Ogilvie High brings fairy tales to life with Midwest premier

The road to the premier has been as topsy-turvy as the show itself. 

Between typical high school theater issues such as losing cast members, limited resources, and even more limited budgets, the 55 member strong cast and crew also lost a week of rehearsal due to the disastrous weather that has plagued the area recently. 

However, not a single cast member seems disheartened. Dylan Walker, the show’s director and current chair of the Ogilvie High School Theater Department spoke passionately about the process even as they were hustling to make up for lost time. 

Costumes needed to be made and finalized. Set pieces were being painted and assembled and there was a lot of work to be done going into tech week. 

As kids from grades seven through 12 donned costumes, they consulted with the director, and perused the set.

 They shared their excitement, apprehension and favorite memories of the process, from wacky set interactions to the feeling of camaraderie amongst the cast itself. The students come from a variety of high school experiences, high school through junior high age and all levels of theater experience, a first production for some while others are community and school theater veterans. The most noticeable thing shared among them, though, is their enthusiasm for the upcoming show and their excitement for this Midwest debut. 

The musical itself follows Jill of ‘Jack and Jill’ fame on an investigation into why classic fairy tales such as ‘the Three Little Pigs,’ ‘the Three Billy Goats Gruff,’ and ‘Goldilocks’ are having their iconic and well-known endings go awry. 

The rights were acquired by a company out of Ontario, Canada called Righteous Coda Music following its 2010 debut at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Walker came upon the show while looking for alternatives to bigger-name musicals, hoping to spend less on royalties and more on the production of the show itself. 

Billed as a musical comedy, the show features numbers such as ‘You Don’t Know Jack,’ all about Jack of ‘Jack and Jill,’ ‘Jack and the Beanstalk,’ and innumerable other tales, ‘Villainy’ a trio between some well-known fairy tale antagonists and ‘Gruff Exterior™’ a jab at cosmetic advertisements with a barbershop trio twist. 

“Fairy Tale Ending – The Big Bad Family Musical” opens Thursday, March 14 at Ogilvie High School and runs through Sunday, March 17. 

Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance at www.showtix4u.com, and are $6 for students and $8 for adults.