On Jan. 12, Hellgate High School’s brand new Musical Theatre Class put on their very first public performance for semester one finals. Hellgate’s theatre teacher Laramie Dean, and choir teacher Ellen McKenzie hosted the performance in the Hellgate band room, where they have traditionally been in the auditorium.
The performance ran for an hour and consisted of all 30 students in Musical Theatre Class acting, singing, and dancing to songs and scenes from musicals in the 1930-1980 time period. Each student got to be a part of at least two different scenes with contrasting costumes and characters.
Students have been working in groups since the beginning of October. Each group staged and choreographed their scenes and made their pieces come to life. While this was Dean and McKenzie’s first ever organized performance for the Musical Theatre Class, students impressed the audience with their hard work.
While Musical Theatre has replaced the Theatre Three/Four class, the class is available to any students who have taken Theatre Two or are currently enrolled. Musical Theatre ranges from sophomores to seniors.
The main ‘idea’ behind Musical Theatre Class was to combine both choir kids and theater kids. Because of the way the Good Knight Theatre Company does extracurricular shows, the senior class of 2026 will not be able to participate in a spring musical this year. Having this class as a new opportunity to students, expands their horizons of singing and dancing combined with acting.
While the students were working hard on perfecting their scenes, before beginning the project McKenzie posted a google form for everyone to fill out on their preferences. Whether that was singing alone, only in a trio, or only in big groups. This helped students feel more at ease for the new class.
On Jan. 13, the class was asked, who now feels more comfortable performing and would like a bigger role for next semester’s performance? Nearly half of students’ hands went up.
While continuing to explore the creative fundamentals of musical theatre, students will begin to prepare in the next few months for their semester two public performance on May 18.
