BMS Drama Club Presents 'Willy Wonka Jr.' This Weekend
A series of extraordinary events unfolded inside the auditorium of Bourne High School on Tuesday evening, January 23—one student took flight, flipping his way across the stage, while another student turned into a blueberry in an incident of everlasting gum gone wrong.
These spectacles were courtesy of the Bourne Middle School Drama Club, which gave the Enterprise a look inside its tech-week rehearsals for this weekend’s production of “Willy Wonka Jr.,” a musical based on Roald Dahl’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
There is nothing “junior” about this show, though—the four-show run is full of all the singing and dancing one would expect, topped off with campy costumes, detailed set designs and airborne stunts with the help of professional fly directors all the way from Missouri.
The cast of 100 middle school students has been hard at work since last fall. On Tuesday, 7th grader Brady Russell was strapped in and hoisted above the stage to practice his flying flips for the role of Charlie Bucket. Shea Reilly, an 8th grade student also cast as Charlie Bucket, watched from below while Brady flipped and posed, saying “the flipping part is so fun.” Just before Brady’s aerial stunts, Shea was onstage alongside other primary cast members, rehearsing a musical number in which Violet Beauregarde, played by 8th grader Alana Nalbandian, blows up into a blueberry, courtesy of a perfectly colored inflatable suit.
This BMS production includes two double-cast roles—Charlie and Mr. Bucket—which director and BMS chorus teacher Rebecca Salgado said was a very deliberate decision after seeing the talent her students displayed.
“It was one of those things where when we were in auditions, they both had a completely different take, and both of them worked so well,” Ms. Salgado said.
Rather than choose just one actor, she said, it was decided that the three-show run would be extended to four, so each actor could perform two shows.
“I wanted to be really intentional about giving both an opportunity,” she said, “and they’re just so professional.”
Tech week rehearsals began last Saturday, Ms. Salgado said, when the fly directors arrived from Missouri with their equipment. Since becoming its director in 2017, Ms. Salgado has essentially transformed the middle school’s drama club, continuously leveling up its production value one costume and set design at a time. Now, seeing the drama club’s students rigged up and flying across the stage isn’t even an uncommon sight—a flying company was used in its 2019 production of “The Wizard of Oz,” Ms. Salgado said.
“It’s been amazing,” she said of the cast amid the long tech-week rehearsals. “It is, of course, the most grueling and taxing part of it, but I think it’s the part where everything starts becoming real for the kids because they get to see everything unfold with the costumes and the set and the flying. It’s been exciting. I feel like there’s a tangible energy for sure.”
Due to the sheer caliber of the drama club’s productions, Ms. Salgado said, the cast “hit the ground running” right away, following auditions in September. Even the stage crew, which is traditionally made up of 8th grade students and program alumni from area high schools, was eager to get to work—Ms. Salgado said hopeful crew members started emailing her shortly after auditions.
“Our tradition always is that because 8th graders are so new at stage crew, high schoolers will be our crew mentors,” she said, explaining that while the cast is made up of 6th through 8th graders, stage crew membership is a privilege reserved for the middle school’s 8th graders.
Program alumni are often eager to return from their high schools as stage crew mentors, Ms. Salgado said. This year’s stage crew includes four of her former students representing four different high schools—Bourne High School, Sandwich High School, Sturgis Charter Public School, and Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School.
“These kids—this was their program, and it’s fun because now it’s a full-circle moment,” she said. “Those are all former students of mine who did this exact program. They went off to different schools and they all came back to give to the program that gave them something, so that’s one of my favorite parts of the whole process—seeing the baby birds fly the nest and then come back.”
All four performances of the Bourne Middle School Drama Club’s production of “Willy Wonka Jr.” will be held at the Bourne High School auditorium. Showtimes are Friday, January 26, at 7 PM; Saturday, January 27, at 1 and 7 PM; and Sunday, January 28, at 1 PM.
Tickets may be purchased at the door or in advance at our.show/BMSDCwonka. Ticket costs are $5 for students and seniors, and $10 for adults.