'MEC Press' March School News Publication 2020 | Page 5

It wasn’t long before we were divided into choruses; the red, blue, green and yellow chorus and we were given schedules of our rehearsals each day. Singing rehearsals took place with Ms. Dollard in the canteen, acting and dancing rehearsals took place in the assembly hall with Ms. Dunne and Deirdre who was our fantastic choreographer. After 2 weeks of chorus rehearsals individually, the choruses began to rehearse together with the leads. Huge improvements were made over these weeks until all four choruses and leads were ready to do a full run-through of the show. While the choruses and leads were busy rehearsing, the construction team got to work on building an amazing stage. You can watch a time-lapse video of the stage construction on Youtube at M. Leamys account titled 'All Shook Up Stage Construction 2020 Part 1'. The team covered the sports hall floor with a black cover and began assembling the stage. Bit by bit, it got bigger and more impressive. Steps were added and movable walls were made. These walls on wheels would fold out or in depending on the scene by the stage crew in between scenes. The team also built the ‘Greyhound’ bus for the scene ‘It’s Now or Never’ and the balcony on the stage. Lets not forget our brilliant art team. Members of the art team were responsible for the stage design, scene backgrounds, and scene prop designs. They worked long hours every day, sometimes until 10 pm, to complete the stage. They painted the vibrant walls on stage, including doors, windows, and signs. They also painted our fantastic fairground set including bumper cars, a Ferris wheel, the giant run-down fairground sign, the haunted house sign and much more. Our production team were busy designing, producing and selling the tickets and conducting chorus interviews. They questioned each chorus individually and asked questions regarding our favourite choruses, favourite scenes, best dancers, best singers and best actors in our chorus. They also interviewed funding sponsors and put together our wonderful musical programme booklet.