students is that they get to see um different interpretations of their character and they get to collaborate and they create a partnership with their counterpart. Um, we have really amazing students, not afraid to brag about that. And so it's really awesome to see them work together and kind of take different ideas off of each other, and they have a built-in partner that they can help and work with. And I mean, even just something as simple as memorizing lines, it's really awesome to see those friendships and those bonds forming. And um, something that's also really fantastic is if you do decide to go and see the musical, you can go see it a second time and you will see an entirely different production with completely different interpretations. Um, and it's really cool to see that happen.

Speaker 2 6:32

Absolutely. Now, kind of speaking about that process from audition all the way to casting and soon performance, um, let's transition over to Maddy, our Cinderella. Um, Maddy, from your perspective, you are cast in this production and you are coming together again with all of your peers from your school, from across the district. Um, and you're going through one rehearsal at a time. We just talked about how um as we uh near uh spring break here in our recording process, um, the musical is almost fully blocked. We're now gonna get into all of the fine-tuning. What do you feel as a um kind of an up-and-coming um actress? Do you feel that what you're doing here on a high school stage feels a lot like you would see in a Broadway and Chicago production or even other productions across the country?

Speaker 7:27

Yeah, I feel like the caliber of what we're able to do with the Glenbrook Musical is huge. Like it is uh it's amazing. Like I have family come in, I have family who's who have even worked kind of in the professional setting, and they're like, this is far and beyond many things that I have done professionally. So it's I try not to take for granted what we have here and how amazing it is. Um, it's also like we do, Ms. Crow was saying, we do have like great students and students who are amazingly talented. So it's very fun to see all these people come together who do then sometimes go on to do this professionally, whether it be over the summer or they go in college. And so it's it's um, it really does sometimes feel like a professional production that way.

Speaker 2 8:08

If you think back from all of your rehearsals so far, is there one moment that stands out as that just kind of special um experience that you're gonna remember well past graduation?

Speaker 8:23

I think that um, well, in the show, Cinderella has one song that's pretty well known and it's kind of like her biggest thing uh it's in my own little corner. And for me, that was something that I've never really done before, where it's like I'm on stage, I'm the only one singing, I'm the only one who's like there's other um like actors on stage with me, but this moment is like mine to create, and that felt really special because that was the first time I've really gotten to do something like that where it felt like that. Um, and so I think that I'll remember that for a while.

Cinderella’s Breakout Moments Onstage

Speaker 2 8:56

Sounds like we have something to look forward to when we see you on stage.

Life In The Orchestra Pit

Speaker 2 9:00

Kind of transitioning, Teagan. Um, you know, you and I have some interesting similarities. I had mentioned a little bit about my musical background before we got started. Um, but I actually was in stage crew, in pit orchestra. Um, and I was always one of those individuals who wasn't as much as an actor, so I did enjoy the ensemble. But you've gone down the path of being in the pit orchestra. So tell me about your experience getting involved in the pit. Um, think back all the way to your time as a freshman and where you are now.

Speaker 3 9:30

Yeah, so definitely coming into high school, I thought, oh, I'm gonna be on stage because like that's what I was used to. But coming into freshman year and kind of meeting all of like the friends that I would spend time with anyway, being in GSO and being in the orchestra, I figured that these are the people that I wanted to spend more time with. And I learned for myself personally that I have more passion for being the in the pit playing my instrument rather than being on stage. As much as I love being on stage, I felt for me like it was more enjoyable and more of a way for me to express myself if I was playing an instrument.

Speaker 2 10:04

Yeah. So even though you are in the orchestra now uh with the GSO and now in the pit, what does the audition process look like for you?

Speaker 3 10:13

So for the pit, if you're in the Glenbrook Symphony Orchestra, there really is no audition process because since it's a district musical, um, there's that district orchestra, which is the GSO itself. So basically the pit opportunities are open to primarily to the students in the GSO because they're part of that district. But depending on the instrumentation of the show, um Mr. Kaplan will open it up to other musicians at each school for auditions on depending on great.

Speaker 2 10:42

So you've seen other students who may not be in the GSO get involved and join the pit when there are those opportunities at school. That's excellent.

