Behind The Scenes: Ready for the '80s.

The South Lakes Theatre Arts Department will present Xanadu April 25-27 and May 2-4. Some of the cast members are chronicling just what it takes to put together a big musical production. Here is installment No 1:

Behind the Scenes of Xanadu—Episode 1: Suspended in Time

Disco balls, legwarmers, roller skates, and a colossal flying Pegasus; these are things that the students at South Lakes High School are gearing up with in their upcoming production of Xanadu.

After remounting “the remount of a remount,” of West Side Story last year on the South Lakes Little Theatre stage, director Maria Harris is ready to challenge herself, her co-directors, and her students with this new-age musical that throws us back to a time that most have only tried, and recently succeeded, to forget: the 1980s.

From the start, the students of the South Lakes High School Theatre Arts Department were excited to try their hand at this high-energy musical comedy following the previous years’ “serious and heavy-hitting” productions.

“It was time to go in the totally opposite direction,” Harris said, and by choosing Xanadu, she said she hopes to encourage actors, musicians, and technicians to acquire new skills that haven’t been a part of past productions.

Hence, pulling on their legwarmers, tying their hair up high in scrunchies, and throwing out their best disco moves, eager students flocked to auditions, incorporating a colorful and whimsical twist as each student embodied their idea of the 80s.

“It is interesting to go back to a time that our parents and teachers lived in,” says student Kemi Akimbileje. “Usually we study the classics, and we go deep into a time period that no one here has experienced for themselves.”

Said student Helen Slivinski: “It is nice to get a fresh look at the '80s and connect with the time that most of our parents spent in high school.”

But this isn’t the last you’ll hear about Xanadu, and so I appeal to you, to purchase tickets for this one-of-a-kind epic musical!

-- Submitted by SLHS seniors Charlotte DeWolfe, Austin Bur, and Michelle Slivinski.

To purchase Xanadu tickets ($10/adults; $8/Students and seniors), Click here.