Hampton Drama Club Presents "The Little Mermaid Jr."

                                                   By The Hampton Herald Staff    The Hampton Elementary School Drama Club is performing The Little Mermaid Jr. the next weekend in the Hampton Elementary School auditorium.

    The Little Mermaid is a story of Ariel, a mermaid, and her journey to becoming human.

    The Hampton Drama Club performed its first musical last year, which was Beauty and the Beast.  Lots of students who performed last year were very excited to participate again.

“It was fun last time, and it seemed like it would be fun again this time,” said Rachel J.

Students in the group were able to make new friends in other grades by participating in the drama club.

“Last year it was an amazing opportunity to meet new people and I was excited to be able to do that again,” said Kai G-H.

Third, fourth, and fifth grade students at Hampton were invited to audition for the musical this year. The auditions were in September and the cast has been working hard ever since to prepare for the show.

    Mr. Wilmore, Mrs. Fletcher, Mrs. Barboza, and Mrs. Stock are running the Drama Club this year.  Mr. Willmore is the director, Mrs. Fletcher is the music director, Mrs. Barboza is the choreographer, and Mrs. Stock is in charge of the logistics of the production.

There are also some other teachers and volunteers who are helping with the production.  Mrs. Towner and the art club helped with the sets.

The art club worked hard on painting the sets, and they were met with a few challenges.

“We had to finish in a specific timeline,” said Julianna L.   “We also ran out of paint.”

Besides painting the new sets, art club members had to prepare the old sets for use.  The club members spent a lot of time painting the old sets with white primer.  It took the art club several months to complete the sets.

“We spent four or five months,” said Mrs. Towner, the art club moderator.  “The art club meets just on Mondays.”

Art club members got their inspiration from several different sources.  They got color ideas from the movie, and they used photos of potions and the sea to inform their work.  Mr. Willmore looked at sketches students made and chose all of the details that he liked.

Students at Hampton were able to get a preview of the performance on February 23rd.  The Drama Club performed select numbers in their cast t-shirts at two assemblies.

    “I liked it.  It was good at the start, and the middle, and the end was also good,” said Chad S., a fourth grade student.

The cast also had a performance for the teachers at Hampton on February 28th.

“I thought it was spectacular.  We have great talent in our students,” said Mrs. Williams, a fifth-grade teacher who attended the performance.  “I can’t wait for the next show!”

The first weekend of the show is complete, and it will run for one more weekend. The show is sold out for the weekends.  

The Hampton Herald Staff wants to wish “Break a Leg” to our staff members in the musical!