After months of practice, we had the production of the musical “Oliver!” on three consecutive days, from Thursday to Saturday. The previous days we practiced daily, with several hours-long rehearsals that left me exhausted and with little time to do much of the academic work, such as IAs that had to be finished. However, the practices and performances themselves were a lot of fun, and I was very happy that I participated in this production.

My playing during the warm-up of the first performance. Photo credits: GeckoNet

The first night’s performance went very smoothly, particularly in the acting, as nobody forgot their lines and expressions and gestures were excellent, often better than in the dress rehearsal. Although our music was quite good, we all made some mistakes that could have been avoided, such as a few wrong notes, that were probably not noticed by the audience but that we didn’t make in the dress rehearsal. This was a bit annoying, but fortunately there were no major mistakes that were exposed and distracted from the play. We were all very satisfied at the end of the play and congratulated each other, which was cool, seeing how this musical allowed us to bond with others with whom we otherwise rarely interact.

Me and fellow DP2 participants posing in front of the set. Photo credits: GeckoNet.

The second performance night was similarly good and enjoyable. Some of the actors were not as good as the previous night unfortunately and a couple of times nearly forgot their lines, but I believe that this was not really noticeable to the audience but rather to people who have seen this play through rehearsals and performances. The band played really well this night, and I was particularly happy of my playing. Although it was the end of the week and I was very tired, I managed to stay focused and had nearly no wrong notes, while my volume was very good I thought. We received a lot of praise, both the actors and for the music itself, which of course makes the extensive practicing worthwhile. I heard afterwards though that one could not hear the trumpet as well, since the piano, violin and cello had mics, so I planned to play a bit louder for the last performance.

The last performance, which was very special as the audience had a gala dinner while watching the play, was excellent as well. I felt that I played better than the evenings before as I got more pitching right and my volume was more accurate. However, I did unfortunately missed some high notes, but luckily these were in places where I could not really be heard, such as when a large group of actors were singing. The acting was very good as well this night, and while a few people acted better the previous nights, most had more energy on the gala evening and remembered all their lines easily.

The whole cast and band. Photo credits: GeckoNet.

The whole event was a lot of fun and looking back, I was happy to be part of it. Although sometimes the performances were very tiring and I was not very motivated as I had a lot of work to do, the rehearsals became progressively more enjoyable and it was great to be part of such a large group of creative students all working together.