Jaden-Alex Waldon only went to the auditions for The Greatest Showman to support a friend.

Tempted to try out for a role once there, he was told to read a “random monologue” from a screen “and put as much emotion and action into it as possible”.

The 15-year-old’s delivery brought drama teacher Joelle Williams to tears. He will take the stage this weekend as Phineas Taylor (PT) Barnum, the lead role in the production by the Berkeley Drama Department and Friends.

According to Ms Williams, Jaden-Alex is only one of many reasons why people should grab a ticket and see the show.

The other actors are also impressive, she insists, as are the acrobats, the dancers, the backstage crew and Kendra Earls’ “minimalist” stage design.

The play is based on the 2017 film of the same name.

“Growing up in the early 1800s, Barnum displays a natural talent for publicity and promotion, selling lottery tickets by age 12. After trying his hands at various jobs, PT turns to show business to indulge his limitless imagination, rising from nothing to create the Barnum & Bailey Circus,” the synopsis reads.

“Featuring catchy musical numbers, exotic performers and daring acrobatic feats, Barnum's mesmerising spectacle soon takes the world by storm to become the greatest show on Earth.”

Said Ms Williams: “This is a phenomenal show. The actors range from ages 10 to about 17 and they are all phenomenal.

“The dancers, the actors all come together to tell the story of people that were mistreated unfairly based on what they looked like or their class and were given the opportunity to be themselves.

“Barnum basically opened up a whole new world for people to come in and see something adventurous, something outstanding. The whole play gives a message about treating people fairly. It really shows the human side of people and what you can do with nothing.”

The show was initially to run in 2020, but was scrapped the night before it opened, in the early days of the pandemic when schools were closed for the first time.

It’s the first major stage production the senior school has attempted since.

Fifteen-year-olds Kelsey Roper and Mikale Willis are part of the cast. Kelsey plays Barnum’s wife, Charity, “a singer, a mother and a housewife”.

The teenager was often on the stage until the pandemic put her hobby on pause.

“Charity’s a very nurturing character. She likes to see the good in people rather than the bad and I relate a lot to that. You see throughout the play that she gives her husband a lot of chances. She’s a very relatable character and she cares more about the people around her than her own wellbeing,” she said.

“I've connected to her and the way that she sees the world and her relationships with other characters and I think as a play, it’s definitely going well. People are really going out of their comfort zones to do this. It took a lot of hard work, but I think it really paid off.”

Mikale plays Charity’s father, Mr Hallett, and is also part of the backstage crew.

“When I'm not on stage acting, I’m on the sidelines or in the wings on the headset,” he said, adding that it fits in with his long-term goal of becoming a music producer.

“When I saw the opportunity to audition for The Greatest Showman I thought I’d try. I've never really done acting before.”

Both Mikale and Kelsey were impressed by the play’s message: don’t judge a book by its cover.

“It talks about relationships, about problems in society like racism – things that we need to deal with and not ignore. I feel like it could teach the audience to have more unbiased views,” Kelsey said. “The vocals are good and the acrobats, the dancers, they're really talented. It really brings it all together.”

Added Mikale: “I don't want to say too much but Phineas Barnum comes from nothing and then he gets pushed into the spotlight in a way. A lot of people are unfair, they don’t give him chances at first, but when he gets to the top people really start to reflect on what he did. And it's for the better in a way, but the whole moral of never judging a book by its cover is really strong in this area.”

Ms Williams had to draft in younger actors to play the children in the show: Bronwen Matthews plays Charity and Aiden Williams plays PT Barnum; Hailey Oduori and Alexcia Henry play their children, Caroline and Helen, respectively.

“I was working at Francis Patton before I came to Berkeley and some of the students I worked with there I used,” Ms Williams said.

Terry Henry, the music teacher at Northlands Primary School, then suggested Hailey, a former student of his.

As it did with Kelsey, The Greatest Showman presented Jaden-Alex with the opportunity to get back on the stage.

“I was able to just jump right into character and it was a rather exhilarating experience to be in someone else's shoes,” he said.

“It's been a wonderful experience [especially] the friendships that I have formed. We’re like family now. Coming together, working together as a team, has been a really enjoyable experience over these past couple of months.”

The play is an opportunity for the community to “support and to really give back” to the senior school, Ms Williams added.

“We haven't done anything major in four years. We are still building our [drama] programme. So when people see these guys on stage, I really want them to make an investment and invest in them because they deserve it.

“We did a showcase for the school and one of the teachers came up to me and she felt that it was [just as good as] Broadway; it was world class. And I really think that people will really enjoy it. The students worked really hard and I think that the community will really appreciate this showcase.”

The Greatest Showman opens tomorrow at 6.30pm in the Berkeley Institute Cafetorium, Berkeley Road, Pembroke. There is also a show on Sunday at 3pm. Tickets start at $20 and are available at www.ptix.bm