Please enjoy this article from DMHS's "Introduction to Journalism" class!
February 3rd, 2023 the DMHS farm school put on a musical: The Jungle Book, based on the story by Rudyard Kipling, with music by George Bruns, and directed and choreographed by Robin Yokel, the theater teacher at DMHS. There were about 100 friends and family members in the audience and 24 students performed (including actors, tech, light and curtains). The cast had rehearsed every Wednesday since late August until the show on February 3rd.
The Jungle Book was the 3rd farm school performance at DMHS since the Coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020. The show included more 7th grade cast members than years past. the 7th year cast members included (in order of appearance) Nicolena Kennedy, Dagny Bell, Gabriella Dearwester, Cormac Galvin, Siri Sherrod, and Jiji Gaffney, with Diego Sanchez on Tech; The show included less 9th years than there have been in the past, the 9th years were, (in order of appearance,) Marisol Kennedy, Raijah (Lexi) Sandoval, and Paolo Man Perkin acting, and Isabella Salas, Cora Wood, and Abrianna Luis-Estrado on tech and curtains. This made for a younger cast, and more room for upperclassmen to lead by example.
Students imitated various animals, including orangutans, elephants, panthers, birds, etc. Actors not only had fantastic costumes that brought their characters to life, but props as well. For the orangutan seans, Robin Yokel (the theater teacher) bought bananas for the orangutans to eat during the live performance. Kaa the hungry snake (Played by Marisol Kennedy) had a veil to wrap Mowgli around in when she was trying to eat him. Tyler Lewis (Baloo) wore a coconut bra during his dance scene with the monkeys. The elephants wore army uniforms that consisted of a helmet with big floppy elephant ears. “I really enjoyed the acting and costumes of the characters,” Isabella Salas said with a smile. “I enjoyed the experience of watching acting come to life and the funny behind the scene moments that we got to share with each other.”
The cast and crew had some wonderful behind the scene moments. One of which included a funny moment during dress rehearsal. Marisol Kennedy (Who played Kaa as well as an elephant) was practicing an elephant scene and the army pants for the elephant costume were too big for her and fell down in the middle of a marching scene. “Haha, um ya that happened.” Marisol Kennedy laughed, “I thought no one noticed, so I just stayed in character. I think that's what made it so funny. I instantly heard everyone laughing, in fact I've never heard Robin laugh so hard. Luckily I had pants underneath the army pants.”
After being interviewed about her experience directing the show, theater teacher Robin Yokel expressed: “I always enjoy the overall energy and creativity and excitement of putting on a play. Every step of the performance, students have so much excitement and passion for performing and I love that!”
When interviewed, Nicolena Kennedy who played Bagheera, (the lead lady) explained how she and Tyler Lewis, Baloo, (One of the leading men) Improvised a scene. “I would give Tyler a compliment for the scene we had to improv in. I enjoyed it but it was on the spot because there was a line that wasn't said and really threw off the whole scene. I think we improvised for about two minutes but I think it really turned out to be a good experience!”
“My absolute favorite was Tyler...even during dress rehearsal I know it wasn't perfect but he had me laughing so hard a couple of times!”Anders Benson the culinary teacher at DMHS attended the dress rehearsal instead of opening night. He concluded with, “Really nice work to all! I thoroughly enjoyed it!”
The wise words of Raijah (Lexi) Sandoval who played Shere Khan: “I would give the people who were nervous big props because they did a really good job.” Raijah (Lexi) gave advice for future theater students. “When you get on stage, don’t be scared because they (the audience) will see that you're scared and they will get second hand embarrassment and that will be embarrassing for you.” When Lexi asked if you should act in a DMHS musical, she said, “100%.”
“The Jungle Book” is not the last show of the school year. DMHS will be putting on a Shakespeare play Hamlet on April 28th at the Denver Performing Arts Center for this year's Shakespeare Festival.
Marisol Kennedy is a 9th grader at DMHS. She enjoys listening to music and being with family.
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