LCHS drama students, Helaina MacDonald, left, and Carly Hawryluk, play the lead roles in a 36-member cast for the production of a Freaky Friday musical to be presented at Vic Juba Community Theatre this weekend. Geoff Lee Meridian Source
If you’re a teenage girl, switching bodies with your mom on a Friday might be a little bit freaky.
That’s the concept storyline of the Freaky Friday musical that drama students at Lloydminster Comprehensive High School will present at the Vic Juba Community Theatre Friday night at 7 p.m.
There will also be a show on Saturday at 7 p.m. and a Sunday matinee at 1 p.m. with tickets selling for $25.
Viewers will see the mother, Katherine Blake, played by Carly Hawryluk, swap bodies for one freaky Friday with her daughter Ellie, played by Helaina MacDonald.
The overworked mother and her daughter do not get along at first.
“They have to live a day in each other’s shoes to discover what the other struggles with,” said drama teacher and director Simon Stang.
Thematically, it’s all about realizing the immeasurable love and respect a bond between a mother and daughter can bring.
“It’s a comedy with lots of funny parts, but it does have some sentimentality to it as well, especially in the music. The music is quite touching, too,” added Stang.
Stang says there is a cast of 36, but the two female leads are pretty heavy in it.
“They have a lot of lines and songs. They’ve had their work cut out for them, for sure,” said Stang during one of the final rehearsals at LCHS.
Freaky Friday is based on the 1972 novel by Mary Rodgers and Disney films that MacDonald and Hawryluk have watched to get into character.
“I noticed that the daughter was ‘angsty’ so I’m trying to tune into my inner angst,” said MacDonald.
“It’s really cool because you have to start off as your original character, then you have to completely change yourself into a whole different person.”
In real life, MacDonald can’t fathom ever being her mother.
“I’ve never been in the position of my mother, thankfully. I think that would be a little hard,” she said with a laugh.
“You have to tune in to your own self as a mother I guess.”
She hasn’t asked her mother for any tips, but when the suggestion popped up she said, “that’s a good idea. I should.”
This year, the actors get to pick their own costumes, so MacDonald will be on stage wearing a baggy sweater and jeans that her character Ellie wore in the Disney flick.
Hawryluk says having watched the film and the live musical makes it easy to play the mother Katherine.
“It helps you get the feel of how I should act and how I should be in the musical,” she said.
As for her getup, Hawryluk will be donning dress pants, a shirt and a blazer, like the working mom her character parent is.
The teen says unlike her rocky relationship with her theatrical mom, she and her real mom get along just great.
“Me and my mom are best friends. We like a lot of the same things. She’s fun and she’s funky, she’s like me. I kind of step into that role as well,” said Hawryluk.
In the run-up to Friday’s show, she’s trying to perfect her role and all the parts she’s in.
“I have lines in every single scene. I have a song that I have to sing solo and I’m in other songs in the background’ she said.
“It’s definitely a lot and it gets overwhelming at times, but I just compact it all down and make it step by step.”
Stang says the cast started practising in February in preparation for a couple of sneak preview matinees for middle school children this week before the first public performance on Friday.
