Siblings to star on and off the stage in Novi High School musical

NOVI — Two brothers have the leading roles in this year’s Novi High School musical production of “Singin’ in the Rain,” with their sister helping in the wings.

Senior Milan Thurman, 17, stars as Don Lockwood, while Thurman’s brother, Ishaan, 15, plays Cosmo Brown, and their sister, Shivani, 12, a seventh grader at Novi Middle School, helps with the construction of props and costumes. This will be the first and perhaps final time that all three siblings will get to work together on an NHS theatrical production, as Milan will head off to the University of Michigan in the fall.

“It’s nice. I think it’s sort of a cinematic ending — makes everything feel more real, and it’s always nice to share that with someone that you love and to be able to have those experiences in common and to pass on the knowledge that you have gained to the people that you want to give it to,” Milan said of his siblings being involved in his final NHS performance.

Shivani shared her perspective on them all working together.

“I think it’s been really fun to watch them put on this role, both being the male leads, and then knowing them as my brothers, because I like to see the little aspects of who they are come out in their characters,” Shivani said. “If they are bickering onstage, I can see them actually doing that the same way at home.”

The play tells the story of a silent film star in 1920s Hollywood who falls for a chorus girl while he and his jealous screen partner are trying to transition from silent films to talkies. The production is very involved, as it incorporates tap dancing as well as the use of water to give the appearance of rain. As a result, a special stage is being constructed for the show to prevent water damage from occurring to the actual stage and to allow people to hear the tapping. The specially designed stage floor will feature slots to catch and funnel the water off the stage, and it is hollow, to allow for the sound of tapping, which is enhanced by tap mics.

According to Milan, who also acts as the show’s head of publicity and is the president of the drama club, there are seven performers who will be wearing actual tap shoes in the show, including himself and Ishaan, Hannah Jeong — who plays Kathy — and a small dance ensemble consisting of four student dancers. The brothers said they learned tap dancing just for this show.

“We’ve maybe tapped once, like, once in our lives ever,” Milan said. “So it’s really fun, but also really scary to try this new thing and then present it to everyone.”

“I think that learning tap dancing and doing it in the show is really cool, because now I find myself, like, tapping and moving my feet sometimes just during class and when I have downtime, and I think it’s going to be a really cool and fun aspect of the show,” Ishaan said. “So it’s been great to be able to learn that.”

Milan said that it is also one of the greatest challenges of the musical, and they have doubled and tripled the dance rehearsals just to get through the play. He said that in their downtime they pull out their tap shoes and run through the choreography.

To prevent performers from slipping while dancing on a wet floor, Milan said, they limited the tapping during the two songs that will be accompanied by “rain.”  He said they are limiting the running moves and stuff like that.

“We scheduled it perfectly that the two songs that it rains in are the end of act one and the end of act two, or the finale of the show, so that we have time during intermission and at the end of the show to suck up all the water and clean it up.  So theoretically, (slippery conditions) should only be a problem for two to three minutes every act,” Milan said.

The Thurman siblings started performing in theater as elementary school students in performances put on at the Novi Civic Center through In the Mitten Productions. Ishaan said that he has performed with both his siblings before, but this is the first time it will be on the high school stage, and that Shivani is not performing in this, as she is not yet in high school.

“It’s good and bad (to perform with your siblings). You know, obviously, we have that sort of natural rapport. So in a lot of that Don and Cosmo dynamic, (it) is very bantery, very quick, and I think we’ve had that for years, and we’re just sort of building on it,” Milan said.

On the flip side, it can be challenging to perform with siblings.

“You’re a lot more prone to arguments with your siblings,” Milan said.

He said it is definitely much more competitive. By having his siblings in the room, he said, there is naturally a different vibe.

“It’s not necessarily a professional capacity, but it’s someone that you have to see and have to ride in the car with on your way home, so you’re trying to work as hard as you can,” Milan said.

The brothers said that, like their characters, who are best friends, they are also best friends.

According to Ishaan, Milan has paved the way for both himself and his sister to have a better understanding of theater and the various roles within the department.

“He learned about all these new things, and then when I try to do those things, I have all of his knowledge in advance, so I get to do that and even more,” he said. “There’s a lot more things you can do with experience, and he basically transferred all of his experience to mine and I’ve gained his appreciation for this theater department, especially for Mrs. (Heather) McKaig and for everyone that we have working on the play.”

“It’s really cool (to work with Ishaan and Milan) because I get to see how they do their stuff, and it’s not just what I see at home. I get to see how they interact with their friends, and I get to see how they take on a character and how they actually change from who they are with friends and at home to how they take on a character, and I think that’s just really cool,” said Shivani.

She said she used to act but now prefers to be behind the scenes. She said it is cool to be able to watch the show get put together without being a character onstage. Shivani said her brothers have taught her that theater is a really good outlet to express your emotions and to find a really good group of caring and supportive friends.

“Theater is overall an amazing thing to do,” Shivani said.

Milan said that while it’s bittersweet to perform together this time, he thinks it will be nice to see his brother take on his leadership roles within the theater department next year.

“I used to always complain when I was younger that everything I did, Ishaan did it better, because I paved the way first and I took out all the roadblocks, and then he got better than me,” Milan said.

He said that theater has allowed him to meet some of the best people and to gain skills that he thinks will be valuable in just about anywhere that he will go in life.

“I don’t see why you wouldn’t do it. It’s great and it’s got something for everyone,” he said of the theater.

Milan said that he hopes to have taught his siblings, through his trial and error, how to succeed in working with other people and some tips and tricks for success in their classes and the world.

“I hope to teach them to gain a system so that they can have more success and in turn figure out other things — exponential growth of siblings,” Milan said.

“Singin’ in the Rain” is being marketed as the classic movie with a modern take, according to Milan. Performances will be held at the Novi High School auditorium April 25-27. The Thursday performance will take place at 5 p.m., with the other two performances beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online at novihs.seatyourself.biz or at the door and cost $10 for seniors and those 12 and under, $12 for students, and $15 for adults.