A Musical to be remembered

By Shaun Inguanzo
STANDING ovations, curtain calls and raucous laughter in a world-class theatre.
Secondary school students from St John’s Regional College experienced all of that after last week’s outstanding performances of Disney’s High School Musical at the Dandenong Drum Theatre.
As many as 70 students involved themselves in acting, backstage, lighting, costumes and make-up, sacrificing Sundays and lunchtimes for the past 20 weeks to ensure that last week’s four performances of the hit musical left audiences gobsmacked by their quality.
High School Musical is based in the United States, where Troy, captain of the school basketball team, falls in love with singing after performing a duet with a girl named Gabriella.
Teacher Lee Geraghty directed the production, while art teacher Anne Aldis managed the stage.
Ms Aldis said the students had an ‘absolute ball’ working on the production, and that it all came together on opening night as they had wished.
“You always ask yourself what’s the best thing you remember about high school and the answer is never something in the classroom – it’s always extracurricular,” Ms Aldis said.
“Students will remember this forever.”
Drum Theatre technicians were on hand to help students learn about the stage production process.
All the hard work was worth it according to Ms Aldis, with audiences – including primary school students – loving every moment of the production.