‘I was terrified.’ What happened when an NC football star tried out for the school musical

Many actors have a pre-show routine, with activities like tongue twisters, gentle stretching and breathing exercises. But Weddington High senior Josh Moraja’s warm up for the spring musical looked a little different.

The four-year varsity football player chased away his opening night nerves with a spurt of push ups and jumping jacks.

“It felt like I was going for a big game,” said Moraja, a 6’3”, 245-pound offensive and defensive linemen, who helped the Weddington Warriors to a 13-2 season last fall that took them all the way to the regional finals of the 4A 2022 NCHSAA Football Championships.

Moraja made his high school theater debut performing in this spring’s “Seussical.” He also helped Weddington High capture its first performance-based Blumey Award in school history last month. The Blumeys are the local version of the Tony Awards, recognizing excellence in high school musical theater in the Charlotte region.

‘One of the best nights in Charlotte.’ Boisterous Blumeys honor high school theater

“It kind of almost sounds like ‘High School Musical,’ now that I’m thinking about it,” said Moraja, 19, who maintained a 4.4 GPA and also excelled in wrestling and track at Weddington High. (He was referring to the Disney Channel movie about a jock, in that case a basketball player, who ends up in the school musical. That also comes close to the plot of “Glee.”)

For the Weddington theater production, Moraja tapped into another set of skills.

He sang, danced and acted in three different roles for the light-hearted and high energy show, which weaves together well-known characters and plots from several Dr. Seuss books.

“I was terrified, like you always get that feeling that like ‘oh no’ but I kind of love that fear. It was really fun — it makes you still feel alive.”

And that hard work paid off. On May 21, he took home one of the region’s highest honors for high school musical theater: a Blumey Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Forty-seven schools participated in this year’s competition. The Blumey Awards was established by Blumenthal Performing Arts.

Weddington High’s production of “Seussical” also received five other nominations this year, including a nod for Wells Fargo Best Musical - Tier 1 (for schools with a musical production budget of under $10,000. That award went to North Lincoln High School’s production of “Anastasia.”)

Moraja described his Blumey Award win as surreal and dreamlike, coming only minutes after reprising a musical number one last time with castmates on Belk Theater’s massive stage. He said he felt incredibly lucky to have received the honor.

“Everyone was really, really awesome and very supportive,” he said of the other students at the award ceremony.

Being part of “Seussical” has been one of the best experiences of his life, Moraja told The Charlotte Observer, noting the cast’s enthusiasm and the family-feeling that quickly developed during rehearsals.

Moraja said he discovered new things about himself by performing so many different characters in the production. And he grew as a public speaker too, a skill he’s always enjoyed. “It was a fun thing to have to learn the ropes.”

From Matthews Playhouse camp to the football field

Although “Seussical” was his first time participating in a high school show, Moraja has a long history with theater.

From age 6 on, he and his twin sister, Madison, attended weeklong summer camps at Matthews Playhouse. The camps culminated in small productions for an audience of 50 or so parents, who came to cheer their kids on.

“And ever since then, I had a pretty deep love for theater,” Moraja said.

He went on to serve as a Matthews Playhouse apprentice for several years, assisting teachers at the summer camp and gaining some backstage tech skills in lighting and sound, which he ran for some camp performances.

Moraja also grew up studying and performing piano, but he spent most of high school career focused on football.

‘This guy’s an actor’

Before auditions, Weddington High drama teacher Dave Blamy only knew of Moraja’s reputation as a nice guy and a good football player.

“Then he came out and he’s got an absolutely beautiful voice,” said Blamy, who worked as a professional actor for 15 years before joining Weddington High. “He’s got an amazing stage presence. And in that respect, I was kind of blown away. I was like, even from the first audition… ‘this guy’s an actor.’ ”

Blamy said he used Moraja as much as he could, casting him immediately in the comedic roles of the war-crazed General Genghis Kahn Schmitz and as one of the fun-loving Wickersham brothers. Later, when another actor had to drop out of the production, Moraja added on the role of Judge Yertle the Turtle.

“He was very different in all three roles,” Blamy said, “which is why I think people noticed him.”

Although Moraja was the lone football player in the cast, Blamy said there were a few other athletes representing tennis, softball and track in the company of 34.

Blamy has only been with the school since October. He credits predecessor Maria Moore — who held the position for 23 years — for having established a good relationship between the theater and athletic departments.

That’s something he hopes to continue expanding, even if it’s simply in the form of students supporting each other’s extracurricular passions.

Blamy also has co-mingled sports and theater. He holds a PhD in theater history and playwriting, and was a water polo player in high school, an All Big Ten water polo player at Michigan State and has coached club and summer swimming leagues for years.

“I certainly understand the discipline and the scheduling it takes to be an athlete and to be a theater performer,” he said. “Josh is an absolutely lovable human being and super popular among his peers, incredibly smart and just an all-around fantastic kid.”

Football coach and teammates’ reaction

Weddington High head football coach Andy Capone, who coached Moraja all four years, described him as a big, strong force on the field.

But he wasn’t surprised that Moraja could command a presence on stage, as well.

“He’s a character in whatever he does,” Capone said. “...And It was really fun to actually go watch him in a different light and see how well he did, and obviously the ton of success for him that came after.”

Capone said he thought Moraja’s award-winning performance was a reflection of shifting his mentality just a little bit.

“Instead of trying to knock people into the dirt,” he said Moraja was getting into character and putting on a show. “He’s a physical kid. And in the musical he was a fun-loving guy who sang his heart out.”

Moraja said his decision to go out for the school musical initially met with some playful teasing among his teammates.

“At first, it was a lot of poking fun, honestly,” Moraja said. “I mean no shame to Seuss, but it was like a humbling experience. It’s a wackier play… a kid-ish play, which was so much fun to put on.”

Football players tend to be macho, he said, but most of the guys respected his decision. “They were all there opening night.”

He credits another athlete with pushing him to follow his heart and try some acting his senior year: his sister Madison, a star sprinter on the Weddington track team.

“She’s probably the person who made me want to do theater. She’s been there with me the entire journey … through Matthew’s Playhouse and stuff, and we both have (an) extremely deep love of theater because of it.”

Mom deserves credit, too, he said, for signing him up for theater and piano all those years ago.

Oh, the places he’ll go!

Moraja looks forward to attending the Broadway Dreams Weeklong Intensive program in Charlotte this summer, thanks to a full scholarship offered by the organization to each of the Blumey Awards Best Actor/Actress and Best Supporting Actor/Actress winners.

In the fall, he heads to UNC Chapel Hill’s Business School, where he’ll join the Navy ROTC. He plans to check out the school’s theater program, too.

Because who says you have to choose just one?

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