Around this time of year, the Montezuma-Cortez Middle School is typically gearing up for its fall musical. But this year’s performance will look a little different.
Middle school students filmed performances of five musical numbers, as well as an act called “Scenes from a Quarantine,” written by comedian and playwright Lindsay Price.
From Oct. 22-24, friends and family can stream the show online at 7 p.m. after purchasing tickets at mchsdrama.booktix.com for $10 per computer, not per person.
The show will be available for streaming on those dates only.
Directors Angela Gabardi and Marla Sitton rehearsed with students outside and via Zoom leading up to Saturday, when the 48 students involved divided up by grade level to film for 11 hours outside to put together virtual show.
“We made our own movie,” Sitton said.
Montezuma-Cortez High School theater teacher Nicholaus Sandner helped with the filming – his brother brought his drone to get wide shots of the students, Gabardi said.
The musical numbers include “We Go Together” from “Grease,” “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked,” “Hakuna Matata” from “The Lion King,” “Seasons of Love” from “Rent” and “You Will be Found” from “Dear Evan Hansen.”
“We picked songs that brought the kids together, that are positive,” Gabardi said.
The virtual show will have two song performances before the act and three song performances afterward.
The show “Scenes from a Quarantine” is “very, very relevant,” Gabardi said. “There were a lot of laughs from the students during rehearsals.”
Cortez middle school offers catharsis from COVID-19 in new production
But students had to adjust to performing without an audience reaction, Sitton said.
The theater and choral departments are a tight community, and meeting in passing between grades was also difficult for the students to adjust to, Gabardi said.
“They came together the best way they could, but we’re hoping to bring that community back together,” she said.
On Thursday, sixth grade performers will walk a red carpet into the middle school gym, where they will view the screening of their performance. Parents and staff are invited to cheer students on for their red carpet walk outside, but they can’t enter the gym because of COVID-19 restrictions, Gabardi said.
Seventh and eighth grade performers will have their own viewings on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
“We try to stay in cohorts as much as possible to avoid exposure,” Sitton said.
Both directors said they’ve had an incredible number of sponsors for the virtual show, which made it possible to keep doing theater.
“Thank you to the businesses and parents who continue to support the kids,” Gabardi said.
Cortez middle school offers catharsis from COVID-19 in new production
ehayes@the-journal.com
