“Grease is the word” is the now-famous line sung in 1972 during a stage musical called “Grease.” It then turned into a movie musical (1978) starring John Trovolta and Olivia Newton-John and became one of the highest-grossing musical movies of all time.
This year, “Grease” was produced by the Millikan Drama Department for their spring production.
In the past, Millikan has performed other Broadway musicals and every year students dedicate hours after school, often staying on campus until 9 p.m. to rehearse.
When it comes to student involvement in the musical, there is no denying it wouldn’t happen without them. Millikan’s Play Production class is hard at work building props, making costumes, and doing hair and makeup for the 64 cast-members in the production.
Salisa Chantori, a senior in PEACE is the Head of All Crews and was cast as Cha-Cha in the production. She says, “When finding a balance between work and performing, I noticed that preparation and a dedicated team all working toward the same goal makes everything easier and makes the production run smoothly.”
This year they double-cast the show, meaning there were two groups of lead performers for the female roles. Theater director Mike Bradich explains, “We tried to make a single cast list, and realized, ‘how are some of these people not going to have a lead in the show?’ it just seemed crazy.”
The musical was a big hit, having a full audience in each of the six performances over the course of two weekends Feb 28, Mar 1st, 7th, and 8th. Congratulations to all of the student performers for such an amazing production, and if you didn’t see the musical this year, keep an eye out for next year’s March musical!
In the meantime, the theater classes will be hosting the Drama Showcase in May! It will be full of performances from different plays, musicals, and monologues all student ran. If you would like to support the program the performances would be on May 9th, 2025.
Jacob Tritz • Apr 22, 2025 at 8:34 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
On April 4, 2025, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled “Millikan Spring Musical 24-25”. This was a well-written article on the “Grease” produced by the Millikan Drama Department for their spring production. This was a great choice of play. Stated by Jamali, “When it comes to student involvement in the musical, there is no denying it wouldn’t happen without them”. I myself attended the play and can vouch for the fact that the production was top-notch, as well as the acting and props. I appreciate how Jamali really highlighted the effort that was put into the production of this play.
I am also happy to be informed that the play gained very positive feedback and attention from the audiences of millikan, as Jamali stated, “The musical was a big hit, having a full audience in each of the six performances over the course of two weekends Feb 28, Mar 1st, 7th, and 8th.” I am glad that the students of Drama are getting the recognition they deserve after working so hard on this production. Overall, I enjoyed this article very much, and I am looking forward to next years March musical!
Sincerely,
Jacob Tritz
Yasmine Zaidi • Apr 21, 2025 at 9:08 am
On April 4, 2025, Zoe Jamali wrote an article entitled “Millikan’s Spring Musical 24-25”
This article did a great job at covering the event that was the Millikan spring musical. The writer first introduces us to a brief summary of the musical itself, which gives background to those who may not be familiar with it. She acknowledges the hard work that students put in by including what someone involved in the musical’s schedule may look like, and not just focusing on the performers themselves but also the people that worked hard backstage. We also get to hear from a student on their experience with the development of the musical, which provides us with a personal perspective. I appreciate that the writer concludes the article by informing us that the Millikan theater department doesn’t just have the musical, but also will be holding a drama showcase, which sheds light on the passion that these students have toward the performing arts and promotes support for the students and adults that are involved within.
Wes Aguilar • Apr 11, 2025 at 7:59 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
On April 4, 2025, Zoe Jamali wrote an article called “Millikan’s Spring Musical 24-25.” This article gives information about Millikan’s production of “Grease.” I loved that Jamali gave a lot of background information on the students work. This includes them staying at school until 9 and also that there is a class dedicated to props, make up, costumes, and more. It was good to add insightful thoughts from a student who is passionate about their head job in production of the musical because it shows how she was able to balance everything from being in the musical to all the behind the scenes chaos. Additionally, getting Mr. Bradecich as an interview was a smart move because he is the director of the musical. I enjoyed hearing his thought process of double casting which to sum up was there was too many talented kids not to double cast the show. I also liked how towards the end of the article Jamali mentioned the Drama Showcase that is coming up that people can come out and support. Overall I think this article is amazing and gives great insight onto the making of the musical.
