Every year, a notable NVD highlight to look out for is the school musical. This year, NVD is performing “Freaky Friday!” The musical, held in the school’s auditorium, is showing on Friday, March 1 at 7pm, Saturday, March 2 at 7pm with a kid’s matinee at 2pm and on March 3 at 2pm.
“Freaky Friday,” is based on the novel by Mary Rogers, and the Disney films, is a heartfelt comedy that tackles the relationship between mothers and daughters.
Alexa Weiss, who plays the character Ellie Blake, gives a little synopsis of the show.
“It’s about a mother and a daughter–Ellie and Katherine Blake–and they have a very complicated relationship. The daughter is a moody teen, and the mother just wants the daughter to be happy, but also be put together and well-rounded,” Weiss said, “they have an estranged relationship, and they eventually get into a big argument over an hourglass, and they swap bodies. And that’s where the story goes from there.”
The show explores the everyday taboo of mothers and daughters–or rather, parents and children in general–disagreeing about whose life is more difficult, or who’s always right, or who works harder.
Trinity Lee, who portrays Katherine Blake–Ellie Blake’s mother–expands on their road to understanding one another’s worlds through each others’ experiences and environments.
“The big chunk of ‘Freaky Friday’ is Ellie and Katherine switching bodies and understanding the internal and external factors that they have to deal with every day,” Lee said, “all of these characters and places contribute to the external factors that the characters deal with, and it helps the person who’s in the other person’s body understand their real struggles.”
Like many mothers and daughters, Katherine and Ellie Blake don’t think about each other’s potential battles until they experience them. They often forget that they both have their own unique struggles. This kind of dynamic is very relatable.
David Marconi, the director of the show, explains a little about the overall moral of “Freaky Friday” and what he hopes the audience will take away from the show.
“Remember to be understanding to your parents. I think we all have times, even me, now in life, I think there are times in which you can butt heads with a parent on several different issues. It never stops,” Marconi said, “but I think you still have to realize that you’re not so different…. you’re more alike than you know you are, and even though you don’t always agree.”
The lesson of understanding one another in familial relationships is prevalent throughout the characters in “Freaky Friday.”
“I think on both ends of the arguments, you both have each other’s best interests in mind. And I think this is a story that really reminds us that at the end of the day, we might butt heads, but when it comes to family, we really do love each other” Marconi said.
