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For this Summer Showcase, I thought it would be interesting to use the over-arching journey through a lifetime as a theme. The Second Year students started with musical theatre songs that represented childhood. The finale of their section, "When I Grow Up," was aggressively taken over by the Fourth Years with "Candy Store," to begin their Adolescence Section. Act One ends, as the Fourth Years proclaim that at the end of Adolescence, we still "all have a little more homework to do." And Act Two rushes into the Career Section with "Coffee in a Cardboard Cup." The Love and Marriage Section explores the nervous first date, the desire for the simple and sweet things in life, falling head over heels for someone....or not, finding love late in life, and continuing the long cycle of motherhood as "Our Story Goes On." The finale of this show was a mash-up of two beautiful Sondheim songs, with the Second Years proudly claiming "Our Time" has come, and the Fourth Years advising the audience that "Children Will Listen."
My favorite moments of this show were the transitions between sections: Matilda being told to "Listen up, Byatch!" as we move into the Adolescence Section, and the full circle moment of "The Story Goes On," after beginning the journey with a simple song about the start of life on a birthday. Each section had its own small arch, and filled in the larger arch of the show. The students got to explore more than just the material; they discussed and dove into each stage of life and what big leaps are represented at each point. |
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ACT I
A Lot of Living To Do Childhood Section: Tanjoubi (Birthday) I Won't Grow Up (Peter Pan) Book Report (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown) The Girl I Mean to Be (Secret Garden) BFF (Sponge Bob the Musical) When I Grow Up (Matilda) Adolescence Section: Candy Store (Heathers) Hello Twelve/My Junk (A Chorus Line/Spring Awakening) Where Do You Belong (Mean Girls) Meet the Plastics (Mean Girls) Everything Else (Next to Normal) A Little More Homework (13) |
ACT II
Coffee in a Cardboard Cup (tap number) Career Section: How to Succeed (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) Racing With the Clock/Something Better Than This (Pajama Game/Sweet Charity) In the Heights/96,000 (In the Heights) Something to Point To (Working) Love and Marriage Section: Prologue/Cantata for a First Date (I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change) Simple Little Things/Somewhere That's Green (110 in the Shade/Little Shop of Horrors) Helpless (Hamilton) Getting Married Today (Company) Therapy (Tick Tick Boom) Take a Chance (Mamma Mia) The Story Goes On (Baby) Our Time/Children Will Listen - Finale (Merrily We Roll Along/Into the Woods) Lot of Livin - Curtain Call |
