Emerson Minnick, ’26, was cast as Gleb Vaganov in the Redwood High School’s musical production of Anastasia. Gleb is an emotionally complicated character throughout the musical and is very intense. How does Emerson prepare to become Gleb?
By: Beatrice Du Toit
Emerson Minnick, ’26, has a list of things he has done to prepare for Gleb.
Minnick says, ”From what I had heard, Gleb has some really powerful vibrato, and so I spent a lot of time trying to make sure that I was able to match that in my performance.”
Emerson said he had taken a few vocal coaching lessons to ensure he could perform the character well, which also included a lot of singing. Minnick admits he would sing anywhere and everywhere he felt comfortable.
Minnick also said, ”A second thing I did to prepare for Gleb was a bunch of mental practice. I thought of the most spooky, scary guy I could think of, which for me was Dracula, like he seemed the most intimidating, and I channeled that energy into my portrayal of Gleb.”
Throughout the show Gleb’s character is intense, and intimidating, Minnick wanted to ensure he did the character properly for his performance. Before every performance Minnick puts himself into Gleb.
Minnick explained, “I think of a really dark staircase, and I’m descending down it, in a really scary way. That’s how I put myself into that headspace, at least for the scary and intimidating moments.”
Behind every portrayal of a character there is the actor and the process they went through to become the character, and part of that process is the audition. Emerson told us a little about how the audition was for him.
Minnick says, “I mean I was just anxious, being around so many people that I knew were such great musicians, I knew I really wanted to get into this show, because there are so many talented people, and I knew it was going to be great from the get go. I was just really gunning it as hard as I could to put on my best performance in the auditions.”
To see Minnick perform as Gleb Vaganov, come see the musical at L.J William Theater on February 5th and 6th at 7 P.M. and February 7th at 2 P.M. and again at 7 P.M. Tickets are available now.
Beatrice Du Toit
Tags: anastasia, arts & entertainment, musical, rangers, Redwood, redwood gigantea, redwood high school, redwood journalism, redwood rangers, rhs, visalia ca
