The fifth-graders at McVay Elementary have brought back an experience that hasn’t been in school since before the pandemic: the student performance.
On Wednesday, students from Elisabeth Willis’ and Jeremy Regula’s classes performed “Pirates! the Musical” — the first of two fifth-grade musicals — for the entire school as well as an evening showing for families, friends and community members.
On March 8, students in Micaela McKinster’s, Lindsey Bilderback’s and Summer Spencer’s classes will perform “Frozen KIDS.”
“It was really weird at first,” said fifth-grader Trey Graves, who played the lead role of the Stowaway in “Pirates! the Musical.”
“I learned that you can do stuff that you didn’t think you could.”
Music teacher Evan McIntyre proposed the musicals as a way to provide students with more opportunities to become involved in the performing arts process and feature as many students as possible.
He started working with students in September, helping classes determine which show they would perform. In October, students auditioned with songs and lines from the musicals in front of a panel of teachers. They also applied to serve on a variety of leadership teams for the productions, including stage, choreography and creative. In November, cast lists were finalized and music rehearsals started during music class.
At the start of the year, students built set pieces, props and posters during their art classes. And last month, each production launched staging rehearsals during the school day.
“My hope is that these musicals inspire life-long appreciation of the arts for my students and that my students are able to see the positive impact their performance had on the community,” he said. “It was wonderful being able to see my students come together and celebrate not only their hard work but each other.”
This year’s productions serve as the first fifth-grade musicals McIntyre helped organize since joining the staff. He hopes to make them an annual tradition and credits the McVay PTA and building and district leaders for making this year’s shows possible.
The experience made its mark on many of the performers.
“This is the first exciting thing I’ve done in school,” said one student who played a background character and was part of the ensemble. “It really changes my perspective on school a lot.”