HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA CLUB PRESENTS ELF THE MUSICAL JR. AS THEIR FALL PRODUCTION

Students at Bloom High School are preparing to open their fall production of Elf The Musical Jr. Photo Credit: Bloom High School Drama Club
Students at Bloom High School are preparing to open their fall production of Elf The Musical Jr. Photo Credit: Bloom High School Drama Club

High School Drama Club Presents Elf The Musical Jr. As Their Fall Production

BY KATHERINE NEWMAN

The Bloom High School Drama Club is preparing for their fall production of Elf The Musical Jr. which will open at 7 p.m. tomorrow, Nov. 29. There will be another 7 p.m. show on Friday, Nov. 30 and a performance at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, December 1 at Bloom High School, 101 W 10th St, in Chicago Heights. Ticket prices are $6 for adults, $5 for students, $5 for senior citizens, and kids 5 and under are free.

Elf The Musical Jr. is based on the classic New Line Cinema film, Elf, and features original songs by Tony Award-nominees, Matthew Sklar and Chad Beguelin, according to Music Theatre International.

“It’s pretty similar to the film, it’s just a shortened version and it is a Jr. version so it’s more geared towards children. The Broadway version isn’t available right now and isn’t able to be licensed so we had to go with the shortened version,” said Nadima Zegar, director of dramatic activities at Bloom High School.

The production tells the tale of Buddy, a young orphan, who mistakenly crawls into Santa's bag of gifts and is transported to the North Pole. The young boy is raised by elves and completely unaware that he is actually a human for most of his life until his enormous size and poor toy-making abilities force him to ask questions about his past. With Santa's permission, Buddy travels to New York City in search of his birth-father who he learns is on Santa’s naughty list. While in New York, Buddy is determined to win over his new family and remind them of the meaning of Christmas.

“The students are definitely excited. They just got to see the costumes and the set completed last week and that really added to the excitement. There are some nerves and I have a lot of new students and freshman that you can tell have a little bit of stage fright but they get over it really quickly. I would say overall everyone is excited and just a little nervous,” said Zegar.

The Drama Club at Bloom High School is one of the biggest clubs at the school and normally has anywhere from 60 to 100 students participate in each production. The Bloom High School Drama Club typically puts on two shows a year, a fall play and a spring musical, according to Zegar.

“My favorite part of putting on a production is two-fold. I love seeing it come together and all the kids are so extremely talented, their singing is wonderful and they are such great actors and actresses, so that’s definitely a highlight for me. Then also I love seeing them come together as a family. Drama Club is definitely like a family here and after the spring show, the kids are in tears because it’s the end of the year and the seniors are graduating.

Seeing them come together as a family is definitely my favorite part,” said Zegar.

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