The Bellefonte Area High School Drama Club pulled a stunt that no one was expecting: they performed the musical  Mary Poppins. This was the production that Drama Club was preparing to show the year that Covid-19 hit, however, due to the obvious and brutal pandemic, they were unable to show it. 

While many productions have been difficult, this one was particularly tough. Tech week is always chaos. It is time when the production gets smaller details fixed up in order to polish up the final product. According to some members in the club, there was still a lot of work needed to pull it together. Senior Olivia Aberegg was one of these students. 

“We weren’t sure how it was going to go. There was so much that needed to be done for the show and we were nervous that we would run out of time, but it all came together in the end,” Olivia said.

This particular production was special for Olivia. 

“I was so excited when I found out I was going to be a lead. We were previously supposed to do this show during my freshman year but then it got shut down due to covid. It was truly a perfect end to my high school drama career, getting to end it the same way I was going to begin,” Olivia said.

During this production, there have been a lot of ups and downs. Senior Emma Homan was particularly stressed about the upcoming musical. 

“There were times when groups of cast members were missing from rehearsals due to being. On top of that, there were the issues with the school shooting scare, so we ended up missing a lot of practice time,” they said. “Mary Poppins is a very big production, so there’s a lot of preparation to do.”

Not only did Emma have hiccups in the production, but so did Olivia. She was able to find the humor in the situation though. 

“One funny story is that my foot got run over by one of the large set pieces during the Friday show. So every time I was backstage we had to ice my foot and wrap it for when I was on stage,” Olivia said.

While the musical was stressful, it was also sweet. 

“My favorite part of the production was getting to see it all come together and be able to share it with the audience. I know that the whole cast was a little nervous about the show being ready in time but I am so proud of everyone’s commitment and dedication to make the show as amazing as it was,” Olivia said.

Audience member Dawn Yates was especially blown away by one of the songs and the overall production.

“That ‘Supercalafragalistic Expialodocuis’ song was very good. I thought the production wasn’t going to be that well because I had heard a lot of people say it was going to be bad. However, it was absolutely amazing. I was very impressed at how great everyone performed and the overall productions,” Dawn said.

Dawn was not the only one who had a song they enjoyed. The lead, sophomore Jane Burgess who played Mary Poppins, also had a personal favorite song.

“I loved performing ‘Spoonful of Sugar,’ it was a fun song to sing and it was just full of stage work and magic tricks,” Jane said. 

Being the lead in a production is a difficult task. They have many different parts that play into pulling the act together. Jane had a particularly stressful point in the production. 

“The most stressful part about the production was definitely my Jolly Holiday quick change. It was literally like 20 seconds to completely change my outfit,” Jane said. 

For senior Noah Aberegg, there were many parts of the production that he enjoyed, but there was one thing that stuck out to him above all: getting to perform with his little brother, sixth-grader Lincoln Aberegg, who played Michael Banks. 

“My favorite part of the production was getting to perform alongside my little brother in his first drama production and my last,” Noah said. 

Drama has impacted a variety of students’ lives and gives each and every member something to take away from their experience. For Noah, this was a sense of family.

“I am going to miss the family aspect of drama. Although we all come from various backgrounds and don’t agree on a lot of things, we all come together and care for each other and support each other in drama. We are able to put aside our differences and be one family,” Noah said.