Reviews: Between the Lines at Osbourn Park High School
Written by Kira Gilligan of Robinson Secondary School
We all know that reading is magic, but have you ever felt so engulfed in a story that it literally comes to life in front of you? In Osbourn Park High School's "Between the Lines," this experience is far from fiction.
Based on the book of the same name, Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson's 2022 off-Broadway musical, "Between the Lines," tells the tale of Delilah McPhee as she navigates the tumultuous times of high school. Battling mean girls, familial problems, and school psychiatrists, Delilah turns to the world of a children's fairy-tale book for comfort. After a foray into a fantasy world, Delilah realizes that the best story to fall into is the one she writes herself.
As Delilah, Ellie Salinas' expressive physicality and sweet voice illustrated Delilah's growth from a shy, wounded teenage girl to a confident, self-possessed heroine. Salinas' constant clutching of the book, wide eyes, and flips to her bright head voice made Delilah's awkwardness and pain feel realistic and relatable. When Delilah wishes with all her might to leave the real world in "A Whole New Story", Salinas' voice gained fervor, belting even the highest notes with strong tone and inspiring power.
With an authentic and tender performance, Essence Harrison awed as Delilah's hardworking yet distracted mother, Grace. Harrison mastered the show's emotional high points with both intensity and softness. As Grace longed for reconnection with her daughter, Harrison pleaded with raw emotion, making Grace's pain palpable and real. Harrison displayed gentle yearning as she sang the lullaby in "Start Again Tomorrow" in a soothing, melancholy voice with a lovely vibrato. This emotional range revealed the many ways Grace's pain and longing could manifest, culminating in a tearful mother-daughter embrace that touched the very emotional core of the story.
Alena French as Princess Seraphima and Wyatt Jean as Prince Oliver were wildly entertaining, with full-body expressions and delightful comedic timing. Personifying Seraphima as a melodramatic valley girl, French's bold choices, like high-pitched laughs and a severe gasp when Seraphima thought Prince Oliver was marrying his cousin, drew laughter from the audience. As Oliver, Jean was equally animated, utilizing each limb and the occasional smolder when talking to Delilah, even when he had little space to move around in.
Even before the first curtain rose, the Publicity team (Ash Griffin, Elyse Gyenin, Essence Harrison, Kat Hupman) was busy reaching an enthusiastic audience. Their cohesive media campaign helped viewers understand the show's message and world with a central theme. All their designs emphasized the push and pull between the real world and the fairy-tale world through color contrast and split imagery. The team took social media by storm, creating a TikTok challenge that caught the attention of Delilah's actress in the original off-Broadway cast. To turn promotion into impact, the Publicity team organized a "Chapter Challenge Book Drive" by partnering with a local literacy program, helping children in need connect with the magic of reading. Follow them on Instagram: @ophs.theatre.
Lillian Grace "LG" Branco made the fairy-tale world larger-than-life as Projection Designer. The projections depicted the book pages from which Prince Oliver sprang to life, backdrops for fairy-tale settings, and magic, such as an easel that brought anything painted on it to life. Branco drew each and every frame by hand to give the animations a fantastical effect and aligned the projections with 93 cues to ensure the timing was perfect throughout every show.
In a touching ode to true friendship, familial love, and imagination, Osborn Park High School's "Between the Lines" celebrated the importance of controlling the narrative and writing your own story.
Written by Sohana Bahl of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
With dazzling singing mermaids, a tap-dancing talking dog, and a lovable evil villain, there's no better place where reality blends into fantasy. Dive into "Another Chapter" full of magic and mischief at Osbourn Park High School's production of Between the Lines.
Based on the novel by mother-daughter duo Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, Between the Lines covers the story of Delilah, a socially awkward high school junior who, struggling with rocky familial dynamics, finds her escape from reality in a children's fairytale novel. Her unconventional retreat turns to pure fantasy when Oliver, the book's charming main character, comes alive within the story's pages.
Powerfully rewriting her story was Delilah, played by Ellie Salinas. Delilah's idyllic dreams were manifested through Salinas' resounding belt and impressive vocal cries, begging for a sense of belonging within her difficult life. Salinas' warm smile and self-conscious gait added to her relatability and authenticity as she explored the complexities of adolescence. By her side was the enchanting Oliver (Wyatt Jean), complementing Delilah's tender glances with his own bashful flirting. Jean's lovable prances across the stage and excitability cemented his character as the ideal of fantasy he represented.
Adding touches of realism and solemnity to the piece was Delilah's mother, Grace, played by Essence Harrison. Harrison navigated her tumultuous relationship with her daughter with an angelic tone, expressing her concerns and disconnection from her daughter with sincere facial expressions of love and guilt. She powerfully traversed throughout the stage in numbers like "Start Again Tomorrow," grounding her character in hope despite moments of stress.
Immersing the audience in the magical world of the story was the show's special effects. Designed by Lillian Grace "LG" Branco, hand-drawn animations adorned the main wall of the set, setting the magical backdrop for the fairytale characters to roam around in. Butterflies soared across the stage with a style reminiscent of storybook sketches, each frame of movement delicately drawn.
The show's costumes, done by Madison Reynolds and Sahara Searfoss, added levels of both realism and flair to the story with handcrafted and carefully selected pieces. The show's book characters were designed in the style of an illustration, with heavily contrasted black and white pieces providing the effect of a two-dimensional space. Notable was Delilah's fairytale dress, completely hand-sewn and elegantly designed for both a polished look as well as an incredibly smooth quick change from the real world into the fairytale.
With a story full of magic, loss, and acceptance, Osbourn Park High School broke down ideals of normalcy and encouraged the audience to discover themselves in a new light- even if it took them "Out of Character."