It’s finally time to say hello to Dolly. With November comes the fall musical, a much anticipated staple of Manhattan High School. This year the drama department is putting on “Hello Dolly.” The story follows Dolly Levi, a widow turned matchmaker setting people up left and right. She travels all the way from Yonker to New York to arrange three couples and look for a husband for herself. The entire week leading up to Sunday’s opening has been busy and fast-paced, but paying off.

“Dress rehearsals are every day besides Friday this week from 3 to 9, junior Marlena Hummel said. “It is exhausting, but we can all get so much work done to give the best show we can.”

The actors all get dressed, do hair and makeup, undergo mic checks, have prop checks and then run the whole show through. Throughout the week there were intermittent specialty dance rehearsals and scene practices as well. The entire drama department has been working as hard as they can to make the show the best it can be.

“Despite the rough process, morale is high.” senior Sam Clark said. “Everyone involved is highly committed to the show and we all want it to be the best it can be. Also, paradoxically, even though dress week is the hardest, most time-consuming part of the show, it’s most people’s favorite part. Seeing the show you’ve been working on finally come together is a very rewarding experience.”

In addition to the actors honing in their talents, the tech crew is also in full preparation mode.

“Rehearsals are going smoother as we go along,” senior LIzzy Mummert said. “We are sort of figuring a lot out as we go so it’s been stressful both for techies and the actors. Especially because a lot of stuff techies do, like set changes, are being done by the actors.”

In preparation for the musical the drama department planned a little event to get the word out about the show. On Thursday during seventh hour the Thespians put on a sneak preview of the musical at the end of the hour, performing the songs and dances of “Elegance” and “Motherhood,” along with some short acting scenes. Seventh hour teachers were welcome to bring their classes down to enjoy the preview. Some of the Thespians also participated in “dapper day,” where students dressed up in 1890s fashion to promote the time period “Hello Dolly” is set in.

In addition to the musical being put on for the school, there is another aspect the entire drama department is buzzing about. The musical is competing with about a dozen other Kansas high schools for a single coveted spot to perform at the Thespians conference this January. A State Thespians Festival representative will be in attendance to judge the performance and decide which school’s musical will be selected to perform in front of over 2,000 high school drama students all throughout Kansas.

“Everyone should come see ‘Hello Dolly’ because we are trying to take this baby to state and we need all the support we can get,” junior Marlene Hummel said.

In addition to the actors and crew gearing up, the pit orchestra is also getting ready to put on a show.

“Our pit orchestra is spectacular,” junior Grace Franke said. “This show has a lot of really difficult music, but they’ve taken the challenge head on, and they sound absolutely amazing. They’re working really hard, and you can certainly tell.”

Actors, the orchestra, techies, and the entire drama department has been putting everything they have into the musical. Performances will be November 5th, 7th, 9th, and 11th at 7PM in Rezac Auditorium. The drama department is hoping for great turnouts all four nights.

“Everyone should come see the show because everyone in this show is fantastic actors and every single piece of the show is engaging and interesting,” senior Emma Lansdown, Dolly herself, said. “The music is absolutely brilliant, the costumes are stunning, the staging is dynamic, and the choreography is outstanding. Everything about this show is great and I think anyone can enjoy it.”