Audience gets more than a front-row seat at Mary Poppins

Under the direction of performing arts faculty member Sam Shapiro, the nearly 30 cast members – including Mary Poppins, Jamie Lockhart '21 – gathered outdoors at locations on campus and at the nearby Barnacle for video recordings of the musical. Because of the wind and background sounds, the audio heard in the video had to be recorded in a sound studio, and later merged with the video. COVID-19 precautions prevented students from singing in the same room at the same time.

That meant students used their free periods and lunches to record individually their songs in one of two sound studios set up in the Lewis Family Auditorium. Three of the songs used 30 voices – meaning 30 different audio tracks were each recorded separately, then painstakingly stitched together and paired with the video.

To prepare for the video shoots, students learned songs and dances virtually, practicing by themselves before coming together to make it work live. After rehearsing for a few weeks in masks and under tents on the upper school campus, the show recordings began. The un-masked live shots all took place outdoors; students wore masks until the moment the cameras went live – then quickly put them on again after each shot.

Shapiro, faculty member Quincy Knowles and students juggled the acting, singing, recording and editing without any outside assistance. Florencia Ancewicz sourced the costumes and props. Jake Perdigon '24 led the film crew: Viviana Vela '21, Mark Mateo '22 and Liam de Araujo '21 each manned cameras at various times. Actors Cameron Franklin '22 and Natasha Rodriguez '23 assisted with the final editing.

Shapiro said the team worked literally until showtime to finish the video.

"We exported the file at 7:35 p.m.," she said. "We pushed play at 7:37 p.m."

The final result was worth the wait.

Cast

Mary Poppins, Jamie Lockhart ’21

Bert, Matthew Zide ’22

George Banks, Ricardo Andrade ’21

Winifred Banks, Alexandra Prio-Touzet ’21

Jane Banks, Zoe Holtzman ’22

Michael Banks, Nicolas Maynulet ’23

Katie Nanna, Lena Zide ’23

Police/Chairman/Mr. Punch, Finn Oberg ’24

Miss Lark, Megan Diston ’21

Von Hussler/Robertson Ay, Andres Soto ’21

Mrs. Brill, Celeste Viana ’22

Robertson Ay/Neleus, Cameron Franklin ’22

Miss Smythe, Erica Siblesz ’23

Mrs. Corry, Jessica Weinstein ’22

Valentine, Natasha Rodriguez ’23

Doll, Emma Holtzman ’24
Teddy Bear, Gabrielle Lieberman ’24
Miss Andrew, Maddy Bagnall ’21
Queen Victoria, Natasha Do Valle ’23

 

Park Stroller/Clerks/Customers/Toys:

Adriana Bussel-Alonso ’23

Diana Gonzalez ’24

Kaitlyn Gonzalez ’24

Grace Hucks ’24

Aone Katsoufis ’24

Maya Shaked ’24

Lucia Soto ’24

Esmeralda Swietelesky ’24

Inceni Cabrera ’22

Director, Sam Shapiro

Technical Director, Quincy Knowles

Assistant Technical Director/Costumes & Props, Florencia Ancewicz

Director of Photography, Jake Perdigon ’24

 

Leah Croom ’24

Kate Demons-Brown ’23

Victor Fariñas ’24

Alexa Geller ’23

Diana Gonzalez ’24

Milo Gorey ’24

Trinity Haisch ’24

Derrick Ma ’24

Gaby Martinez ’24

Gabby Pena ’24

Jake Perdigon ’24

Emma Quintane ’23

Taya Wilson ’21