Foothill And Amador Valley Students Perform 'On Broadway!'

Pleasanton CA

29 April, 2021

10:23 PM

Description

Press release from the Pleasanton Unified School District: April 29, 2021 Students from Amador Valley High School (AVHS) and Foothill High School (FHS) premiered On Broadway! on March 26. Written by AVHS drama teacher Lynn Kirsey, On Broadway! is a virtual musical revue with selections from a variety of Broadway musicals, including Les Miserables, Dear Evan Hansen and Shrek the Musical. The group began rehearsing the musical, which included 19 cast members and 17 orchestra members from AVHS and FHS, in January 2021. They recorded all audio at home, and then combined the orchestra and vocal recordings. The cast lip-synced to the audio track, removing their masks only for the final filming sequences. "The show must go on....our students needed to perform, so how do we do this during Covid? We make a movie!" Kirksey said. "It was a challenge following all the protocols, but we did this safely and are very proud of the outcome." Purchasing the rights to a broadway musical can cost nearly $10,000, in addition to other components of putting on a high school musical, including sets, costumes and props. The cancellation of last year's joint musical due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a $14,000 loss to PUSD high school programs - which motivated the creation of the original production. Amador Valley and Foothill teachers hope to have enough donations to put on a full musical in 2022. Donations to the high schools' musical collaboration can be made at pusdedu.info/musicaldonation. This press release was produced by the Pleasanton Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author's own.