Not every person in the musical shared the same feeling about featuring animals in the production, but Mr. Matt Woodward (choir director) was glad to bring his dog Pickles on stage and sophomore Grace Freeman (Gracie Shinn) was excited to borrow a pony from the barn where she rides horses.
“I did [enjoy bringing my dog on set] I think its great to see animals on stage and its really good for Pickles to get out and be around all of these people,” Woodward said. “He’s pretty good with people but this has been a real test for him he [did] a great job too.”
Many thought having the animals on stage was a great way to actually make the story line behind the musical come to life, and to give the students more experience acting with a living animal rather than just with another human.
“Animals make people happy and it brought joy to a lot [the] kids especially the dog Pickles,” Mr. Dean Whitus said. “I definitely think it helps the story line, especially the pony [pulling] the Wells Fargo wagon [on set, instead of] just having an invisible something that [would have] just [been] silly, so I think that [added] magic.”
Now of course it would be very difficult working with animals on stage, since no one ever knows what they might just next, its all just a surprise.
“It was very challenging [working with the pets] because the horse likes to poop a lot when he gets nervous, [but] he’s very understanding of where he’s supposed to go cause he knows his job,” Freeman said. “Then Pickles, Mr. Woodward’s dog, [was] just pretty chill he just does whatever he’s told to do so it’s very easy [with him].”
Overall, the animals were greatly appreciated for adding more depth to the musical, even though there were a few mishaps with the horse’s poop.
