Students celebrate 90 Years of Broadway

How do you create a musical production for all ages to enjoy?

Put a bit of classic in it: Cats, a hint of childhood memories: Oliver, a touch of Jazz: Chicago, some twisting and turning 60’s: Grease, a modern day blockbuster: High School Musical, with some sing out loud: Mama Mia, and you have a show that combines the highlights of the past 90 years of Broadway musical shows which have changed us, moved us and had us up and dancing in the aisle.

This Queen Margaret College and Scots College joint production will take the older generation on a trip down memory lane and will introduce the younger generation to a new palate of culture.

Through the creative direction of Rachel Henry and the musical direction of Tim Jenkin, the show has had 45 students belting out show tunes and toe-tapping themselves around the halls of the Colleges.

Andrew Stopps, director of music at Scots College, says 90 years is roughly the age of the two schools and Broadway musicals are fun to perform.

“It’s amazing how many songs you recognise when you look back over decades of well-known and much-loved musicals,” says Stopps.

Tim Jenkin, head of performing arts at Queen Margaret College says the programme is a fantastic line-up, featuring tunes from the early musicals in the 1920s to more recent ones.

The TV programme Glee has highly contributed to the recent upsurge in interest in musicals by school students.

“[It] has made musical theatre cool again. Musicals are meant to be entertaining, but they’re also a commentary on life, and the world around us. In a lot of ways this production is a history lesson as much as it is a music or drama class. I think the students have learnt a lot along the way,” says Stopps.

The musical is directed by Rachel Henry, a graduate of the Toi Whakaari: NZ Drama School Master of Theatre Arts programme. She has been a free-lance director and actor throughout NZ for the past ten years.”

The four performances run from July 4th to 7th, 2011 at 7.30pm at the Queen Margaret College Hall in Thorndon, Wellington. Tickets can be booked at both schools’ offices.