Reid Heavner and William Schuster
Staff Writers.
This school year, the school’s 150th, is full of not just the old, traditional and historical events but also some new events and traditions in the making. Among these is the return of the SRHS school musical. This used to be an annual occurrence, but it hasn’t taken place recently. Luckily, a group of teachers got together last year and decided to bring back the tradition, with Matilda the Musical as their choice of play.
Matilda is the story of a young girl born to abusive parents who couldn’t care less about her. She quickly reveals herself to be exceptionally intelligent, comically outperforming other students of her age. Her teacher, Miss Honey, is supportive, but faces difficulties at the school from the evil, tyrannical principal, Miss Trunchbull. Matilda develops extraordinary abilities and uses them to overthrow Trunchbull, freeing the children from her reign of terror.
Casting for the musical took place the first week of October to allow rehearsals to start immediately and continue through the end of February when performances begin. The star role of Matilda herself went to junior Theo Richards, a Level 3 ArtQuest Theater student. “I was elated [to get the role],” said Richards. “I’m very excited. I think it’s gonna be amazing.” They expressed their enthusiasm for starting work on the production.
With many months of practice, rehearsal and performance to come, students in the musical look forward to this incredible showcase of art and talent present at Santa Rosa High. Senior Ireland Benton, playing Miss Trunchbull, said, “I’m really excited, especially with the role I get to play, that I can hopefully bring in more people and introduce them to the arts and introduce them to what we do here and how fun it is.” Benton recognized that the road to learning the musical would be a long one, but still said she was “very excited about it” and ready to “take what they were giving [her] and just run with it.”
This musical is a great demonstration of all the hard work and devotion present in the students of SRHS, and our campus is looking forward to seeing their dedication in the coming months.
