LSE Theatre has done a great number of plays that have entertained students, staff and family over the years, anywhere from the classic mystical tale of Cinderella to the wacky-world of Dr. Suess in Seussical. This year, they have changed it up for a little with the relatively brand new musical “Freaky Friday”.

This 2016 Disney adaptation of the original 1976 book will be the first time a Nebraska high school has produced the musical. If you didn’t know, Freaky Friday is about a mother and a daughter that have a rocky relationship. Then, by some magical force, they switch bodies and have to figure out how to live each other’s lives for a day.

Senior Helen Howard is auditioning for Freaky Friday and wants people to know that it will be different than the movie.

“It’s all new, original music, and it even features some new characters too,” Howard said. “The musical that we are putting on is not based on the [original movie] adaptation.”

Howard said that every role in the show is equally important and would be fine with being cast in any role. “I’m always interested to see which character [LSE’s Theatre Director, Tyler] Lambley, envisions each of us as.”

The auditioning is the most interesting part about this whole thing.

“The audition process can be a bit different depending upon what the show calls for. Typically for a musical, it requires  you to prepare about a minute and half of a musical theatre song to perform, and do a cold reading in which you read a scene from the script.”

Just as the audition process is different from play to play, so too, do they differ for the call backs.

“For plays in the past, [Lambley] selects different groups of people to read for different scenes. For the One Act, I read for three different characters, including the one I was cast as,” Howard said.

However, Howard did not receive a call back this time, as she said, “[Lambley] only selected a few people he’s considering for potential leads. All a callback really does is let you know if the director wants to see you again. For all I know, he may already have half the cast decided upon which may be why I didn’t get a callback.”

It’ll be exciting to see what direction the changes will follow and how drastic they are. The cast list is set to be released Friday, February 22, and “Freaky Friday” the musical is set to debut in early May at Jennifer L. Dorsey-Howley Performing Arts Center at Lincoln Southeast High School.