It’s finally here. The big musical that Hillcrest is known for is about to be put on. Students, stage tech, and staff have had to deal with a changing schedule throughout the school year. But, with the auditorium just finished, and everything is finally starting to come together. Here is an update on what’s been happening with “Holiday Inn.”

First off, there were rumors early on that they might have to move the musical to Butler Middle School, but Jacob Ruplinger, who has one of the lead roles, Ted Hanover, put those rumors to rest.

“Those rumors were just precautions because the auditorium wasn’t finished,” Ruplinger said. “But now that it is, we will be performing in the Hillcrest auditorium for sure.”

In an earlier interview given by Sienna Yang of the PawPrint, Mr. Long also shot down the rumors by saying, “We’ll perform in the auditorium.”

At the beginning of November, those in the cast finally got to see the new auditorium for the first time. Megan Petersen, the Vice President of Dance Company, gave the PawPrint her reaction.

“It’s stunning; the auditorium is absolutely stunning. The stage is beautiful, the acoustics are perfect, and we have an actual pit now for orchestra,” Petersen said.

Ruplinger added his take on the auditorium as well, saying, “It’s so great. It’s beautifully built, and it’s perfect for what we need. We’re all super excited to get to know and explore the new space.”

Now that the stage for the musical is finished, it’s time to focus on the how. Before the auditorium was completed, it was kind of frantic. Ruplinger talked about where they had been practicing.

“The choir room, band room, theatre room, dance studio, black box, and the atrium,” Ruplinger added. “Pretty much any space that was available!”

“Honestly, the crazy is part of the fun with the musical. Just because of COVID and its effects on everything this year has been a different form of crazy, but it’s not bad.” Petersen later added, “It’s a good crazy, you get to meet and work with so many people and go on this crazy journey with them, and it’s something super fun you only get to do a limited amount of times.”

Finally, when is the musical happening? It was initially set for November 18 to the 22, but it has been pushed back to December 2 through 4.