Last night Homestead’s music and drama departments second performance of their rendition of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved musical Carousel. William Toney and Grace Bobber, juniors, portray the title roles of Billy Bigelow and Julie Jordan, a couple who fell in love beneath the glimmering lights of Mrs. Mullins carousel, but are now struggling to make ends meet. Between cast, crew, and pit orchestra, Carousel is truly a group effort, with over 100 students involved.
There really are no words to describe Haley Wittchow’s dance abilities. Beautiful, poignant, captivating. Simple adjectives somehow fail to do justice to the way Wittchow is able to tell a story through her movements. Carousel is Wittchow’s fourth musical at Homestead, and as a senior, she is portraying the bullied character Louise Bigelow.
“The character of Louise cannot be farther from my personal experience;” Wittchow explains, “I have had to step inside a person that is sad, yet wants acceptance. I have had to try to imagine that place and go from there. Imagine saying, “I hate you” to anyone. It’s not that easy.”
With Wittchow’s character, themes of bullying and ostracism are most definitely present. Wittchow asserts that “Carousel forces us to face the issues that were present then and are still present today. It helps us to focus on those who deal with life issues, whatever they may be and feel greater compassion for their challenges.”
Looking at the show as a whole, Wittchow only has positive thoughts and attitudes, explaining that “being in this show has been amazing!”
In regards to her drama career as a whole, Wittchow says, “I look at my time as a freshman in The Pajama Game, to Pippin, to Brigadoon, and now to Carousel and I am so grateful through the years for the priceless friendships I have made.”
In addition to Louise, Wittchow has also been bestowed with the role of dance captain in which she is responsible for “being Ms. Figg’s second hand captain when it comes to choreography.” She’s also responsible for ensuring that each cast member is comfortable and confident with all of the dances they are a part of. “I am so proud to see the cast of dancers from where they started at the first day, to now,” Wittchow explains, “break a leg!”
By: Katie Bandurski
Drama Club Publicist
Senior-2014
Act Out 