The West Bend Current

By Ren Daute, Current Staff

The Theatre on the Hill is buzzing this holiday season as the cast and crew of “Elf: The Musical” perform several sold-out shows of their newest production.

Musical Masquers opened the show “Elf: The Musical” Dec. 15 at UWM-Washington County’s community theater. The show features many local actors and actresses, ranging from elementary age to senior citizens, who are aiming to give the citizens of the West Bend area a festive musical experience and to allow the actors a chance to hone their skills and work with new people. The show runs through Saturday.

“Elf” features a wide-ranging cast of actors with varying levels of experience. Isaac Wagner, a 24-year-old who plays Buddy the Elf, has been acting since he was nine years old, and the show’s director, Heather Hernandez, has been directing shows for about the same amount of time.

“I started back in third grade,” Wagner said. “I was portraying Scrooge, we were doing ‘A Christmas Carol.’ Then about 10 years ago, around 2013, I got my first acting gig as Young Buck.”

Hernandez worked as a theater professional for almost 10 years, directing and assistant-producing shows.

“I have lost count, but this is probably close to my 50th production,” Hernandez said. “This is my biggest musical ever, though.”

The show has many fresh faces in the theater as well. Eric Pasberg, the show’s assistant director and co-music director, is working on his first-ever show. 

The cast and crew of the musical have been rehearsing several times a week since the beginning of October to ensure everything would be ready in time for Christmas.

“At the beginning we were rehearsing about 18 hours a week,” said Finn Falk, cast member and senior at West Bend West High School. “As we get closer we’re doing about 25 hours a week.”

However, the directors have a full-time job’s worth of work cut out for them, even when the actors are off-stage.

“This show is a little different, because I’m filling many roles,” Hernandez said. “I’m doing choreography as well as co-music directing. Considering all that, it’s probably at least 40 or 50 hours of work a week.”

With the amount of time spent together, the cast members have naturally grown closer as a community and have formed many friendships with each other.

“We’re super close to each other,” Falk said. “We do a lot of joking around behind the scenes while being serious on stage.”

“It’s all very familial,” said cast member Isabel Woods-Sweeney, a West senior. “We all trust each other a lot.”

The bonds formed between these actors are essential to the show, according to both directors and cast members. When asked what makes a show successful, many answered that chemistry was essential for success in the theater. 

“I’m very very big on the bonds within the cast and the connections they make with one another,” Hernandez said. “So facilitating that as much as I can is very important to me as a director.”

Wagner says his performance improves when he’s surrounded by peers who grasp the situation and know how to make both work and life easier.

“Sharing a lot of laughs definitely makes it worthwhile,” he said.

Tickets are $20 are available online or at the door.

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(Top image: Isaac Wagner rehearsing “Christmastown” with the child ensemble members during a dress rehearsal. Photo courtesy of Sayla Theirl.)