Thursday, March 28, 2024
Above: Sophomore Rachel Bluhm plays Strawberry’s mother, and sophomore Cassie Larson plays Strawberry. In this scene, Strawberry’s mother sings to Strawberry and tells her that she is special just the way she is.

Standing out in a crowd

‘Freckleface Strawberry’ aimed at showing virtues of being different

Whether it is glasses, braces, red hair or freckles, Medford students performed the musical “Freckleface Strawberry” to show kids that they are special just the way they are. 

The musical is based on a bestselling children’s book series by actress Julianne Moore. The story centers around a 7-year-old girl named Strawberry who is teased by her classmates for having red hair and freckles. She feels different from everyone else and tries to get rid of the freckles by scrubbing them with soap, putting on makeup and wearing a mask to school. 

Sophomore Cassie Larson had the lead role as Strawberry. She enjoys the role because she can relate to her character. Larson has been in two musicals and one play.

“I feel like so much of me is in her because I had the same problem as her growing up. I got teased and made fun of for the things I had when I was little,” Larson said. “This show is sending a message specifically to kids. Other shows we have done have been more adult-themed. It (this show) makes kids realize that life is better around the corner.” 

Larson favors musicals over plays because she gets to do her two favorite things, singing and dancing. 

“The playground, the classroom, my bedroom … it just gives me this feeling of childhood again. You only get to be a kid once, so going back and being a kid again is fun,” Larson said. 

Larson’s favorite scene is when the freckle gang shows up in her bedroom. 

“I am in my bedroom and there are a bunch of freckles that are coming alive and talking to me and trying to tell me that they love me and they just want to be friends with me,” she said. “It is so much fun. They throw me around and the whole time I am just like, Why are there freckles in my room?” 

Larson’s two main challenges were taking on her first lead role and getting the message across to audience members. 

“Getting the dialogue to mean as much as it does was a challenge. I have gone from playing little parts to playing the lead, so it has been really hard for me to learn how to show the emotion in some of the dialogue,” she said. 

Director Shelley Fitzgerald said she enjoyed directing this year’s show because of the growth she saw in the students. 

“You get new kids every year, and some of them have never tried this before, and to see them come out of their shells and really take ownership of their characters and be willing to put themselves out there, that is probably the most rewarding,” Fitzgerald said. 

She liked the show because of the musical variety the students experienced. 

“I love the fact that there is a variety of styles … there is gospel, there is a throwback to an ’80s sound in one of the numbers and another one is more vaudeville-sounding. It is fun as a director to expose the kids to some of these music genres that they may not be as familiar with,” she said. 

The main challenge she faced was getting everyone in the same place at the same time for rehearsal.

“Especially in a small school, a few kids do everything, so it gets really challenging to get the rehearsal time you need with all the different activities that they decide to be involved in,” she said. 

This was TJ Borwege’s first time being on stage for a full-length production. Since he was in sixth grade, Borwege has been involved with behind-the-scenes roles such as setting up or running the lights and moving props. This year he decided to try a role on stage, as he enjoyed playing the Green Lantern in a Medford one-act play. 

“I had a lot of fun with the one-act, and I liked the different feeling of being on stage and being able to portray someone else and be outside of my everyday life and get away from it all,” he said. “It is like joining a different family because you grow and develop relationships with everyone.” 

Borwege enjoyed his role because his character, Lionel, is far from who he really is.

“He is an awkward sort of person who is a nerd and has minimal social skills. I am a very outgoing person in real life, and then I get to act really smart on stage,” he said. “In real life I am a farmer, and I hang out with a bunch of redneck kids. I drive a pickup truck. I wear jeans and plaid shirts and come to school covered in sawdust. Then I get to be the slicked-back-hair, skinny-jeaned type on stage.”

Borwege’s challenge was remembering all the choreography. 

“When you are dancing with a group of 20 other people, it is not so easy because if you are off, everyone else gets off,” he said. 

Sophomore Rachel Bluhm has been in two musicals and one play, but this was her first big role. Bluhm played both Strawberry’s mother and a chorus character. 

“She is very playful and a little crazy. She is supposed to be a grown-up version of Strawberry,” she said. “This is the biggest part I’ve ever had in the musical; I am usually just chorus. In last year’s musical I had two lines, so this is very different.” 

Bluhm enjoyed the show because of the little amounts of dialogue. The majority of the show consists of singing and dancing, some of her favorite things to do. Bluhm also enjoys the relationships she developed with other cast members. 

“I like that we are a family. The bonds that we have are bonds that will never be broken,” she said. 

Changing the tone of her voice for the production was challenging for Bluhm. 

“Shelley wanted me to sound less airy when I sing, so I’ve had to push myself to sing stronger. I had to go out of my comfort zone,” she said. 

Twenty-six students were involved in the production. The students started rehearsing right after winter break and practiced Monday through Friday, with each rehearsal being two to 2½ hours.

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