By Bridget Dawson

You may have seen the hit musical Disaster! in Conard's theater these past few weekends. The show was beautifully crafted into a seamless presentation, featuring 40 students on stage, over 40 in the crew, and eight in the pit orchestra. This talented group of people worked tirelessly from the musical's production in early 2025. With a show as fluent and complex as Disaster!, there is so much that goes on behind the scenes that you would never see from just watching the performance. The organization of the show begins in early spring, and it is no easy feat. The crew of adult directors includes Mrs. Barry, the co-producer; Ms. Parker, the director and co-producer; Mr. Eurich, the vocal music director; and Mr. Wyatt, the pit orchestra conductor. They meet in early spring to pitch different ideas for the winter musical from their different lenses of opinion. In contrast to Conard’s 2024 musical, Les Miserables, the directors were searching for something “light” and “funny” and eventually landed on Disaster!. The show takes place in 1979 Manhattan during the opening night of the Barracuda, the first floating casino and discothèque in New York. The show includes 70s hits such as Hooked on a Feeling, I Am Woman, Hot Stuff, and so many more. 

The Conard musical, with a few minor exceptions, is completely self-funded. Mrs. Barry regarded money and funding as the hardest aspects of planning. Just purchasing the rights to the show alone from MTI (Musical Theatre International) was around 10,000 dollars (and is accompanied by a 20-page contract). Other added expenses from marketing, sets, lights, paying our 15 adult leaders, and countless other expenses make for an extremely expensive musical. The budget for the entire year is based on the amount of ticket sales from the previous show. Conard's most recent musicals, Les Miserables (School Edition) and Frozen, The Broadway Musical, both sold out and therefore provided the fund with a lot of money. With inflation, the wood and the lighting vastly increased even since the 2024 musical, which was unexpected. With 4 staircases, a sizable turntable, an elevator, and the 2-story floating casino itself, this year's set was extremely expensive. The money from Les Miserables made the amazing set possible. Additionally, no money had to be spent on projections or sound, which helped lighten the blow from the sets. In order to maximize ticket sales, and therefore, our budget, Mrs. Barry does a lot of marketing for the show. This includes designing the shirts, posters, lawn signs, program book, WeHa town banner, and managing the social media. The award-winning quality of Conard's musicals and their good reputation also keep people coming back year after year.

The 40-person crew works to build these sets and help things go smoothly backstage. The crew begins their weekly 5-hour Saturday set builds as soon as we get back to school from winter break. Closer to the show, the crew will begin studying the libretto (script) so that they can assist in the production of the show, and they will attend rehearsals with the crew more regularly. In early March they have a 12-hour rehearsal known as “tech Saturday.” A Conard Junior reports that “there are no bad things about being in crew.” They went on to say that things that could be seen as challenges, such as building sets, memorizing the show from backstage, and long build days, are wonderful learning experiences that they “wouldn't trade for the world.” The crew generates the magic of the show, and it truly couldn't be done without them. 

While the crew makes the world go round backstage, the cast is what brings the magic of the 70s to life. The cast of students rehearses around 2-3 hours a day, 3-5 days a week for 2 months, and then begins tech week. Tech week begins with sitzprobe, which entails the show's first run-through with microphones and happens about two weeks out from the opening night. After sitzprobe, students will attend rehearsal for up to five hours after school and one nine-hour rehearsal one week out from the show, known as “tech Sunday.” Junior Delia Canarie explains that tech is the most fun part of the production because “throughout the whole process, the cast becomes like family.” Being an actor in the show shows incredible commitment, and although time-consuming and stress-invoking, sophomore Rachel Sullo regards these jam-packed weeks as the “most meaningful and fun.” Regardless of how much fun it is, there truly is a lot of hard work that goes into it. 

With so many different pursuits of hard work and five performances across two weekends, the show was a massive hit. It drew more and more people each night, each crowd leaving happier than they came. Audience member and Conard Senior Piper Patrissi insists, “If you didn't get a chance to see it, you really missed out.”