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Lake Forest students show off their best “Seuss”
Kayla Higbee, 17, shows Stephanie Goebel, 17, (center) and Kyra Burke, 17, one of her poses for the dance portion of tryouts for "Seussical," the musical to be performed May 2-4 at Lake Forest High School. | Michelle LaVigne~Sun-Times Media
“Seussical” tickets on sale
Sale date: Starts 7 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 19
Shows: 7 p.m.Thursday to Saturday, May 2-4
Where: Lake Forest High School, 1285 McKinley Road
Cost: $15; $10 for students and senior citizens
Details: www.lfhs.org
Article Extras
Updated: February 14, 2013 2:40PM
LAKE FOREST — Some stood alone quietly running through their lines.
Others sat in groups of twos and threes doing the same, only much louder.
While one paced, another jumped. Some sat meditatively, eyes closed, while others darted from group to group, laughing and shouting.
The different ways they chose to burn off their pre-audition nerves were as varied as the 50 or so Lake Forest High School students who tried out for this year’s spring musical, “Seussical,” during a two-day audition, Feb. 5-6.
“I’m nervous, but I’m relaxed,” junior Billy Yeo said while pacing in the hallway outside the auditorium.
Cast in each musical his freshman and sophomore years, Yeo has established a well-honed ritual for pre-audition preparation.
“It all starts when you first find out what the show is. You do as much research as possible,” he said. “Was it on Broadway? Has it been done in Chicago? If it’s still running, can I go see it?”
Next he buys the soundtrack and listens to it repeatedly.
Once the audition packets are ready, about a month before, Yeo picks one up and his personal daily rehearsals begin.
“You prep and you prep and you prep,” he said.
Claire Franksen, a sophomore, has never tried out for a high school musical. “Seussical” was just an opportunity she couldn’t miss.
“I love dancing. I’ve been dancing my whole life,” she said.
So it wasn’t the short dance she learned with half the candidates in a half-hour session that gave her pause. It was the singing auditions the day before and the acting audition she was about to do that left Franksen “a little nervous,” she admitted.
Faculty advisors Kelly MacBlane and John Wanninger decided each student should perform a one-minute rendition from a Dr. Seuss book of their choosing during their acting audition.
“Normally, we’ll have a little snippet from the show that they have to act out,” Wanninger said. “Because this is a sung-through musical — all singing. We decided we’re going to let them showcase how they are a character actor.”
Yeo chose a scene from “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” while Franksen found a selection from “Bartholomew and the Oobleck.”
“I tried to pick a book that everybody else wasn’t going to do,” she said. “I found a nice little snippet,” she added, before she went inside the auditorium for her acting audition.
Carter Grieve, a junior, welcomed the acting tryout. It was the dancing audition that he was most anxious about.
“I’m not very physically inclined,” he said.
Having been cast in musicals before, however, he appreciates all portions of the two-day tryouts.
“It’s a stressful process, but it’s a fun process. That’s why I do it,” he said.
