Photo story: Edwardsburg presents ‘The Little Mermaid’

Published 9:21 am Thursday, March 29, 2018

By Andrew Mentock

EDWARDSBURG — Mermaid’s, a talking crab, an evil octopus and a heroic prince stole the show in Edwardsburg this past weekend.

Edwardsburg High School performed its spring musical, Disney’s ‘the Little Mermaid’ from Friday through Sunday.

“This musical went incredibly well,” said Kyle Rehnlund, the director of the musical. “It’s definitely one of the most successful this school district has ever put on.”

The performances took place at the Edwardsburg Performing Arts Center. The leads in the show were senior Robert Clark (Prince Eric) and juniors Natalie Rarick (Ariel), Cody Adkins (Sebastian) and Tori Hoffman (Ursula).

“These students were phenomenal in all aspects of the show,” Rehnlund said. “I wouldn’t have wanted a different cast.”

Another reason Rehnlund says the music was likely successful is due to the popularity of the story, which he knew would help bring the community together. 

“I chose this show because I wanted to bring in a lot of community members, as well as other communities in the area,” he said. “It also shows off a lot of talent in our school, and you can never go wrong with a Disney show.”

Assisting him with the show was Chelsea Rehnlund, technical director; Catherine Wood, assistant director and Alexis Banks, orchestra director. Without them and the help of many others, Rehnlund says the show would not have been as successful.

Their biggest challenges were the technical aspects, such as the lights, sound and set design.

“Making it look like a whole other world takes a lot of work,” Rehnlund said.

According to him, the highlights of this musical were getting his vision come to life on stage and seeing how excited the children were after the show during a “meet-and-greeting” with the cast.

“Seeing the audience’s reactions makes all the hard work and stress worthwhile.,” he said. “Additionally, seeing my students be challenged musically. Their passion for musical theater inspires me every show I produce.”

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