Audience gives rave reviews to CCS’s ‘Shrek Jr.’

David Rushing, 6-12 vocal instructor at Chase County Schools, successfully directed  his first musical of four well-attended performances of “Shrek Jr. the Musical” last weekend.
The musical cast involved 35 students elementary to high school age who portrayed 45 colorful characters.
The lead roles were played by Nickolas Rau as Shrek, Arturo Miscles Gamboa as Donkey, Lucy Spady as Fiona and Mason Tyerman as Lord Farquaad.
Sunday afternoon’s final  performance was viewed by a near capacity audience who expressed their appreciation  with frequent laughter and applause.
 Stephanie Rau, mother of Nick Rau who played Shrek, commented, “It was fun to watch, and each performance was unique in that each time it changed just a little as actors gained confidence with their characters.”
Rushing said it was really exciting getting the show ready.
“The biggest challenge was finding time where all the students could be at rehearsals. With the huge age difference between cast members and all the other activities these kids were involved in, we struggled to get everyone here at one time for a full run-through,” he said.
 So much of the student body at CCS is involved in sports, clubs and other extracurricular activities­—there seemed to always be something keeping some of the students from making rehearsals, he continued.
    After having to postpone the musical multiple times, then having to put rehearsals on the back burner for awhile to prepare for show choir performances, it was pretty stressful coming back for musical rehearsals, Rushing said.
“We ended up having to have a lot of our rehearsals late at night. The kids did so with very little complaints, and because of their hard work and determination the show came together quite nicely,” he added.
Besides all the cast members, there were others helping behind the scenes.
The assistant director was Jodie Liess, Agnes Strand handled backstage direction, Navy Havel was in charge of projections and the stage crew included Sergio Quintana, Carter Kuenning, Noah Rau and Parker Terryberry.
Helping with sets was Jill Bauerle and the Krutsinger family.
Costumes were provided by “Disguises Theatre” in Denver.
“I would like to give a huge thanks to Jodie Liess who agreed to help me during my first musical. I learned so much from her. I am also so extremely proud of the kids and how the show turned out,” he said.
    “I am very, very happy with this year’s musical, and now I can’t wait to choose next year’s show,” he added.
More audience comments
    Other members of the audience were excited to share their opinions of the musical.
    “It was better than the movie—super darling, just darling! Casting was perfectly matched to their personalities and their voices were awesome,” LaRue Krutsinger said.
    “I thought it was great and so funny. We have so much young talent in the community. The kids put a lot of hard work into it,” said Vanessa Terryberry.
    “I absolutely loved it! I was there to watch my two grandkids, Nevaeh and Jeffrey Martin Jr. perform in the musical. I thought all the kids did great,” said Debbie Murray.
    “I thought it was awesome. Rushing pulled kids out of their safe zones and we watched them blossom on stage. The timing was great. The characters were great, and all the kids stayed in character really well—wonderful,” said Sherri Schoenholtz.