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Arts & Entertainment

Mineola High School Student in Musical Production of "A Christmas Story"

Eighth grader Jake Bennett Siegfried goes on tour in stage production classic holiday film.

On the outside, Jake Bennett Siegfried would seem like any other typical eighth grader in the Mineola School District, getting his share of assignments and attending classes at . But that’s when he’s not travelling as part of a multi-city tour for the musical production of “A Christmas Story.”

This is Siegfried’s second time performing in the musical version of the holiday movie classic where a young Indiana boy pines for only one gift for Christmas: a Red Ryder BB gun.

Siegfried, 13, has been involved in theater since the age of nine, beginning his career with John W. Engeman Theater out of Northport where he appeared in “Oliver!” and “The Sound of Music.” 

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In his first “Christmas Story” performance, Siegfried played the role of Randy, the little brother to protagonist Ralphie. This time around though Jake has taken on the role of Schwartz, one of Ralphie’s two best friends.

Prior to his first production tour, Siegfried had never seen the movie, but says he is now a fan of the 1983 film. Opening night for this tour began on November 8 in Hershey, Pennsylvania and the crowd was the first to see the show all the way through.

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During rehearsal there are often breaks to work out certain parts and often times the full dress rehearsal runs straight through without stoppage, however, for this production their opening night was their first complete run through and it ended with a stand ovation and the director congratulating the audience on being the first to see a complete performance.

But travelling on the road can be hard for someone of Siegfried’s age, especially being away from school and his friends, whom have been supportive of his performing.

“We live in a great age of technology,” Jake’s mother Ellen Sauchelli said, noting how applications like Skype and Facebook have allowed them to keep in contact with friends and family.

Being in a youth-oriented production also has its advantages as Sauchelli also has his friends from the production, since he’s not the only kid performing.

Siegfried and the 14 other children attend class everyday together and his teachers at Mineola High School have also been providing his schoolwork to the tutor on the production staff so he will not lag behind when he returns to Mineola in January.

When not in the classroom, they are busy “just being kids” his mother said, noting that there would probably be no better place to “just be a kid” than Hershey on Halloween.

While in a recent audience Q&A session after the show Siegfried noted how much he missed his family on Long Island, he said that when you’re “on the road doing a show like this, you kind of become a family.”

One of Siegfried’s favorite parts of the performance process is the rehearsals because “it’s the part where you can really originate your character.”

The tour will go through Hershey, Pennsylvania; Raleigh, North Carolina; Detroit, Michigan; Tampa, Florida; and finally back to Chicago, Illinois.

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