Break a Leg!

Lights, camera, action! In just two short days the LCHS theater will be performing its first musical since 2016! They will have three different days for this production: the 8th, 9th, and 10th of December, and tickets are ten dollars. They can’t wait to show everyone what they have been putting together over the course of this semester!   

Mr. Cross–the choir director here at LCHS–shares what said performance will be about.  

“The musical is about the old children’s story–by fellows–it’s called the Wind in the Willows. The story is about Mr. Toad, who is maniacal and he is always looking for the next best thing. The story is about how he gets into a lot of trouble and his friends: rat and mole and the otters and badger, come in to help him stay out of trouble; you also have the antagonists: the fox and the weasels and stokes and wild wooders that are out kept in trouble. It’s a fun show fit for everybody,” Cross said. 

Along with Mr. Cross, Dr. Johnston–the theater teacher–also shares some of his own insights about this play. 

“As an English teacher I think about the bigger ideas, and it’s really about friendship and sticking with your friends and putting up with people and all their faults along with doing something difficult because your friend needs you to,” Dr. Johnston said.  

Putting on a musical is a lot of work. It takes a great deal of time, effort, and patience. Mr. Cross and Dr. Johnston are no strangers to the hectic environment that comes with putting together a musical. 

“A musical is like doing a play on steroids. It’s all the wonderful elements of a concert with all the wonderful elements of a straight play. Doing a musical is not an easy thing to do. It is a huge undertaking and the most difficult part from a director’s side is trying to make sure that we keep up with everything; it is making sure that we are moving forward and not taking any steps back,” Cross said.  

Dr. Johnston adds to this, explaining how much he and Mr. Cross have to keep up with in the midst of putting on this production. 

“This is all just bigger than what we normally do in theatre class. The lighting is more complicated, the soundtrack is more complicated, the number of people to manage on stage is more complicated, the set is more complicated, so coordinating all those pieces has been a pretty substantial endeavor,” Dr. Johnston said. 

Although it can be quite challenging, both directors enjoy putting together such an amazing show. They are proud of what their students have accomplished this semester; and while it has been quite the learning experience for them, it has also inspired them to try and make musicals more frequent. The process of this production has encouraged them to further their knowledge of putting together a musical. 

“We haven’t done [a musical] since 2016 so it’s been a while since we have done it. We want to turn it into a regular part of our curriculum. It has been exciting learning how to do it. I want to figure out how I can do it better next year,” Cross said.

Johnston agrees that there was a lot to figure out along the way.

“This has kind of been a learning experience for me and Mr. Cross as well because we have to share time when we are talking about acting or dancing or singing; this is a much bigger project in every way imaginable. The whole thing is much bigger and integrating all that stuff together is the biggest difference of how we pull in elements,” Johnston said. 

Both Mr. Cross and Dr. Johnston–along with their class–have been working hard to bring this show together. They are thrilled to share their show with us!