LIFESTYLE
fNi
Cornelius (( A quirky shut-in — and wide-eyed romantic.
Hackl
WEDNESDIV
NOVEMBER 1,2017
13
Jake Smith
‘^Cornelius”
/ unior Jake Smith finds enough
similarity in his character, Cornelius
Hackl, to love portraying him each
night. While Cornelius’ inexperience
has him scrambling to cover up his open
honesty with a blurted phrase or dive
into a closet. Smith identifies with his
eagerness for adventure.
“I’m the type of person that would
much rather skip school and go to New
York for the day than sit all dayf Smith said.
“He’s a little timid and shy at times, but I
think we would get along.”
Smith found the hard facts about Corne
lius he could connect to in the script.
“At this stage in my life. I’m predominately
playing goofy leading men, and so with most
of my characters they’re a pretty high level of
connection between us,” Smith said. “But be
neath the surface level, it’s the music and
choreography that pull him in deeper.”
Jalonski praises the way Smith
carries himself on stage, but Smith
wasn’t always a strong dancer.
Growing up, he spent time play
ing sports, not taking dance
classes. He pulled from his own
journey to perform as Corne
lius, who is not supposed to be
a good dancer.
“Dolly describes his dancing as
athletic, which has been my struggle
in the program,” Smith said. “I’m very
much a singer and an actor, so I’ve been
working very hard on my dance. And
when I finally get cast in a role where I’ll
be dancing a ton — it’s not supposed to look
polished.”
a Spunky, feminist and unique.
Cassidy Wescott Hamilton
“Irene"
Irene
Malloy
fNj
S enior Cassidy Wescott Hamilton plays a
young widow looking for some flirty fiin,
but instead finds love.
“This isn’t a character I would have ever seen
myself playing,” Hamilton said. When I started
the rehearsal process 1 was thinking, 1 am noth
ing like this woman at all.”’
After months of rehearsal and encouragement
from the artistic team, Hamilton finally made a
connection.
“I realized that there are bits of Irene in any
one who is looking for fresh start,” Hamilton
said. “I realized I could be her.”
Jablonski saw the newfound relationship
between Hamilton and Irene reflected after
months of encouragement from the artistic
team.
“I kept pushing her to trust herself and find
the joy in it,” Jablonski said. “There was one
specific day where we finished the number, and
she told me she had never felt that beautiful on
stage before. It’s those little tiny breakthroughs.”
Her first scene comes midway through the
performance, and while everyone is getting
ready and running on stage, she’s still sitting, her
hair pinned back.
“Once everybody else goes on stage, I take
my hair out, do my lipstick and put my full
costume on,” Hamilton said. “I go out into the
other theater by myself and sing my song. It
helps me get into Irene.”
Hamilton connects her personal life to her
character later in the show when Irene teach
es Cornelius to dance. Hamilton was Smith’s
dance Teaching Assistant, and both similarly
had to put in extra time to expand from accom
plished actors and singers to versatile dancers.
“Watching Jake do that in real life and then
actually doing that on stage, too, is fun for both '
of us,” Hamilton said. “It’s something Jake and I
have in common that Irene and Cornelius have in
common, too.”
. Bamaby
nicker
Joyful and larger than life
Andrew Purdy
“Barnaby”
S ophomore Andrew Purdy thinks
he can learn a lot from the
exuberant Barnaby Tucker.
“He’s larger than life, but he still has
real desires and emotions,” Purdy said.
“He’s so joyful and has such an optimistic
outlook.”
Barnaby’s naivety can cause trouble,
but when getting himself into character,
Purdy attempts to see everything about
Barnaby as a strength.
“When you’re living your life, you
want to see yourself in the most positive light you can,”
Purdy said. “I think that’s important when you’re play
ing a character, too — to not look at it like an out
sider.”
Barnaby’s persona is also demonstrated to the ^
audience in the way Purdy dances. Jablonski ' ^
knew during casting that he needed an actor
who could keep up with Barnaby’s energy.
“If you can’t tell the character’s emo
tions, then you heighten them through
music,” Jablonski said. “And if you still
can’t, then you heighten with dance.”
fN*
a A sweet and shy young girl. Minnie
Mara Wilson
"Minnie”
A s the musical number “Put On Your
Sunday Clothes” closes, senior Mara
Wilson is watching and waving to
her castmates filing off stage. It’s one of her
favorite musical theater numbers of all time,
and it’s the one that places her in the world of
“Hello, Dolly!” right before she steps into the
spodight for the first time.
“It puts me in the perfect mood to begin
in the showf Walters said. “Seeing so many
of my friends shine onstage makes me so
happy and grateful — two qualities of
Minnie’s that help define who she is.”
Genuinely feeling these emotions as
she’s entering the show set her up for
an ideal entrance.
“Real, true acting is using your
own experience — your own emo
tional connection, your sense
memory and your life to bring yourself to
a character,” Jablonski said. “And then a di
rector and choreographer guide you on the
journey’’
Wilson has to prepare physically as well
as emotionally in order to totally become
her character. She runs through additional
vocal warm-ups that she wouldn’t normally
because of Minnie’s tendency to scare easy.
“Minnie screams quite often, and do
ing these multiple times in the show
— multiple times per week — can be
very draining,” Wilson said. “I have
to be properly warmed up, so it sits
in a place that is healthy, comfort
able and consistent. It sounds very
abrupt and probably scary, but
it’s actually heavily calculated
and rehearsed.”
ALL PHOTOS BY DIEGO PINEDA | CONTRiBLJTOR