MHS putting finishing touches on fall musical production of ‘Freaky Friday’
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By now, the story at the heart of "Freaky Friday" -- a 1972 Mary Rodgers novel about a mother and daughter switching bodies -- is probably familiar to most audiences through the numerous film adaptations, including a 1976 version starring Barbara Harris and a young Jodie Foster and a 2003 remake featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan, but the production the Marshalltown High School drama department will bring to the stage next weekend is actually a musical that is most similar to another 2018 remake that aired on the Disney Channel.
The basics remain the same: Ellie Blake (Jacky Hernandez Raya), a rebellious teen, is often at odds with her mom Katherine (Meredith Kodis), who is about to marry the wealthy Mike (Isaac Seberger). In this case, the object that sets off the famous body swap and forms the crux of the plot is a magic hourglass as opposed to a mysterious fortune cookie in the 2003 version.
For the two lead actresses, the challenge of switching between older and younger personas, especially for Hernandez Raya, was difficult at times.
"I think it's hard. I talk too fast sometimes and I need to slow down because I'm (playing) a mom," she said. "(But) I like when we switch bodies. I think that's fun... I just think it's funny how she thinks school's gonna be so easy, how she's gonna get everything and then she doesn't."
Kodis joked that she had the easier role of the two because after the switch, she's a 16-year-old girl and can slip into character pretty easily. She had been involved in fall sports and finally got a chance to sing one of her solos for the first time recently, which she truly loved.
"It was great, and I love that song," she said.
On the other hand, Seberger, who just recently wrapped up his cross country season, said he really enjoys one of his songs and had to work to mellow himself out a bit.
"I got a little bit of a lighter part, but I really like the solo that I sing. So I'm looking forward to my solo, and my lines are kind of fun too. It's a hard part change, though, because I'm very eccentric, but my character's kind of laid back," he said.
MHS Vocal Music Director Amy Ose and Ryan Boley are serving as the co-directors of the show, and Ose joked that the body switch can even be confusing for her at times. This version of "Freaky Friday" will include a pit orchestra accompaniment, and Ose praised arranger Tom Kitt as "pretty amazing" for the way he incorporated music into the show.
"The storyline really is carried in these songs, heavily, in this show maybe more than last year's show when we did 'Once Upon a Mattress,'" Ose said. "The lines come by fast, and they're very layered in spots so you've got three different stories happening multiple times. And keeping track of what story is being shared is sometimes tricky, but it's a lot of fun."
The tunes encompass an eclectic range of genres from rock to jazz to samba. "Freaky Friday" will be performed Friday, Nov. 3 and Saturday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. both nights at the Marshalltown Performing Arts Center. Tickets will be sold on a general admission basis at the door for $6 to anyone who is school age and older, and MHS activity tickets are also honored.
Ose is excited to bring something "fresh and new" to the stage, and she hopes audiences will connect with the story and walk out of the auditorium smiling.
"Hopefully they see the humor in it. (During) our first readthrough, we were laughing, and there are still moments on stage where we are cracking up when we can't, but it's funny," she said. "It's just a funny show."
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Contact Robert Maharry
at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or
rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.