As spring draws closer, so does the spring musical. This year’s spring musical is “The Prom”, a musical written by Bob Martin and Chad Beguelin. The Prom follows a story about four washed up Broadway actors traveling to the conservative town of Edgewater, Indiana to help a lesbian student banned from being able to take her girlfriend to prom. This year, there are many new cast members, and one of the newest additions to the team is junior Julian Polanco.
Even though Polanco only joined theater this year, he already has a lead role as Principal Tom Hawkins, the principal of James Madison High School. His role consists of a solo, as well as bringing a serious yet humorous presence to the stage.
“I’m pretty proud of myself to be honest,” Polanco said. “I never thought I would enjoy theater so much. I’m really glad I went out of my comfort zone over the summer.’
During the summer of 2023, Polanco joined the Upper Darby Summer Stage, a children’s theater program. During the program, he was a part of the ensemble for the “Beauty and the Beast.” From there on out, Polanco decided to pursue more roles in different plays and musicals.
“I initially joined because I thought it would’ve helped with my anxiety, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected,” Polano said. “I made a lot of new friends and I feel that if I didn’t join I would have never auditioned for the musical here.”
Polanco has been working hard this year, practicing with the rest of the cast as well as the stage crew. All while being part of another musical outside of school, and having to make a one hour drive to another theater just to make it on time.
“It gets a little crazy but it’s worth it. I’m really proud of the rest of the cast and crew here at PV, I think everyone is going to love it,” Polanco said. “And even if there are those who don’t, we did our best and that’s all that matters.”
Come see Julian and the rest of the cast perform on Thursday, March 21st, through Saturday the 23rd.