Crew Jobs And Hidden Theater Roles

Speaker 2 10:49

Well, uh Tim, you know, you've been involved in the the Glenbrook musical for some time here. There's some individuals maybe who have a great passion for the arts and drama and and enjoy the music, but maybe they don't always have those exact skills. Um, so what are other ways that that individuals can get involved in the musical?

Speaker 1 11:12

This is my favorite question because I uh when I was in high school, I performed, but I went to a smaller school where the performers were also helping build the set and whatnot. Um, and then in college, you know, I majored in in English to become an English teacher, and they were like, oh, you'll get to do theater too. And so I did theater. And uh in my first uh eight years of teaching um high school English and theater, I sort of started to see myself way more interested in the technical side of theater, in the crew side of theater, which is really cool. So I ended up getting my master's degree in theater production and design a couple years ago. Um, and so I I love all facets of the production side. So obviously we have crew, right? Within the crew, there's um definitely like the design element. So helping to design what the set actually looks like. Um, we also have the construction element where you can help build the set, uh, learn how to build scenery for theater. Uh, there's the lighting, there's the sound, the things that you always think of when you think of theater. We also have a costume crew um that helps to organize and measure all of the cast members, which takes a great deal of time. Uh with a musical this big that's a period show, we're doing some rentals, but we also have a student who is um designing from scratch a few of the costumes who will be uh building those costumes for the stage as well. Um, there's the orchestra pit. Uh, if you don't have a lot of time to give, but you still want to be involved, we're always looking for people to usher, to stand at the door, to greet our patrons, check the tickets, to give them their programs, and then see the show themselves, which is really cool. Um, so there's a ton of ways to get involved. And I always tell people that like when you think of theater, you think of those elements, right? But typically, any interest you have, we can find a space for in theater. Are you into social media? Great. We can have you help out as one of our student producers, right? We have a student producer who uh is organizing our social media campaign and helps in the rehearsals with like the um kind of organizational aspect of taking attendance every day and managing the conflicts and emails when they come in and uh they create the posts that'll go on social media and a schedule so we can start highlighting all of our uh performers and all aspects of the production. And so typically I always tell someone, like, hey, what's your interest? Let's find a way to get you involved in theater. So if you have any interest whatsoever, we can fit you in in some way.

Speaker 2 13:24

So I think we're hearing an important thing, especially for our parent listeners, that if they have a kiddo at home who might be a rising freshman and thinking already of next year and looking at opportunities, and they just may need some pathways. Here is one. No matter where their skills or interests are, there's something for them. Absolutely. So, our next question here actually gets to a fun one. I have been in the district now for 11 years, and I had mentioned before that my first event was going to the Glenbrook Musical. And one of the things I always try to do is not get involved in things that per se I shouldn't directly be involved in. And one of those is exactly understanding how the musical is determined. So, this is a question that I look forward to hearing the answer to for the first time.

How The Musical Is Chosen

Speaker 2 14:12

How do we decide? How did Cinderella become our 2026 musical?

Speaker 4 14:17

Yeah, um, so that's a great question. Um, a lot of people ask us this question, and and it's such a variety of answers. So um many people think that it's whoever's directing the show and they just say, you know what, I really like this musical. I'm gonna do it because it's super fun. That is not at all how we decide the clip.

Speaker 2 14:34

But we love Cinderella in here and of course we do.

