by Chloe Jordan | Editor-In-Chief
A band kid claps his drumsticks midair in preparation of clashing cymbals and keeping beat with the drums. A theatre kid strolls onto the stage confidently, cracking jokes to a wildly entertained audience. An orchestra kid strums a bass guitar, playing the underlying notes of each song. A choir kid completes the scene with a melodic, honey-sounding voice. Each student contributes their musical talents to an 80’s themed show, playing classical 80’s pop, rock, and even some modern songs.
These students have worked for weeks to create this show that will be held in the auditorium on April 6.
“It starts at 7:30,” sophomore and concert producer Preston McGurn said. “We’re really trying to sell out, so our goal is to have another performance either directly after our first showing or the following Saturday.”
Tickets will go on sale next week for $5 with RSVP or $7 at the door. There will be QR codes on posters and social media, and the Jag Shack might also be selling tickets.
“So we’re planning it to be a little over an hour, less than an hour and a half with no intermission,” McGurn said. “But, we’ll keep you guys engaged, I promise.”
Funds from ticket sales will go towards band, choir, and theatre. The show will feature reputable names from each of these groups.
“We have some great kids from theater such as AJ. He’s our host. It’s gonna be great. We have Ella Packard; she played the lead in Mamma Mia, she sang some cool tunes,” McGurn said. “We got Dylan Fonville. Gabriella Jensen if you guys know her, she’s a great singer. Some other couple people you’ll see soon enough.”
This show has been well awaited by its band members, as they did a trial run last year, but it didn’t turn out, according to McGurn.
“We didn’t market it so well. It was very rushed and all that, so we took our mistakes from last year, and we’re really updating them, and we’re learning from them,” McGurn said. “We hope all you guys come. It’s gonna be great, it’s gonna be a lot of fun. We’re playing a lot of hits from the 80s.”
The show will feature fun lighting elements and well-known songs.
“I know a lot of people know ‘Careless Whisper,’ the very cool saxophone song that, I guess, is a meme,” McGurn said. “We’re playing Van Halen, ‘Take On Me’ by Aha, ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ by Tears for Fears and cool songs like that, as well as some good rock stuff.”
The band members have run into complications while curating the performance.
“We’ve had a ton of problems with kinda always bugging the fine arts directors, so that’s probably been our biggest issue,” McGurn said. “Just trying to book the auditorium and get everything on the set a date, but when they’re busy doing other stuff, it just makes it a lot harder for us. A lot has gone into this, just rehearsing wise.”
According to McGurn, the music chosen for the show is music that you can’t find in the typical extracurricular performances.
“Yeah, you’re playing classical music, some amazing pieces out there carefully hand picked by the directors, but we’re playing music that I feel like people wanna hear,” McGurn said. “I’m sure everyone is gonna love it. We’re playing our hearts out on the stage, and it’s gonna be great.”
For senior AJ Hardeman, the show will be a memorable way to finish out the year.
“What the show means to me, why it’s so important, is because it’ll be my last time hosting something at the school. It’s bringing everybody together, from choir, from theatre, from band, and it’s like a united fine arts concert,” Hardeman said. “It’s going to be a time to laugh, cheer, and just celebrate the whole year. Back to the 80s, a great time.”
To RSVP for tickets, visit https://tinyurl.com/EnterThe80sRSVP.
