The Spring Musical: Meet Me in St. Louis

Meet Me in Saint Louis is a story that takes place between 1903-1904 as the World’s Fair is preparing to come to Saint Louis. The show centers around the Smith family and their four girls, Rose, Esther, Agnes, and Tootie, and the eldest son, Lon. It follows the romances of the elder two girls, Rose and Esther, and their future plans to move to New York from Saint Louis. Although Saint Ursula Academy put on this show in 2010, it was not then a musical, and neither music director Ms. Jennings nor director Ms. Hinkel were here to be a part of it.

When asked what he was most excited about, Ryan Smith, a senior at Saint Xavier High School, said “I am most excited to go back and be with Saint Ursula Academy’s theatre department. It was the first theatre program I was ever a part of, and it's comforting to know that my high school theatre experience began with Saint Ursula, and my high school theatre experience will end with Ursula.” Ryan was in Once Upon Mattress in 2009 with Ms. Jennings when she was a senior. He and his friends auditioned this year to go out with a bang, and Ryan was cast as Lon Smith.

One of the main parts of the musical is not what is seen on stage, but what is not seen backstage. Jess Klus is the crew head for costumes and also a stage management substitute. Jess and her crew put a lot of work into deciding and finding costumes. “First, we base it off the time period, and then we profile the character, look at their social class and how they would be looked at or treated, and finally we take into account what the actor or actress will be doing onstage.” Jess thinks of it as “a glimpse into the past,” and she is excited to see it all come together. What’s also interesting for the audience is that in a time consumed with technology, Meet Me in St. Louis can offer a perspective of what is what like when technology was just being discovered.

Along with the crew, the directors work hard to create the production concept and have the whole show run smoothly. Ms. Jennings adds, “It's more difficult to direct a musical because you have three different directors working together--the choreographer, the director and the music director--so you have to combine them all and make it look like one person directed the whole show.” Ms. Jennings said she is most excited to see the whole show come together during tech week, especially the songs and dances. She also encourages everyone to come out to Mt. Saint Joseph University to support and see the show on Friday, March 31st through Sunday, April 2nd.

Cast:

Mrs. Anna Smith-- Annalese Cahill

Mr. Alonzo Smith-- Logan Martin

Lon Smith-- Ryan Smith

Rose Smith-- Laura Wiedemann

Esther Smith-- Sophia Heller

Agnes Smith-- Gabi Benintendi

“Tootie” Smith-- Mary Sebastian

Warren Sheffield-- Grant Zentmeyer

John Truett-- Blaise Sweeney

Grandpa-- Eoan Harrison

Katie the Maid-- Kate Liesch

Show Times:

Friday, March 31st @ 7:00pm

Saturday, April 1st @2:00pm

Saturday, April 1st @7:00pm

Sunday, April 2nd @2:00pm