Speaker 4 14:37

Of course. We would never do a musical that everybody isn't on board for. Um, but essentially, um, we take a look at different musicals that we do, of course, enjoy and that we have had in mind, and we have to look at a variety of different things. So um, first we have to look at, okay, what type of musicals have been repeated in the recent past? Um, we have to think about musicals that were within the last four years, of course, because no student is going to want to repeat a musical twice. Even in the last, you know, 10 years or so. We try to avoid shows from the last decade because people will remember they have seen it before. Um, and so if you know they it has been out of the public memory, then we can kind of go back and reevaluate and that goes on on the board. Um, then we have to take a look at the genre. Um, this is educational theater, so we have to make sure that we are thinking about the kind of experience that we are allowing for the students. Um, for example, Cinderella. Um, there are a variety of different things that went into this, but um, we have been doing a lot of contemporary musicals over the course of the last few years. Uh, for example, um, taking in Maddie, I'm sure you guys are know we've only done contemporary shows. Um, and we really wanted to make sure that um our graduating seniors who have had that contemporary experience also got a Rogers and Hammerstein kind of classical experience as well. Um, so we try to give some type of diversity to the kind of content that we are um having the students engage with because that's part of educational theater and it's really a multi-year look back and planning ahead of time. Absolutely. Um, another criteria um what type of shows do we have in the current season across the board at our two schools? So, for example, um our different fall play or our winter play or other productions, um, typically we try to do a diverse array of performances in that way too. So we're not going to do multiple um, you know, really classical era shows if if we can get some diversity in the mix. Um, then of course we have to look at our students. Um obviously the most important thing is that we are setting our students up for success. We have a massive pool of some of the most talented students ever. Uh, and so we want to make sure that we are providing them with an opportunity to shine. So, for example, if we know for a fact that this year um we happen to have a lot of soprano leaning singers. Okay, let's take a look at some of the content. Let's take a look at some of the musicals we have on our list. Well, that'll work, that'll work. Let's say that one year we have a lot of really strong boys. Um, every theater director's dream in a show because it's so rare, right? Um, we can happen. Do it for the record. Absolutely can, right? Oh my gosh, can we do newsies? That would be amazing. Right? Those are all things that we take into account.

Speaker 2 17:25

Um I'm hearing this is not something that happens in an afternoon.

Speaker 4 17:28

Absolutely not. Um, so once we get to a point where we have, you know, a list, a small list of things that we can kind of scale down and defend to our colleagues, we kind of put forward a list and say, hey, this is what I'm thinking. And then the conversations start. And the conversations last a very long time. Uh, and we go back and forth and we play a bunch of different options. Um, and then eventually we come to an agreement with the entire production staff. And it always is a collaborative decision. It is never a decision that is made by just one or two people.

Speaker 2 17:59

And when do we typically announce the musical?

Speaker 4 18:02

Yeah, so that has been different over the course of the last few years. It really just depends on when we're able to secure the rights. Honestly, everything is very dependent on the rights.

Speaker 2 18:11

Another step that has to be.

Speaker 4 18:11

It's another facet, right? So once that musical is selected, then we have to apply for the rights. And there are certain shows, for example, if they're very, very, very popular, um, the musical Frozen comes to mind. That's a really popular title. And so you kind of have to compete for the rights because other shows in the area might be doing it. And and uh you want to make sure that that that you don't have any competition.

Speaker 2 18:33

And so that was the first time actually a few years ago, I remember helping with a contract and learned that if you had a popular title, that you would maybe even have uh mileage restrictions. Exactly. That you can't repeat a musical within 60 miles of another school within the same month or what have you.

Speaker 4 18:52

Yes, Disney musicals are very big on that. They're very big on that. Or if there's a professional show somewhere, so Paramount has been doing frozen as the example, and so it's harder to get the rights. Um, so then sometimes the you the rights come very quickly, they say yes, you can go, we sign all the papers, everything's good, and then we can announce as soon as we know. Uh, and then sometimes it takes a little bit longer, and we never want to announce anything prematurely. We want to make sure that all of the boxes are checked uh before we can announce. So it really depends.

Speaker 2 19:20

Well, I'm just gonna put it out there. If you need a thought partner in the future or what have you, I am I'm only a phone call away. Bossing it out there. Um, Tim, uh, let me ask you this next question.

What Audiences Can Expect From Cinderella

Speaker 2 19:33

So Cinderella is the selected musical. We are looking forward to seeing it towards the end of April. If I am a parent, a community member, a student looking to celebrate with our wonderful, talented um colleagues, I walk into the theater. What can I expect to be excited about?

