Musicals are a huge tradition at The John Cooper School as students, faculty, and parents have the opportunity to be entertained and pleased by the talent our drama and musical productions hold. However, one thing we never get insight into is how the selection process works. This year, the Upper School musical is The Little Princess, which happens to be the same production The Woodlands High School will be performing this year; however, they will be producing it as a play.

We sat down with Ms. Rotella, the Upper School Musical Director, who gave us a closer look at the selection process, the greater impacts and themes of this musical, as well as how the school’s production choices are communicated with other schools. “We tend to gravitate to musicals that have more female parts than male because that’s our talent pool…but that doesn’t mean we pre-cast a show,” Ms. Rotella clarifies how choosing musicals annually is heavily based on what kind of people generally tend to audition. Ms. Rotella further expresses how it is important to have a “balance” between which musicals are chosen from year to year, so that different audiences can feel represented. For example, last year’s musical, Legally Blonde, was rated PG-13 and targeted a more mature crowd, while the The Little Princess caters to all ages. Ms. Rotella also pointed out that “You want to change it up so that the students have the opportunity to do all kinds of theatrical productions”.

When asked about what made her choose this musical specifically, she explained, “The thing that I really love about this show is its heart…it’s a show where kindness overcomes anger and animosity.” Come see The Little Princess for yourself in the GPAC from November 9th-11th.