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If the Lowcountry had hills, you can bet that right around now they’d be alive with the Sound of Music.
From Hilton Head Island to Bluffton, music students and teachers are banding together to help Hilton Head Preparatory School pull off its most elaborate musical to date.
Students from Hilton Head Prep’s Performing Arts Department will present The “Sound of Music” Nov. 3, 5 and 6 at Hilton Head High School’s Visual and Performing Arts Center.
But they won't be alone. While the cast and stagehands of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical will come from Prep, they will be joined by musicians from across Southern Beaufort County, including band members and staff from Hilton Head High, Hilton Head Christian Academy and Bluffton High School.
While the four schools might be rivals in sports, on this project they’re working in harmony. The stage production features 31 cast members, 15 crew members and a collaborative 22-person orchestra comprised of students from various Beaufort County schools and local professional musicians.
“We set the bar extremely high last year with our productions of ‘Footloose’ and ‘Little Shop of Horrors,’ and this year we plan to exceed everyone’s expectations,” said Benjamin Wolfe, director of performing arts at Hilton Head Prep.
But to pull off such a large-scale musical, Hilton Head Prep turned to the community for some extra help. It hired outside musician Lauren Stuligross to be the music director of the show and both she and Wolfe agreed that to have the music equal the acting, they should have a large orchestra. Thanks to their efforts, the show has the true flavor people expect from such a well-known classic.
Although Prep has a large string section, they felt they needed more instruments to give the performance the full range the show deserved. The orchestra is the largest Prep has ever worked with, and the band will be one of the largest ever to sit in the orchestra pit at Hilton Head High’s Visual Performing Arts Center — though there have been bigger ones onstage.
In Wolfe’s three years at Prep, this will be the most challenging show he has helped produce, and having so many students from the four schools involved will make it special. Although band members from other schools have helped with some past productions, it was never on this scale and he thinks the collaboration will help make the show a success.
“It’s something that really hasn’t been done to my knowledge,” Wolfe said.
“The Sound of Music” is a show that he hopes will appeal not only to Prep parents, but to the entire community.
“We want strangers to love it just as much as the ones who have to love it anyway,” he said. “Theater here is something we take very, very seriously.”
He said it makes him happy to see students who are often rivals on the field work together for a common goal.
“It’s good to see for me and the whole community,” he said. “Music is bringing them together. It’s really something special.”
Wolfe places a heavy demand on his students to produce the highest professional-quality stage productions possible. The cast rehearses six nights a week in preparation and the technical theatre class spends countless hours designing and building intricately-crafted hanging sets, which will quickly bring the numerous scene changes and shifts to life with speed and precision.
The mixed orchestra has also practiced together several times.
by Stephanie Ingersoll
IF YOU GO
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. , Nov. 3; 2 and 7:30 p.m. , Nov. 5; and 2 p.m., Nov. 6, at Hilton Head High School’s Visual and Performing Arts Center.
Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.hhprep.org or at the door. Prices are $20 for adults, $10 for students and $15 for seniors (60 and older) for matinee shows. Group rates (15 or more) are also available by calling 843-304-6280.
