By CHERYL JENSEN
The Progress
A musical stage production of Moana Jr., was presented by students at Virgin Valley Elementary School on March 7-9. The play had six performances with enthusiastic audiences of nearly 200 people applauding at each of them.
The production involved students from grades 3-5 at the school. The play alternated with two different casts.
The Fiji cast included Lillian Marrott as the title character, Nathan Stuvie as Chief Rui, Alexia Silveyra as Sina, Aria Conner as Hei Hei the chicken, Celcan Meierhoff as Pua the pig. Bianca Cortez was Gramma Tala and James T. Trimming was Maui.
The Samoa cast had Maren Wakefield playing Moana, Nathan Stuvie as Chief Fui, Tei Paongo as Sina, Ashlynn Dalton as HeiHei, Lexie Allen as Pau, Elayna Whipple as Gramma Tala, and Beckett Davis as Maui.
The other member of the cast consisted of the chief ancestors, villagers, fishers, farmers, and weavers who were dressed in Polynesian outfits of various colors.
The Ocean chorus dressed in blue flowing dresses made the “waves” of the ocean with their bright blue-purple-white waving fabric attached to fans. The shiny clown fish moved through the “waves” of the ocean while singing in Samoan.
The dancers showed a lot of enthusiasm and sang the chorus in Tokelauau.
The Gate Monsters were quite acrobatic in their tumbling and cartwheeling across the stage. Etienne Rodriguez played the part of the gate monster and was transformed from her costume of layers of black and red netting to a lovely green flowered island dress.
Tomatoa, the antagonist, wearing a shiny gold suit, entertained the audience in song with the help of the crabs with their purple claw. Tomatoa was played by Alex Bennett and Savanah Gleave. The lighted umbrellas of the crabs added to the scene. The canoes and the island scenes gave the impression of sailing on the ocean past the reef.
VVES principal Matt Bennett said that he was pleased with the performances and with the educational experiences it provided to the students.
“If you want to see some kids really grow and learn, give them five months to learn a musical as a third grader,” Bennett said. “To see those kids perform to that level…I get goosebumps!”
Jenny Good, music teacher at VVES, was the director with the help of Mrs. Trimming, Jamie Wakefield and Mrs. L. Lundin. Many thanks to the lighting techs and stage crew. Costumes were altered by Jenny and Alyson Hughes and Lonnie Dalton designed the cast shirts. Thank you to the donors: David & Jane Broyarski, Eureka Casino, and Alex Blazzard.
