Georgia Military College Preparatory School (GMC Prep) hosted its Middle School Fine Arts Performance of SpongeBob the Musical on Jan. 27, featuring Broadway star and guest artist Lilli Cooper.
The guest artist series is donor-funded and brings in professionals who have performed in the show that GMC Prep is producing.
These guest artists may do practices, Q & A’s, demonstrations, or more with the students when visiting. Cooper was the first guest artist for the middle school. She played Sandy Cheeks in the original Broadway production.
“Cooper was fantastic. I’m so glad she was with us,” said Morris, GMC Prep’s assistant fine arts director and co-director. “She worked well with the middle school students. She was a great start to the series for the middle school students because she’s a fun, down-to-earth type of person and she’s grown up in the business. She was knowledgeable and very excited to be here.”
According to Morris, Cooper conducted a workshop with the students and shared her experiences as a Broadway performer during a Q&A. She also joined them for practice, according to a press release.
“We prepared a piece to perform with her, so she worked with the students and encouraged them,” said Morris. “She mainly worked with them within that piece, but she also did a question-and-answer time with them answering questions about what it’s like to be a Broadway star, how she got to be one, and what she liked about being the originator of the role of Sandy Cheeks. It was an awesome experience for them.”
SpongeBob the Musical follows several connected plots between the cast of the Nickelodeon cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants.
Morris stated that SpongeBob the Musical was picked because it’s a relatively new show and a very “fun” production paired with the challenge.
About 90 students were in the production, with a majority of the students being in seventh or eighth grade.
The production was performed by our Musical Theatre students,” said Morris. “We wanted to do a show that was fun and exciting. I had seen it a couple of times done by other companies, and I thought it would be a perfect show for our kids. It’s very challenging technically because it changes locations very quickly and it has lots of sound effects to be added in for all the characters to add to that cartoon nuisance."
The students began practicing during the summer at a theatre camp and rehearsed from August through January to perform an hour-long version of the musical. According to Morris, they chose to do an hour-long condensed version because they were chosen to perform as the main stage performance for the Feb. 24 Georgia Junior Thespian Conference.
“They will perform for a 700-plus audience. It’s a great honor and opportunity for them and we are excited to bring SpongeBob the Musical to that conference,” said Morris. “They are going to blow the roof off.”
Morris expressed how proud she was and her excitement for the upcoming show. Now, students will be preparing to attend and perform at the Georgia Junior Thespian Conference.