Portage High School put on an impressive show at the opening night of their spring musical presentation. On Friday April 25, PHS put on their annual spring musical run by the Portage High School Thespians group.
This years’ musical choice was “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying”. The show is about a young man who goes from being a window-washer to working his way up in business. Eventually, he becomes chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company.
The musical will run on the April 25, 26th and 27th and then again on May 9th and 10th.
Usually, the musical runs two consecutive weekends. This year, there is such a large gap in between the two weekends due to Portage’s Prom being held on the weekend between the two shows.
The leads for the plays were Portage Junior Matthew Kiley and senior Meaira Bennett. Kiley played the male lead, J. Pierrepont Finch and Bennett played the female lead, Rosemary.
Originally, a different actor was cast as the lead, but had to drop out of the musical. According to audience member Sydney Auksel, this did not take away from the musical as a whole.
“I give an extra pat on the back to the lead for stepping up at the last minute and still doing a wonderful job,” Auksel said.
To add to the show, a pit band was set up in front of the stage. All of the music during the production was provided by the band, with director Drew Rhoda conducting the band.
On top of the actors and the band, the musical would not be complete without the crew. Students did hair and makeup for the actors, decorated and built sets, and ran the lights for the whole show. Without everyone working together, the show would not be possible.
The director for the musical was the high school Auditorium Director Kevin Giese.
“I thought the musical was fantastic and all of the actors did a phenomenal job,” Auksel said.