“Lead”-ing Lady Gives Thanks to Her Cast and Crew
Samantha Ridley is a senior at Wilmington High School, and she is honored to be playing the role of “Lead Pipe” in this year’s production of Clue: The Musical! She is so excited not only to be taking on such a challenging role, but also to finally have a space in the playbill this year. She has participated in over 15 past productions and her favorite roles include: Shrubbery in Spamalot, Tentacle in The Little Mermaid, and the umbrella in Mary Poppins.
She would like to thank her parents for being so supportive over the years, and her teacher for trusting her with such an important role. More than anything, she would especially like to thank Brenda Sanchez’s mom for petitioning the school board after Brenda was cast in ensemble and insisting everyone be given a part in the show this year. Without her, none of this would be possible.
She would also like to thank her director for spending hours helping block and stage the show, rewriting the script to accommodate the new roles, and sitting through seven performances or the six-hour show. Samantha deeply appreciates her director for spending hours not only helping to block and stage the show, but also rewriting the script to accommodate the new roles, and sitting through seven performances of the six-hour show. She would also like to thank the leading cast for allowing their roles to be cut down significantly to give each cast member their time to shine. Really, what would Cluebe without the Lead Pipe’s murderous monologue? Or the Billiards Table’s song about the gossip of the house?
She is very proud of all the work she has put into perfecting this role. From memorizing and developing her character to calling in a professional coach to critique her performance, Samantha believes that she has truly unlocked the emotional depth required to play a role as demanding as the Lead Pipe, really bringing to light the emotional struggles of being an unwilling accomplice to a crime. She hopes that this performance will remind audience members of the importance of humanity in hard times and that moving on is one of the most difficult parts of life.
Samantha wishes to give a shoutout to Lindsay and the rest of the costume department for making her a costume she feels so confident and proud to kill in. They have done an exceptional job with the paper-mache and with adjusting the bottom so she would stop falling on stage, especially during the crowbar ballet.
Additionally, she would like to formally condemn Kendra, who is playing Ms. Peacock, for her accusations that Samantha was in any way “stealing her spotlight.” The spotlight chooses the star; sorry Kendra just didn’t shine bright enough. Plus, if Kendra wanted the spotlight all to herself, she should have considered strangling the victim. Samantha also knows that jealousy is a sickness, and she hopes Kendra will recover soon.
Samantha is so excited for audiences to see all the hard work that has been put into this performance. She hopes that they will consider returning another night to see the show again, so their budget for the spring show could be a little higher and she can live her dream of playing Greased Lightning in Grease!
Sarah Borsari is a first-year cinema and photography major who is currently writing the script for a multi-day musical opera featuring 400 characters. You can reach them at [email protected].