Speaker 1 19:53

So Cinderella, Cinderella is a story about kindness, about courage, about believing in yourself. Um, I think people can expect to come see a theatrical experience that has music, that has dancing, that has laughter, and a bit of wonder and magic along with it. Um, what people shouldn't expect is to come in seeing the Disney Cinderella. Okay. Right? Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella is a little bit different than uh Disney Cinderella. Actually, Cinderella um fits this golden age musical style, which is what we were looking for in terms of genre. Uh, but actually, a lot of people don't know that uh Cinderella was first originally written for TV in 1957. Um and uh Julie Andrews actually played the part. Uh was uh revived again for TV in the 60s, uh, and then again in the 90s, so like different versions of it with uh Brandy Whitney Houston in the late 90s. Uh and it wasn't until 2013, I believe, uh, when it first was on Broadway, like as a theatrical production. So it is in the style of a you know golden age musical, some of that old classic music. Uh, but there's a lot of controversy about whether it is actually a golden age musical. But what's important, I think, about this production is that it I hope that you know what it asks the audience to consider is what does it take uh to believe that you deserve better, like as an individual, right? And and the idea that the magic and the transformation that happens, that you create that, um, that you have that within you. So I would say that they should expect to step into a world where magic feels like just within reach.

Speaker 2 21:24

Thank you for sharing

Favorite Moments And Final Takeaways

Speaker 2 21:26

that. You know, as we're starting to kind of come to the close of our production here, I want to ask, we'll start with TKIP. So you've been in the pit for a long time, you've gotten to work with actors, actresses, stage crew members, your fellow a fellow pit people. Um what are you most excited about? What do you take away is a real defining moment for you in this musical?

Speaker 3 21:52

I think maybe this sounds like a basic answer, but I do want to say Sits Probe is probably one of my favorite. You're not alone in that. No. Pretty basically.

Speaker 2 22:01

So why don't you explain a little more about that?

Speaker 3 22:03

So yeah, that's basically the first day where the pit and the cast comes together and they run the music together. And that's kind of the first time you get to work with each other before putting it on stage. And I think it's definitely really cool to see like everyone in a room because you never really like understand how many people are truly doing the same thing as you or truly like share the same passion as you. So I think it's really unique to see everyone there and be able to see how things have been coming along, even though you've been doing that like separate work.

Speaker 2 22:36

So day zero is your day when I come together. All right. Maddie, what about you?

Speaker 22:42

I really just um my favorite part of the whole thing is just getting to do what I love. I love to sing and dance and act. I love it so much, and I'm so grateful.

Speaker 2 22:51

And you get to do it at school. Exactly.

Speaker 22:52

What's better? I'm so grateful to have a platform to do that. And not only participating, but doing it with all my friends. Like most of my friends, not only from South, but also from North. I've made a lot of friends through the Clemberg musical. My first year doing it, I made some friends and I've kept those friends the entire time. And um, it's always nice to see them again when musical comes around. So I think that's a huge part of why I love it so much, is just people who I don't usually get to see so much the rest of the year.

Speaker 3 23:22

I think some of my closest friends have been made through the musical too.

Speaker 2 23:25

Well, I think we're taking a lot of important takeaways. First of all, there's an opportunity for everyone to get involved with the musical. It's a way to build relationships not only within your school, but across our two communities. And there is a lot that goes into it, a lot of thought, a lot of passion, a lot of commitment. And it's just a perfect opportunity in the spring as we're celebrating the start of New Weather to come together as a community and enjoy real magic happening together on the stage. So as we start to wrap today's episode, I want to thank all of our guests, T Gabe, Tegan, Maddie, Mandy, and Tim for coming together and

Dates Tickets And Community Night

Speaker 2 24:04

sharing your thoughts. Um, this year's musical Cinderella has performances April 23rd through the 25th with a matinee on that Saturday. And tickets can be purchased online at our curate.com website. And for those who might want to come together for a little more sense of community, the Glenbrook Foundation has their annual A Night of Glenbrook Theater, which, if I recall correctly, was going to kick off right around 5 o'clock p.m. in the cafeteria at Glenbrook North. Tickets will be on sale in the next few weeks, and we'd love to see you there. Thank you for listening, and we look forward to connecting again next month on Glenbrook Insights.