Photo by Edgar Cardiel
“Something has changed within me.”
These well-known lyrics from Stephen Schwartz’s “Defying Gravity” describe junior Anna Wright’s experience stepping onto the Benson stage as a hostess for the second time. “Defying Gravity” is also Wright’s feature song in Spring Sing this year. Wright said Steve and Dottie Frye have wanted to include the song in the production for a long time, but the right voice, theme and year didn’t align until now.
The song also has a special meaning for Wright in connection with her feature song last year, “What I’m Doing Here.”
“A lot of the meaning behind it was doubt about overcoming the ‘I’m not sure if I’m really supposed to be in this place,’” Wright said. “This song is about, you know, something’s changed. I do belong here, and I’m going to rise up.”
Wright’s theatre career began in middle school while growing up in a musical family. She auditioned for her first musical in high school and has continued ever since. She has acted in other shows at Harding, including as Mae Tuck in the 2024 Homecoming musical, “Tuck Everlasting,” and as a hostess for 2024’s Spring Sing.
Wright said she was excited to be a part of the 50th anniversary show and auditioned this year because she thought it would be fun to do again. Wright and sophomore Weston Eades are returning hosts in this year’s production.
“It’s been really cool to apply our knowledge from last year to try and help Spring Sing be better,” Wright said.
With Spring Sing, no two shows are ever the same, even when hosts and hostesses return for consecutive shows. Wright said this year’s host group is different because they were all good friends and performed together at Harding before this production.
“What makes each Spring Sing unique to me is really the different people who are a part of the process,” Wright said. “Each different personality type and creative type brings a different flair and energy to the process… [This year,] we kind of have a lot more of a crazy energy. And so I feel like a lot of our intros and numbers have a lot more firecracker, crazy energy in some of the spots.”
