Members of the Wageningen musical society Sempre Sereno during a rehearsal for the musical Children of Eden. Photo Sempre Sereno. Text Coretta Jongeling
It is a theme as old as time itself: parents want the best for their children, but the children often have very different ideas about what to do with their lives. The Wageningen musical society Sempre Sereno will be performing their version of this story in the Junushoff theatre.
Biotechnology student Céline Brouwers is one of the students preparing for the marathon of five performances in four days. She has a role in the ensemble. ‘The ensemble is involved in the background in many of the scenes. I play an animal, a tree, a barbarian and a rock, for instance. It isn’t a solo role but I have to learn a lot of details off by heart: text, dance routines, which scenes you appear in and where.’
The cast of Sempre Sereno consists of 36 people, about a third of whom are students. The preparations for the performances started back in September. ‘We do everything ourselves, from building the sets to the PR. That means we’re a bit like a student society, with a committee for each task. In addition to the weekly rehearsals, we organize weekends to work on the costumes, for example.’
The music was written by Steven Schwartz, who is known for Wicked and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. The music for the performances will be played live by an orchestra. Brouwers: ‘This year, we will have our biggest orchestra yet, with 19 people playing. The first time we heard them accompanying us live during a rehearsal made quite an impression.’
They’re currently working on the finishing touches to make sure the four days of performances go without a hitch. Stress? ‘Everything is going quite smoothly this year. I know I always get nervous just before the first show — after all, a couple of hundred people will be watching you. But I never have a problem after that.’
For more info and for tickets, see sempresereno.nl
WED 21 to SAT 24 May 2025
Junushoff Theatre, Wageningen
Four evening shows and one matinee | Tickets €25.75/students €20.75
Tips:
Saturday 17 May – Segunda, Hesken and Crush (metal) – D Patio
Saturday 17 May — Barbaboefjes – International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia edition (dance) – Loburg
Wednesday 21 May — Quiet is the New Loud with Maas (singer-songwriter) – Bblthk