Sincerely,
Wes Aguilar
Savannah Thy • Apr 10, 2025 at 11:30 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
On April 4, 2025, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled “Millikan’s Spring Musical 24-25”. Within this article Jamali writes about the very eventful and well anticipated Spring Musical. Millikan’s musicals are known throughout Long Beach for its great production. However, I respect and love how Jamali approached this article to not talk about the musical itself but the hard work the many students put into the musical. The article expresses how many students would “stay at school until 9 p.m.” which shows the dedication every student in the production had. There are also interviews from people in the musical to talk about their experiences with handling school and the production. This theme was very fitting for the corydon because it gave many Millikan students advice on how to handle school and an extracurricular. This topic also very much highlights how hardworking the musical community was, and all the sacrifices people made. I also enjoyed the mention of the theater director Mr. Bradich chose to allow more than one lead role in the musical. This also showed the thought process and consideration to allow all students to shine. To top all of this off, Jamali was able to promote the Drama Showcase in May as a way to gain more publicity (a great marketing strategy). All in all, this article was beautifully written with much detail.
Colin • Apr 10, 2025 at 10:55 pm
April 10, 2025
Dear Corydon Editor,
On April 4, 2025, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled “Millikan’s Spring Musical 24-25”. This article does an excellent job of describing all of the details and information necessary to know about Millikan’s Spring Musical which is “Greese.” This article immediately goes into sharing some facts about “Greese” and how it became one of the highest-grossing musicals movies of all time. This article also does a fantastic job using great examples, such as Salisa Chantori who is a senior in the PEACE pathway who is the head of all crews and was cast as one of the lead roles in the production. Salisa shared about her work-life balance, and how she can manage to balance school work and performing. She shared that having a team that is all working together to achieve the same goal allows for the production to come together smoothly. I think it was a strategic choice to have a senior share about the production because of Salsa’s experience throughout high school. This article also used another example coming from Millikan’s theater director Mike Bradich who shared about the casting process. He shared that he initially was hoping for a single cast list however he soon realized there were too many people deserving lead roles so he decided to double cast. This is such a great example not only because of the impact of having the head theater director share his thoughts but also because of the insight he offers the audience about this amazing production. Overall this article is really well written and truly allows for its audience to get a great understanding of all the effort being put into production, and getting its audience excited about this amazing production. ‘
Sincerely,
Colin Virtue
Colin Virtue • Apr 10, 2025 at 10:54 pm
April 10, 2025
Dear Corydon Editor,
On April 4, 2025, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled “Millikan’s Spring Musical 24-25”. This article does an excellent job of describing all of the details and information necessary to know about Millikan’s Spring Musical which is “Greese.” This article immediately goes into sharing some facts about “Greese” and how it became one of the highest-grossing musicals movies of all time. This article also does a fantastic job using great examples, such as Salisa Chantori who is a senior in the PEACE pathway who is the head of all crews and was cast as one of the lead roles in the production. Salisa shared about her work-life balance, and how she can manage to balance school work and performing. She shared that having a team that is all working together to achieve the same goal allows for the production to come together smoothly. I think it was a strategic choice to have a senior share about the production because of Salsa’s experience throughout high school. This article also used another example coming from Millikan’s theater director Mike Bradich who shared about the casting process. He shared that he initially was hoping for a single cast list however he soon realized there were too many people deserving lead roles so he decided to double cast. This is such a great example not only because of the impact of having the head theater director share his thoughts but also because of the insight he offers the audience about this amazing production. Overall this article is really well written and truly allows for its audience to get a great understanding of all the effort being put into production, and getting its audience excited about this amazing production. ‘
Sincerely,
Colin Virtue
Tiffany To • Apr 10, 2025 at 3:29 pm
Dear Corydon Editor,
On April 4th, 2025, Zoe Jamali wrote an article titled, “Millikan’s Spring Musical 24-25”. I personally love musicals and have been a fan of Grease since I was young. Additionally, I have friends in the drama department who were involved with the musical, one of whom (Ulysses Knobbe) played Danny Zuko, the main male lead, so this article was an immediate attention-grab for me.
One thing I enjoyed while reading Jamali’s article was how instead of focusing on the content of the musical, she took the time to praise the production and all the people who helped collaborate to make it successful. This leaves room for the reader to develop an interest and curiosity in the source material itself and for them to explore it on their own time. This also could persuade them into wanting to check out the musical next year too, to see what the hype is about. If I were to have any critique, it would be to interview some of the performers themselves to see their experiences in addition to the rest of the production crew.
Overall, Jamali does a fantastic job at synthesizing and summarizing the musical while praising and advertising the drama department and their future events.
Sincerely,
Tiffany To