Review of Wauconda High School's "Barnum"

This year, Wauconda High School proudly presented Barnum as their fall musical.  Junior Caleb Hill took the male lead as P.T Barnum.  Starring opposite of Caleb Hill was female lead junior Adele McDaniel as Cherry Barnum, Barnum’s wife.

The cast, pit, and set builders began working on the production of Barnum in the third week of school, which was in the beginning of September.  Since then, they diligently worked on perfecting the play, spending over 720 hours on rehearsal, including six hour rehearsals days before Opening Night.  Their hard work paid off.

On opening night, Thursday November 19, the play was everything everyone expected and was promised.  Red, yellow, music and everything freak-show related flooded the stage.  

The story was a narration of the beginning of P.T Barnum’s life before he became famous as the founder of the circus. His career began with P.T Barnum’s American Museum, which was in reality was a freak show.  Caleb did an excellent job of portraying the charismatic P.T Barnum, and the rest of the cast did an excellent job of portraying the variety of freak show attractions, including the world’s smallest man—which the crew built over size things to make the world’s smallest man, played by junior Danny Ostrowski, truly appear to be small—an excellent touch to the overall scene.

All the hours spent at rehearsals and the strenuous activity paid off as the singers put their voices through magnificently, along with outstanding solos by both Adele McDaniel and Kate Aquino. The music, accompanied by members of the WHS band, also added to the ambiance of the circus theme.

Overall, the play was very successful.  It also helped the drama department purchase those new lights and microphones they wanted. The cast, crew, and pit did a terrific job and many people enjoyed this year’s production. They now are looking forward to begin working on their spring play. 

The school play gives the opportunity for many students to get involved, whether they may be a behind the scenes type of person, music lover, actor, or enjoys working with their hands.  The school play is a student run production and truly gives the students an opportunity to show the school and community what they are capable of achieving.