Arts & Entertainment
The 'Inner Workings' of Phantom of the Opera
The Branford High School Performing Arts Technical Crew shares the magic of production with a behind the scenes perspective.
seniors Anna Fischer and Sam Johnson are like two peas in a pod. Fischer, Chief of Lighting and Johnson, Chief of Sound, finish each other’s sentences and have been working as a team behind the scenes of high school musicals since sophomore year.
In what they call a lot of learning on the job, this year the duo is advised by technical faculty member Jess Strassburg.
Both Fischer and Johnson started behind the scenes in middle school at ; Johnson, a longtime band member, played in the pit band for Bye Bye Birdie and Fischer worked backstage for the production of Guys and Dolls.
Find out what's happening in Branfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The girls say, right now their workload is moderate but four weeks before the opening of Phantom of the Opera will be the hardest. Fischer adds, “We’ve been getting prepared since the day we heard about it.”
Johnson will be manning the lighting and ensuring that the set looks as good as the crew when the lights go down and curtain goes up. Fischer will be concentrating on the sound making sure the beautiful voices can be heard by all. Fun fact: The girls are excited to note that they often use the “shoot” on the side of the stage to move about without being seen.
Find out what's happening in Branfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Q: Did you girls know a lot about working on a technical theater crew when you first started?
J: No. We learned it and it got really easy.
F: We kind of picked it up.
Q: What is the most challenging part of your jobs?
J: Setting up a sound system and setting up a mic list. You have to go through the whole script and see who talks.
F: Making sure that the lights are in the right area; making sure the right gels are in the right lights to make the set look like what it is supposed to look like.
Q: What are the biggest challenges for you girls with Phantom of the Opera?
F: How much lighting; we have a dark setting and then a very happy setting.
J: The setting is right when they started getting electricity so we have to make it look like old-fashioned lighting.
F: Phantom is on a stage so we have to make our stage look like a stage back then.
J: Another hard thing is waking up early the next day after a show and going to school.
Q: So far what has been your favorite show to work on?
J: I liked Pirates of Penzance.
F: Pirates of Penzance. We worked together on the spotlights for Pirates.
Q: Do you girls like being behind the scenes?
J: I like it because it helps out.
F: It’s cool to see how it’s all put together.
J: We are the inner workings.
Meet the directors, Toni Cartisano and Cathyann Roding in Tuesday's installment of Behind the Mask.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.