It’s hard to believe that I couldn’t see how much we were going to all be in this together. Prior to the announcement of this year’s musical, we knew that it would be a combined cast and pit with students from both Harrisonburg and Rocktown (RHS). We all eagerly awaited the announcement of this year’s musical, watching directors take down shows off of the reveal walls. Some of the favorites to go were, “Frozen”, “Hadestown”, “In The Heights” and many others. With the final six standing, many students thought it was going to be Mama Mia or Mary Poppins, but the actual show came a little bit out of left field.
Learning that the show was “High School Musical” was a big surprise to most. Within seconds of the show being revealed, some students leapt for joy while others were in denial that this was actually happening. All of the happy, angry, sad, excited, nervous emotions shared one thing. They could not believe we were doing this show. The Rock City musical will be “High School Musical.”
The music in this show is well known whether you have watched the movie before or not. The classic lines “We’re all in this together” highlight the current state of Rocktown and Harrisonburrg. Having students from both schools brings together a strong community within the musical. Friends that have been split up during their school days now get to come together to create a show that brings them, and hopefully the audience, a lot of joy.
This year I think we will make the musical experience a really fun one. No matter what happens, it will be memorable. I have been a part of the last two HHS musicals and both have been experiences like no other. There is nothing like the community that gets built through the many hours the cast and crew spend together rehearsing and preparing for the show. Through all the silly, stressful, fun, scary and exciting moments, the musical team creates strong bonds that last more than just on the stage.
“High School Musical” is a show that has a very over the top cheese factor to it. That comes naturally to some people, but for me it really doesn’t. It is going to take a lot of work to match everyone’s performance level across the board, but I think the HHS and RHS students cast in the show will deliver.
Having such a classic musical will hopefully bring in a big crowd. Large audiences tend to fuel performers and help make them shine on stage. Even though “Cats” is also a classic musical that a lot of people have heard of, last year, the way we shine will be very different from last year’s musical.
We are going to start embarking on the exciting new journey through our musical season this year. It’s about time we start to get our heads in the game.
