The Musical “Diary of A Wimpy Kid” Brings Together Middle and High School Casts

In the first few books of Jeff Kinney’s “Diary of A Wimpy Kid” series, 12-year-old Greg Heffley, a middle school student, is often terrorized by his older brother Rodrick, who is in high school. 

That state of animosity between middle schoolers and high schoolers isn’t the reality for the Worthington Christian Upper School’s production of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” musical. The show, which draws actors from both middle and high school, runs April 11-12 at the Worthington Christian School Auditorium in the K-2 Building of the Lower School at 6675 Worthington Galena Road. 

Sophomore Hope Spires has been pleasantly surprised to discover that the relationship between middle school and high school students has been far more congenial behind the scenes than it is in the musical. 

“Honestly, I thought (the middle schoolers) were going to be a lot more annoying,” Spires said. “Actually, they’re a lot of fun to be around. I’m already starting to make a lot of new friends.” 

The show represents a unique opportunity for director David O’Roark to mix actors from both age levels.

In the show, Westmore Middle School students have established an unofficial ranking system that determines the popularity of classmates from 1 to 201. Greg Heffley (played by Eli Belcher) is determined not to end up on the lower end of the popularity charts.  

Greg’s goal is to be near the top. However, raising his ranking on the middle school caste system might mean sacrificing his relationship with his best friend Rowley Jefferson (Ian Sattler) and surviving his brother Rodrick’s (Hayden Huffer) antics. 

“This play is a story about what it means to be a friend,” O’Roark said. “He’s trying to figure out where he fits in.” 

Luke Pace and Morgan Vosberg play Greg and Rodrick’s parents Frank and Susan Heffley. Ben Winfrey is cast as Fregley, the Heffley’s odd next-door neighbor. Rounding out the rest of the featured players are Noah Long (Duane), Anjali Paul (Patty), Caroline Dean (Claire), and Addie Johnson (Joshie). 

Spires is joined in the ensemble by Jaden Barthel, Natasha Baugher, Ellis and Evangeline Bjorgen, Alaina Bourgeois, Sarah Dirscherl, Keira Dively, Emmy Flemming, Gage Garinger, Ren Harris, Alyssa Kuch, Ellie Speaks, and Jake Thomas. 

O’Roark said one of the challenges has been introducing the process of putting on a show to the students who are new to performing.  

“It’s a little tricky trying to get all the different levels of kids on the same page,” O’Roark said. “(With the high schoolers), I can say, ‘You should be more responsible,’ ‘You should take care of this,’ or ‘You should know what you’re doing here.’  

“Sometimes a seventh or eighth grader is not quite ready for that.” 

Navigating the range of ages and experiences has not been the only challenge for the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” cast. 

From March 13-20, the show was without many of its seniors who were on the school’s Dominican Republic senior capstone trip. Then, the school went on its spring break, March 24-28. 

“Having the time off makes it hard for people to remember what they’re supposed to be doing,” Spires said. “When you’re gone for even a weekend, sometimes that can break down the (momentum) of the show. 

“(O’Roark) was expecting people to work on the play outside of school while they’re on vacation. I was kind of nervous to see how it was all going to go, but everybody did a good job of remembering everything they had to learn.” 

Spires had some homework for the show to do over Spring Break. She had never read any of the Kinney series but planned to read some of “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books as well as watch some of the movies.  

The sophomore said coming into the show without a connection to the series made the experience “a little bit more interesting.” 

“It’s been fun just to see the story from our cast instead (of seeing it in a movie or reading it in a book),” she said. “I got to see (what’s funny) when we’re doing read-throughs.” 

O’Roark believes the musical’s message still strikes a chord with the audience, whether they are familiar with the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series or not. 

“The musical looks at how silly it is to be anything other than who you are,” O’Roark said. “I don’t think there was a popularity ranking when I was in middle school. If there were, I’m sure I’d be pretty low on it. I found out it was okay to be where I was, and being high up on that scale wasn’t a better place to be.”