Rancho Cucamonga High School’s drama department held auditions for their upcoming musical “The Little Mermaid” on Nov. 27-28, 2023. Students could audition by singing 16 bars of a song from the Disney movie, “The Little Mermaid.”

The RCHS drama department has performed its take on “The Play That Goes Wrong” in previous months. After the success of that play, the class decided to start the production of their upcoming musical, “The Little Mermaid.” According to students in drama, this play is intended to be one of their bigger productions, and the cast is hoping for a lot of energy and excitement from the audience.

Before auditioning, students gathered in the drama room and waited to be put into groups of four, so that the auditioners could be seen interacting with other students and creating relationships with the other potential cast members during their auditions.

“When you go up, you get to have people to talk to and be ready with,” junior Calvin Lee said. “Then, you stand in line and go in whatever order it is. When you get called out, you slate. A slate is when you say your first and last name, the song you’re going to sing, and who you’re auditioning for.”

Students had various experiences regarding their auditions, with many being nervous before going up.

“I auditioned for Ursula, and I was pretty nervous before going up,” freshman Emma Neill said. “Fortunately, I got a callback and even got officially cast for the play.”

Callbacks are when a student is asked to come back to read more lines and potentially be cast for the play. For RCHS, when students are called back, they perform lines with each other to see potential chemistry.

When the cast list was posted, the RCHS drama department did a table rehearsal soon after, where the table was shaped like the outline of a rectangle. Students took turns reading their lines out loud to each other.

Currently, the cast for the play features 38 students. “The Little Mermaid” will debut on March 14, 2024, and will run from March 14-16, 2024.

“It’s going to be a great show with great people. Go watch it!” Lee said.