Three Lowell musical veterans joined the Lowell Ledger podcast at the Lowell Radio studios at LHS.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opens in just over two weeks

Justin Scott - School News Reporter

Lowell High School has announced their cast and crew for their upcoming musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a few weeks ago, and now showtime is closing in. The show will take place Mar. 7, 8, 14, and 15 at 7:00pm with a Sunday matinee on Mar. 9 at 2:00pm.

Lowell seniors Ben Vonderheide, Conner Casarez, and Max Wasilew joined the podcast studio at WRWW in early February to talk about the upcoming Lowell High School musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Vonderheide plays Jerry Jubilee, the reporter. Outside of musical he’s very active in clubs and activities including sailing, President of Interact, and an eagle scout.

Casarez plays Grandpa Joe, a senior and four year member of the Lowell performing arts program just like Vonderheide. He’s president of student council, succeeding his own brother, in addition to being vice president of National Honors Society, as well as participating in track and Model UN. 

Wasilew plays the lead character of Willy Wonka, is involved in student council, interact, and played varsity soccer in the fall. He tries to play his character similar to Gene Wilder’s version. Johnny Depp and Timothy Chalemet have also played Wonka in feature films.

“Definitely more towards Gene Wilder, I feel like, definitely more on he’s the eerie,kind of loopy Willy Wonka. He still cares about Charlie, but when it comes to talking to the other golden ticket winners and the other parents, he's very much, like, really crazy,” Wasilew said of the lead role.

LHS SeniorMax Wasilew plays Willy Wonka. Photo by Justin Scott, taken as part of the musical photoshoot partnered with LHS Senior Sarah Harper

Casarez joked he knew that his character, Grandpa Joe, has become a popular meme. The one portrayed by Jack Albertson became the source of internet skepticism and humor for being portrayed as an unwitting villain which was subject to a rant by national sports radio's Jim Rome on more than one occasion.

"There's always that part of him that you can hate, like why aren't you out of bed helping feed your poor family, but going to a chocolate factory," Casarez noted of his character.

Lowell has five shows again this year, and last year, Lowell was very close to selling out all of their shows of Beauty and the Beast. So why not add a sixth show? One is the strain on the performers, though all three weren’t opposed to running a sixth show last year. The cost to add a sixth show is the major impediment. It was attempted during the performance of Mary Poppins, but wound up not being worth the money to the theatre program which has to pay more to the show’s copyright holders. So if you’re hoping for a sixth show, don’t count on it. It would have to be pre-arranged. Costs for the performance are a reason why the program emphasizes ticket sales, they need to keep the seats filled to pay for not just musical rights but things like pit band, costuming, and any other staffing.

All three agreed that musical auditions were still terrifying, even as seniors with plenty of experience. There’s a singing audition and dancing audition, the singing one the more nerve wracking. Just because you were in the fall play doesn’t mean a spot on musical is guaranteed, and with the theater program's talent seemingly growing each year it's harder and harder to get a spot in the springtime performance each year.

Vonderheide also noted that this year’s crew was one of the biggest they’d ever had. “It’s been really impressive. This is easily the earliest we've ever had sets to actually be able to use,” he said. Plenty of candy props and brightly colored set pieces are ready to go in the shop room and backstage at LHS.

Wasilew is originally from Wisconsin and came to Lowell Middle School, before transferring to West Michigan Aviation Academy his freshman year. After coming back to Lowell his sophomore year he jumped into musical with Vonderheide and Casarez, he noted especially this year, there was a significant amount of pressure on the leads.

Make it stand out

Ania Fleszar and Anderson Stoner as the Teavee’s.

“This year, we’re doing the Sutton Foster awards. They pick an outstanding male and female actor to compete at the Wharton Center. Outstanding actors and actresses then get to perform in New York against kids from all over the country. It’s a very big deal, and I’d like to get into theater after high school, so I’ve been putting in a lot of time and effort,” said Wasilew who played Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast last year alongside Casarez who played Cogsworth. Ran through Michigan State’s Wharton Center, the Sutton Awards are “a celebration of high school musical theatre across the State of Michigan.”

You can listen to the rest of the interview at lowellledger.org/podcasts. Below is the cast and crew.

Adelaide Plank - Townspeople/ Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Aliina Forester - Townspeople/ Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Anderson Stoner - Mike Teavee

Ania Fleszar - Mrs. Teavee

Aundrea Anderson - Mrs Cherry - Oompa Loompa

Aysha VandenBosch - Mrs Bucket - Oompa Loompa

Ben Vonderheide - Jerry - Oompa Loompa

Boden Rogers - Grandpa George - Oompa Loompa

Brant Tiede - German Dancer/Body Guard - Squirrel

Brylee Craycraft - Josephina - Oompa Loompa

Caleb Wilterink - Mr. Beauregarde

Claire Block - Gum Poppin Diva/German Dancer - Squirrel

Claire Greenwood - Townspeople/ Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Conner Casarez - Grandpa Joe

Eleanor Osmar - German Dancer - Squirrel

Elyse Veldman - Violet

Ezequiel Gonzalez - Mr. Salt

Gigi Gates-Duprey - Gum Poppin Diva/German Dancer - Squirrel

Gracen Simmons - Gum Poppin Diva/German Dancer - Squirrel

Harper Postema - Augustus

Kaleb Block - Townspeople/Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Marley De Jong - Veruca Salt

Max Wasilew - Willy Wonka

Molly Inman - Townspeople/ Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Morgan Saylor - Townspeople/ Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Nadine Cozzio - Townspeople/Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Natalie Saylor - Charlie Bucket

Neriah Peters - Townspeople/Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Olivia VanGroningen - Townspeople/Reporter/Body Guard - Oompa Loompa

Parker Roudabush - Townspeople/Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Percy Wale - Father/Mr Green - Oompa Loompa

Samuel Konyndyk - German Dancer - Squirrel

Sarah Harper - Georgenia - Oompa Loompa

Vivyenne Skinner - Mrs. Gloop

Ava Sanchez - Townspeople/Reporter - Oompa Loompa

Crew

Andres Anaya

Zoey Ashworth

William Aupperlee

Anabel Austhof

Savannah Barrett

Ember Bolt

Saige Brandt

J'lynn Bruinekool

Leah Bryce

Mikaela Burrows

Bryce Craycroft

Rowen Creasy

Madilyn Dexter

Saylee eickhoff

Reilly Frueh

Pyper Gordon

Lilly Hansen

Kirsten Hill

Landon Jensen

Samuel Konyndyk

Molly Landgren

Maddy Meadows

Jacob Mitchell

Emily Patyi

Elizabeth Plank

Lorrissa Reynolds

Maggie Rodriguez

Tori Rodriguez

Andilynn Rottier

Alex Roys

Taylor (Tay) Schray

Sam Simon

Tarrin Staup

Gabs Stodola

Gwyn Taylor

Skyla Thiel

Evelyn Uzarski

Grace Valle

Taylor VanAller

Emerson Vriesman

Kay Young