Midsummer/Jersey at Interlochen

Earlier this month I went back to Interlochen Center for the Arts to see the High School Repertory Theatre put on Midsummer/Jersey and I’ve returned with more photos to share.Interlochen has been around for 85 years, and its praises have been sung by everyone from Van Cliburn to Garrison Keillor. But from a purely personal perspective, I can report that Interlochen is the most creative, well-run, physically beautiful, and invigorating center for the study and performance of the arts that can possibly be imagined. Anyone who loves the arts should try to get there.As I anticipated from seeing their rehearsals a couple of weeks before, the High School Rep Theatre production of Midsummer/ Jersey was spectacularly good. Not just a little good. The kids were fantastic. Here they are on the set:J.W. Morrissette, the wonderful director of the show, not only made it a joy to be in the room with him, he also brought out the vey best in everybody connected to the production.I got to work with the kids again, answered loads of great questions about making a career in the theatre, and saw them do a master class on auditioning with another visiting Guest Artist, Kevin Chamberlain. Lucky kids. Kevin is not only a TV star, but he’s also one of the nicest and best actors in America.Here’s what the remarkable set of Midsummer/Jersey designed by Chris Dills looked like:
And here are some production photos that show off some of the beautiful costumes designed by Candy Hughes.While I was at Interlochen this trip, I saw loads of other performances. The High School Musical Theatre production of Children of Eden was terrific, as were the final High School choir concert, the Honors chamber music recital, the Interlochen Philharmonic concert, and the final concert of the season, Les Preludes.Perhaps the greatest joy of Interlochen is strolling through the campus and hearing string quartets, woodwind quintets, bassoon trios and every other species of classical, jazz and cabaret music wafting through the trees as the kids just pick up their instruments and start playing for the pure joy of it. There’s simply nothing else quite like it.