Other major characters are Pippin’s father, Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, played by junior Geoffrey Ko; his stepmother Fastrada, played by junior Maggie Tanji; his grandmother Berthe, played by senior Rebecca Skowron; and his love interest Catherine, played by senior Annie Oldakowski.

According to Assistant Stage Manager junior Lydia Oquendo, the show was staffed by “about 65 kids, including heads of crews and stage managers, [plus] a cast of 47.”

Oquendo said: “We had a smoke machine in the finale, a fire box and flash paper, which just catches on fire and goes out quickly. [We also had] a bunch of lights to help the effect.”

Set Designer Mr. Roy Chambers said: “We began the set mid December and ended the day of the first show…. We were going for part reality and part illusion for the set. We wanted the audience to merge with the set.”

Many audience members said that the hard work of the cast and crew paid off. “Everything about the performance was amazing. I loved the set, costumes, talent and interaction,” said senior Allie Merkelson.

“The show came together so well…. We wanted to live up to last year’s show, [and] we really have done amazing work,” said Lynn.

Director Mr. Daniel Devlin said: “I thought there were numerous Rising Star caliber performances in this show, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

He added, “Pippin is just like all of us. We hear from the whole world who we are supposed to be, and that is always something special, important [and] ‘extraordinary’ when really all we need to do to be happy is find someone to love.”