Community Consolidated School District 89 recently issued the following announcement.
The sets were close to being finished. The dance routines were nearly perfected. The lines were almost memorized.
Everything was coming together for Glen Crest’s “Aladdin” when the COVID-19 pandemic put a sudden stop to this year’s spring musical.
“I was so upset we had to cancel,” said director Chelsea Innocenti, Glen Crest teacher and one of the play’s staff sponsors. Other sponsors, Glen Crest teachers Nicole Cannizzo (crew director) and Amanda Schmidt (choreographer), agreed.
“We had a lot of talent,” Innocenti said. “I wanted to keep it going somehow and this is what we came up with.”
Inspired by professional actors who were sharing online performances from canceled shows with the hashtag #SunshineSongs, Innocenti encouraged the students to record parts of the musical at home.
The result is a fun mix of home performances and rehearsal footage that runs viewers through the show’s highlights. Students recorded their parts on Zoom calls, cell phones, and computers then submitted through Google Classroom. From the submissions, Innocenti was able to put together a virtual opening, Act I, and Act II.
The team plans to put on Aladdin again next year. However, Innocenti was disappointed this year’s eighth-grade students will not get to experience performing a middle-school musical. She is very proud of the students for living up to the theatrical motto: the show must go on.
You can see the virtual opening here: https://youtu.be/-Yqd7IxUZL8
Act I is available here: https://youtu.be/MGWBmhoHv70
Act II is available here: https://youtu.be/CSDejSyGlhU
Original source can be found here.
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