The students and teachers behind the 2023 spring musical

By Maddie Snyder ‘26

For thirty student cast members and multiple teachers, this year's spring musical has been a whirlwind of rehearsals and time spent after school ever since November.

The CGS 2023 Spring Musical: Singing in the Rain started back in November of 2022 with auditions. The announcement for which came from director and choreographer Elizabeth Gibbs. Gibbs has been doing musicals at CGS for ten years now but has always loved theater.

“I know some people have strong feelings about musicals, some people love them, some people hate them, but I have always loved them.” Gibbs said when asked about her love for musicals.

Gibbs started out doing ballet as a kid but an injury prohibited her from continuing. So instead she turned to theater and has never looked back. Gibbs says that the dance heaviness of Singing in the Rain is what makes it one of her favorite musicals to watch, and put on.

Gibbs is the choreographer for all of the dance numbers in the musical. She also organizes the castmates and crew members, arranges the movement of the characters on stage, assists with costume design, and also helps actors understand their characters.

Gibbs states that although Singing in the Rain is a fun musical to perform because of all of the dance numbers, it is also one of the most challenging to perform for the same reason.

The musical is tap-heavy, which requires a lot of attention, but Gibbs said it is starting to pay off. “I love it when everything starts to come together” Gibbs said to explain why she loves directing musicals so much. “I also love sharing my love of musicals with a new generation.” She continued.

The CGS spring musical is based on the 1952 movie titled Singin' in the Rain , which follows Hollywood’s adaptation from the silent screen to sound and picture.

The movie’s plot centers around Don Lockwood, his best friend Cosmo Brown, and rising star Kathy Selden. In the Catlin production they will be played by seniors Malcom Grant, Dylan Beckett, and junior Tessa Hitchcock respectively.

Cast member Scarlett Keys ‘26 says watching those leads perform on stage is one of her favorite parts of being in the musical. Keys plays a policeman in the play, as well as a member of the ensemble.

Just like Gibbs, Keys also had a love of theater, “I’ve been doing theater, I think my whole life, I started because I love to sing and then I realized that acting was a way to get away from everything, and put on a mask to become someone else.” Keys explained.

Keys is a member of the ensemble which for her means a lot of rehearsal, most of which is dance focused. Her favorite part of her role in the musical is being able to work as a team to put on an awesome show.

Keys stated she has been amazed at Gibbs’ ability to keep everyone together no matter how many people there are.

There are indeed a lot of people for Gibbs to keep track of. As well as her work with what is going to be seen onstage, Gibbs has also been working heavily with the offstage component of the musical.

“We have a huge number of people working behind the scenes that people might not necessarily see, doing set design, costume design and video work.” Gibbs stated.

One of the reasons auditions started earlier than normal was for that video component, which is being produced by upper school art teacher Matt Woodard.

The multi-media aspect of this year's musical is not the only component in it that is reaching outside of the classic CGS musical format. This year will also be the first year that the musical includes a pit orchestra.

The orchestra is made up of a group of string (violin, viola, cello and bass) playing students, as well as piano and drums. These students along with some professionals and will provide the back track for some of the songs in the musical.

Freshman musician Sophia Hu has been playing the keyboard for nine years, but this is the first time she has had the opportunity to be a part of a pit.

Hu explained she joined because “I thought the pit would be fun, I have never done it before and wanted to try it out”.

Hu believes that the pit could be continued to be implemented in musicals beyond Singing in the Rain. As long as more people who play instruments decide to join, as the participation rates in this year’s pit orchestra were what Hu describes as “low”.

Although Gibbs’, Keys’, and Hu’s Singing in the Rain experiences have been greatly different from each other, they all said that their favorite part, by far, is watching all come together on stage.

Keys said she is excited to “see how it plays out” during opening night on March 3rd. Which you can buy tickets for, at $5 a perrson at the door.