On Thursday, March 23, the Diane and David B. Heller auditorium is buzzing. Despite its being 7:00 on a school night, supportive parents, friends, students, and teachers struggle to find a seat in the packed room. Playbills with “Shrek Jr.: The Musical” sprawled across the covers seem to be in everyone’s hand.

As the lights go down, three “storytellers” make their way to the corner of the stage. They begin the musical the same way any other fairy tale begins: “Once upon a time.” A sixth grader with ripped clothing and a green painted face comes clomping down stage right.

In the two hours that follow, an ogre with his pal Donkey set off on a quest to recover his swamp from an evil dictator named Farquaad, all while traditional fairy tale characters with zany personalities sing about defying the story that was written for them.

The middle school musical has always served as a forum for creativity and camaraderie in which sixth, seventh, and eighth graders take their first steps into theater. This year’s musical was that, but it was also different. For “Shrek Jr.” the staff was changed and the lead roles double casted.

Former director Josh Lesser and former stage manager Tommy Nolan, the same pair that were coordinating Parker’s middle school musicals for the past six years, had to be replaced after Lesser moved to California and Nolan to Colorado. Lesser moved to pursue a degree, and Nolan for family reasons.

Taking the role of director was senior kindergarten teacher Dana O’Brien and music teacher Robert Denien. Theater and Technical Coordinator Tom Moster replaced Nolan as stage manager.

O’Brien didn’t exactly ask for the position. “I saw the email that said they needed help for the musical, and I’ve been improvising on stage my whole life,” O’Brien said. “Mr. Denien came up to me and said that they needed a director.”

O’Brien had a vision when coming into the musical. “Mainly, we wanted to make sure that the big group numbers were the highlight,” O’Brien said, “so the kids all sort of had a stake in it.”

Ensemble numbers, with a packed stage of middle schoolers dressed as various fairy tale characters singing songs about “letting your freak flag wave,” made audiences laugh, connect, and ultimately applaud.  

Over the last couple of months, O’Brien made sure not to lose sight of the what she thinks the true lesson of the musical is. “As a director, it’s more, ‘Let’s show students the process of working hard and what coming out with a really great product feels like,’” O’Brien said.  “That’s what it’s all about.”

Alongside O’Brien was Denien.  Music Director in last year’s middle school show, “Bye Bye Birdie,” Denien was the co-director of “Shrek.”

“When you lose somebody like Josh Lesser, you really realize how much they did,” Denien said. “In previous years I was just concerned with the music. Now I realize the magnitude of his job.”

Denien has experienced the directing styles of both Lesser and O’Brien.  “Josh Lesser and Dana O’Brien come at directing with different perspectives,” Denien said.  “But overall, from the kids’ standpoint, the energy is the same.”

For the new director’s part, Denien said that O’Brien “will think of things that I’ve never thought of.”

The roles weren’t only changing behind the scenes. This year was the first time in recent memory that the middle school musical was double casted–when two or more actors play the same character.

Six lead roles in Shrek Jr. were doubled up. One of the two actors played the role in the Thursday and Saturday shows while the other would play the role in the Friday show and the two MX’s.

Although they didn’t go into auditions thinking that they would double cast, Denien and O’Brien were pleasantly surprised with all the talent they were presented with. “The system is that the eighth graders typically get the leads,” O’Brien said. “There were too many talented eighth graders, and we wanted to be fair to them.”

Eighth grader Bella Charfoos, who has been a part of the musical for the past two years, was “Princess Fiona” while in Thursday’s show and on Friday’s show she was a part of the ensemble. “Double casting was an adventure,” Charfoos said. “I think that we really learned from our double cast. Some people really bonded because of it, and that was super cool to see.”

Double casting gave leads an opportunity to see things from a new perspective. “Even though Amelia and I are acting as the same character, we end up being extremely different,” Charfoos said of her cast-mate, eighth-grader Amelia Hoerr. “Even though we are saying the same lines, we take our characters and make them our own. It’s interesting to see that.”

Hoerr liked the way that O’Brien and Denien gave them freedom. Hoerr said, “It was enjoyable to be cut loose with some responsibility.”  

Eighth grader Ava Ori was also double cast with eighth grader Sallie England as “Donkey.” “The double casting system was a great idea, and I loved working with Sallie,” Ori said. “We really fed off of one another, whether we were giving feedback or fanning each other off backstage in those heavy costumes!”

Ultimately, Ori was pleased with the changes in her final year of the middle school musical. “Things were different from last year, but the show turned out amazing,” Ori said. “And I owe it all to the cast and directors.”