Sweltering weather isn’t stopping the theater department from Singin’ in the Rain as they gear up for the musical that’s set to open Nov. 29 in the auditorium.

“It might feel early, but it’s really not; we start rehearsals because our show is in late November,” theater director Heather Willingham said. “There’s a huge collaboration of all the fine arts directors, and right now, as a director, I haven’t done many of the rehearsals yet. The music director has come in, our new choir teacher Ms. Ugolini, and has been working with people. Ms. Nothe and senior Maya Koch have been taking on dance. I’m here to facilitate, but right now I’m just watching them. They’re the ones taking over.”

Tap dance is heavily featured in the musical as a whole, so some of the cast members learned the basics on their own during the summer in order to feel more comfortable and familiar with what they were doing. Others were able to wait until the first week of rehearsal before they began learning the basic steps, but returned to school with an equally prepared mindset.

“While I didn’t teach myself tap over the summer, all the work and rehearsal that goes into a show really pays off,” cast member Isabella Knott said. “It’s really important that we know right off the bat how we want to perform as a group, so that’s definitely one of our priorities as we go through rehearsals.”

As the production of Singin’ in the Rain continues to be refined and pieced together, Willingham is able narrow her focus with the school’s addition of theatre tech director Jason Dixon.

“It takes a lot of work to put on a full-scale broadway production, which is pretty much what we do,” Willingham said. “The biggest difference this year is that I’m not having to design all of the technical elements now that Mr. Dixon is here designing set, lights, and sound, so I’m able to focus on the acting end of it and the directing of it.”