Every spring, when musical auditions are held, many students hope for a lead role. Normally, only one person can play each role, but this isn’t always the case. For the past few years, South has double-casted its musical leads, but what does that mean? According to the Musical Producer and Assistant Principal, Katherine Parent, double-casting is when two performers are cast as the same lead character in a show, but perform at different times.
“This year, most of the leads are double cast, and the ensemble stays the same,” Parent said. “ For the students who are double cast, on the performances where they’re not playing the lead, they still perform, but in the ensemble instead.”
Outside of the alternating of performances, a double cast brings advantages to actors during both rehearsal and showtime.
“It helps our students because it gives them a person to work with, or bounce ideas for their characters off of,” Parent said. “Also when we’re blocking a scene or doing choreography, if someone is absent, they can look over their doubles notes and catch up easily.”
Students like Reese Straske ’27, one of the performers playing Flounder, find a double cast to be an enjoyable and interesting learning experience.
“When you’re good friends with the person you’re double cast with, it makes shows and rehearsals really fun,” Straske said. “It’s also a lot easier to miss a day of rehearsal if you need to because you can just get the notes, instead of having to be taught it.”
On the other hand, student Allie Thomas ’25, one of the performers playing Ariel, finds that double casting also brings some downsides with its benefits.
“Normally, you only get to do three shows as opposed to six which can be disappointing,” Thomas said. “It also can be a little hard to manage having two people for one role at rehearsals, so you get less time to rehearse.”
Through all of the advantages and disadvantages, Parent and the other show’s advisors remind themselves that the most important part of a double-casted performance is to make sure that all performers get equal rehearsal time, and experience doing the show.
“We always try to do the best we can, specifically with the decision about who gets to do which shows,” Parent said. “And, sometimes things aren’t entirely equal but it has nothing to do with our performers, there’s just a lot to balance.”
