Hooray for the return of live(liest) theatre

Appleton North theatre director Ron Parker picked the perfect show for the school theatre program’s return to live theatre.

The Spongebob Musical offered everything we’ve been missing since these past two years — Humor! Warmth! Color! Whimsy! Music! Dancing! Flying Mermaids! and Talent! My oh my, that show offered plenty of talent.

We saw it yesterday afternoon and we all thoroughly enjoyed our spectacular romp through Bikini Bottom Cove. We loved the message about the importance of friendship and inclusion and standing up for yourself. We also loved how an unlikely hero learned to believe in himself and then changed the world.

It seemed like all the energy that had been bottled up in that pandemic-stifled theatre program burst out onto the stage. We saw tap dancing and kick lines, heard young voices master difficult harmonies with ease and watched high school students literally fly.

I’m so glad this group of students finally got a chance to take the stage in a live performance and I’m also really grateful that we got the chance to see the show.

Congratulations once again to Ron Parker and his extremely talented cast and crew. We can’t wait to see what’s next.

Last week, I also got the chance to see a sweet choir concert in the Hortonville High School auditorium. Choir director and elementary music teacher Haley Graves assembled a group of first and second graders into a charming collection of talented forest creatures for her production of The Bear Went Over The Mountain.

I loved seeing all those cute little faces singing with such unabashed enthusiasm and joy.

Thank you to these and every other theatre, music, band, choir, dance, voice, piano, orchestra teacher for instilling such confidence in these students and for helping them develop their talents so well.

I’m also really grateful for the opportunity to see these liveliest performances.

Welcome back, live theatre! We’ve missed you so much!

All that enthusiasm, creativity, energy and talent that had been bottled up for the past two years came bursting forth on stage during Appleton North’s production of the Spongebob Musical. (My friend Catherine McKenzie took these fantastic pictures and I am sharing them with her permission.)
Patrick (Robin Jensen), Sandy Cheeks (Sunny March-Tormé) and Spongebob (Ruby March-Tormé) were all excellent, perfectly cast and vocally spot on.
The cool jelly fish scene was just one of the many technical marvels associated with this production.
The show featured a cast and crew of more than 100 students.
And some amazing voices. This is Eugene H. Krabbs (Ignacio Medina) and Pearl Krabbs (Roseanna Williams).
The show included the spectacular lighting, costuming, staging, sound and special effects we’ve all come to expect from an Appleton North Production. A mermaid, pirate and Patrick all flew. So cool!
The evil Sheldon J. Plankton (Emily Gowing) and Karen the Computer (Eryn Lemmert).
Such a clever set!
A lively dance crew as well. Bravo to Appleton North and Hooray for live theatre!

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