The snow let up just long enough for the musical talent of La Porte High School to put on a play. Opening night of School House Rock, February 26th, was entertaining for all audiences.
Director Thomas Coe chose the cartoon favorite for the creative potential it grants its cast and crew. The script calls for five main actors but they expanded it to eleven so that every member of LPHS’s Show Choir could take part. Everyone had an equal share of the lines. The Mixed Chorale also filled in crowd rolls during some of the songs.
Recent school closings prevented the students from doing their dress rehearsals but Coe was not worried about their performance. He expected an awesome performance and he got one.
“I am just floored beyond belief,” he said, “At how well everyone did tonight. They pulled it off with their energy and with professionalism.”
Children were awed by the brilliant costumes and silly dances. Parents smiled with nostalgia as familiar musical numbers like Just a Bill and Conjunction Junction were recreated onstage. Interplanet Janet brought everyone to their feet with a game of catch the solar system: members of the cast tossed balloon like replicas of the planets into the crowd.
Watching the story unfold, it was easy to forget that you are learning.
Cast member Lilly Hooley said that was what made a play like this an important event for the community to witness. “It shows that education can be fun. I enjoyed the emotions we got to play, that aspect of it.”
For actress Molly Hodge it was the intimacy of her peers that touched her the most. “I love the people in it, we all have our own unique perspectives and bringing them all together, on stage, really let us harness our own personalities for our roles.”
School House Rock is by all measures a creative play. Coe was glad to have chosen it. “Because of [the script’s] flexibility and creativity we could customize it and be imaginative.”
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