First date, an exciting romantic comedy one act musical about a blind date. The musical is roughly an hour and a half with no intermission. Currently, it’s in production at FHS and will be shown April 13, 14, 15 and 16 in the Performing Arts Center with a $10 ticket cost for students. It will be at 7 p.m. all dates, except for the 16th, when it will be at 2 p.m.. But what does it take to create a production like this?

Stage manager and senior at FHS, Elliot Eichmann, describes the process as difficult when it comes to some songs and dances for the actors, “but nothing has been so difficult that the actors and crew can’t do it. Overall singing has not been a difficulty so far, but there are difficulties with dancing, not so much acting.”

They say that for themselves, a normal rehearsal consists of them and the co stage manager helping the director run rehearsal and take notes, writing down the blocking, choreography, and notes for technical elements (lights, props, sound). They say taking notes is the biggest part of being a stage manager, but that they also follow along in the script while actors work on memorization and correct incorrect actors/when they forget their lines. They describe the process for the actors as, “warming up at the start of rehearsal, run some review choreo and lines, music warm up, and then they come on to stage and start running the show where the director says.”

Overall, rehearsals, which vary a lot, usually consist of music rehearsals, blocking the musical, and running/repping the entire production. Eichmann says, “some rehearsals we have songs that we specifically work on dancing or singing.” They also strongly recommend coming to see the musical which is PG13 and “emotional at times”. They say it’s funny and a great choice of a musical, finishing the interview by strongly encouraging everyone to come see the musical.