High School Musical

Our school district really does the arts in a big way. 

Am I starting to sound like a broken record on that topic?

Not that we don't have a great sports program, but our 660-student high school is sort of the anti-Glee.  Success in music or art or theater is a point of pride, both individually and collectively, and community support is overwhelming. 

(As an aside - forgive me, but since we're low on grandparents this is my forum for bragging about my children - my freshman son has just been invited to join the uber-selective jazz band.  Woot!)

So it stands to reason that the annual fall musical has become something of a creative juggernaut, an all-consuming synthesis of music, art, dance, drama and engineering.  The productions since the new high school, with its state-of-the-art, 826-seat auditorium opened, have included Cats, Honk, Once Upon a Mattress, Beauty and the Beast, and Les Mis. 

This year they tackled Phantom of the Opera.

Full disclosure:  I am not an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan.  I believe his success is due more to savvy marketing and brand management (see:  Brightman, Sarah) than artistic merit.  His compositions, though maddeningly catchy, are simplistic; his characters are one-dimensional.

What's more, the quality of his music is inversely proportional to the demands it places on its singers.  Even a marginally competent singer can make good music, even if it's technically demanding, sound effortless, because a good composer knows what sits well with the voice.  But poorly written music, even in the hands of a gifted performer, sounds challenging because it is gratuitously demanding.  Lloyd Webber is a master of sweeping, dramatic melodies which are truly a bitch to sing.

All of that by way to say that Phantom might not be the best vehicle to showcase teenage singers, even those who are genuinely talented.  The vocal requirements are too muscular (particularly over a pit band) and the ranges too great (an octave and a half per number is fairly standard) for voices which won't be mature for at least another ten years.

However, these guys pulled it off, even enjoyed themselves, so it seemed, and there was clearly talent to spare - the director double-cast six of the the leads so as not to completely exhaust anyone over the run of eight shows, several of which sold out.  So what if Friday night's Phantom was a little pitchy and had to substitute falsetto for pianissimo in the upper register. 

I can't even begin to guess how many people were involved, between the students in the cast and crew, the parents and teachers who volunteered their time to assist with everything from sewing costumes to folding programs, the directors and musicians... the whole town was caught up in it, and the audience's response to Friday's performance was truly gratifying. 

Our school district really does the arts in a big way.

Am I starting to sound like a broken record on that topic?