With the musical just around the corner, the Lewis-Palmer High School cast and crew are getting ready for their first production. The stage is set and the actors are ready to perform for a crowded auditorium. It is the people behind the scenes that are not visible to the public eye that are responsible for the “lights, camera, action.”

“With how big the auditorium is, it would be almost impossible to hear the actors and actresses,” Emilie Randell, 10, the sound assistant for the musical, said. “It wouldn’t sound right if the band was louder than the actors or the other way around.”

There are twenty different “mic packs” that are used on stage and it is the sound crew’s job to switch the packs depending on the sound. Not only do they do that, the sound crew creates musical unity by blending the sound of the actors and the musical features together.

“The sound is a key element to the musical. Without them, the musical would be less enjoyable for the audience,” Sara Oliver, 9, an actress in the musical, said.

The sound crew examines how the microphones sound and assign certain microphones to the actors. They set the microphones to different channels and frequencies. The sound board works by turning up sounds and tuning out others, using the panels located on it. It connects to the speakers so the audience can hear them. The sound crew practices their techniques with the cast by finding the perfect balance between every note of music and the actors voices. The end result is what Randell looks forward to.

“The way everything comes together in the end is spectacular,” Randell said.

The musical, Urinetown, will be shown in the auditorium on November 12th, 13th, and the 14th at 7:00 PM.