This past month, several Oakville students were in a theater production of “Anastasia,” the famous tale of the lost daughter of the Romanov family. She is separated from her family after the antagonist, Gleb Vaganov, a Russian general, comes after Anastasia and she is forced on the run.

Judah Brandt (10) plays Gleb Vaganov in this musical.

“I think it was the favorite show I’ve ever been in, and it turned out really well,” Brandt said.

Even in a different role, Tsarina, Ensemble and Featured Ballerina, Rose Thompson (11) agreed.

“I feel like with the short amount of time that we had, we did pretty good preparing it, the dancing and the lines,” Thompson said. “I feel like no one made any big mistakes, people had a lot of fun and the community was great.”

With such a short turn around, both Brandt and Thompson had to focus on preparing for their roles.

“I listened to the soundtrack a lot, and I was always making sure when I was at rehearsal I was using any extra time to work with the music director,” Brandt said.

Thompson prepared by getting some outside help.

“I shared it with some friends, and we prepared a song and a monologue, and auditions went smoothly, and then we had a call back afterward,” Thompson said.

Not only did the students have such a short turnaround time, but the company is new to the business as well.

“It was through The Starling Company, which is sponsored by Fly North Theatricals. I thought it was really cool that they put on both things for free,” Thompson said. “Usually theater productions can be up to like $750 through companies like COCA. But this one, they fundraise and get costumes from wherever they can and make it happen.”

In the eyes of these OHS actors, the overall experience of performing in “Anastasia” was a fairly good one.

“It was nice because it was a much more professional setting,” Brandt said. “I would do it again.”