Senior, self-proclaimed theater kid, horror movie fan, and Batman enthusiast Will Wichman sat down with The Forum this week.
Scarlet Gitelson (SG): What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever done?
Will Wichman (WW): I saw “Sweeney Todd” on Broadway and I met Josh Groban afterwards and I got his signature. That’s probably up there for a theater kid.
SG: Why “Sweeney Todd”?
WW: I got really into horror movies in middle school, and then I just became obsessed with them. Once I got more interested in musicals, then I watched the Johnny Depp movie and the music wasn’t as good. And then the revival album came out, and it just sounded so incredible. And it’s always been a show I’ve been fascinated by that I think is really cool and sounds great and is surprisingly really funny.
SG: What’s your favorite horror movie?
WW: Either “Scream” or “Orphan.” “Scream” is just a classic, and it just revolutionized the genre when it really needed it, because horror movies were really bad before then. And “Orphan” just has one of the greatest plot twists—almost in cinema history—and it is surprisingly well acted because the actress was like 9 years old at the time.
SG: What’s the first horror movie you ever saw?
WW: My dad showed me John Carpenter’s “The Thing” when I was really young, and that really put me off for horror movies, and then “Stranger Things” came out, [and I got] reintroduced to horror. And then I watched “It,” and deep dive.
SG: What are you most looking forward to in the next month?
WW: We have the advanced acting show in about three weeks, and it’s really coming together right now. It’s almost like looming over us, but it’s a really fun show with some of my best friends in the school, and I’m really looking forward to people being able to see that one.
SG: Why acting?
WW: I did stuff at Second City for a while, and I was like, “Oh, this is really cool,” and then it was, “Oh, I just enjoy making people laugh and being funny.” And I just realized I like performing, and I think performing is really interesting and it’s a good outlet. It was something that I could focus on, particularly because I got really interested in it right before the pandemic. I wasn’t able to actually perform anything, and so I was just like, “I like it so much, I’m desperate for it.” And then when I came to Latin freshman year, I heard about the fall play auditions and then I started that. And then I just fell in love with it, because I met my best friends there, it was just such an enjoyable experience that I just was like, “Okay, I’ll do this again.” And then we did “Chicago” the musical that year, and I just kept doing them and doing them. And then I realized it wasn’t just comedy I liked, but acting and performing and being onstage was something that was so exciting for me. I was able to focus on something outside of schoolwork or any other activities I had or anything else going on in my life. I was able to just enjoy being on stage with my friends, doing the thing that we loved. Especially in a time where I was very undisciplined in school, and I wasn’t very focused, and so I really needed something to hone in on to sort of re-discipline myself after I spent two years not doing anything because of COVID.
SG: What’s something about you that you think people would find unexpected?
WW: Recently, two of my friends found out I’m a big NSYNC fan, which they were very shocked by. Because none of the other music I listen to is like that and I feel like it’s very not my vibe—NSYNC—but I do really like their music, and I do listen to it a lot.
SG: If you could be any superhero, who would you be?
WW: Batman. Just always been my favorite. “The Dark Night” is one of my favorite movies of all time. Batman’s awesome.
