Clinton's All-School Musical Revue Brings Books to Life

Books came to life in the Clinton School auditorium on March 15 and 16 as standing-room only audiences watched the 5^th annual production of the Clinton Theater All-School Musical Revue.  Sponsored by the Clinton PTA, the revue offers students the chance to rehearse once-a-week from January to March and then show off their dramatic, comedic, dance, musical, and artistic talents both on and behind the stage.  Support from the PTA makes the experience available and free to all students.

Over 300 students participated in the cast and crew of A Night at the Library. The original scripts, choreography, and acting was supervised by parent volunteers. Fifth graders worked with their director and Clinton parent Andy Leech to sketch out a series of scenes and background narration in which books come to life as they attempt to shelve them for the Clinton media specialist Jennifer Latimer. Mrs. Latimer made special guest appearances in the first and last scenes. After asking them for help in a special project, she warned them to read through the directions before they started. Anxious to get started, the student narrators quickly forged ahead with the project.  Failure to follow the directions slowly turned each of the students into a character from a book as they tried to put them away and brought the stories to life.

In A Night at the Library, kindergartners appeared first, reciting the poetry of “Goodnight, Moon” to the tune of Katy Perry’s Firework.  From there, swashbuckling pirates, ninja warriors, Captain Underpants, Peter Pan, the Magic Tree House’s Jack and Annie, Professor Henry Higgins, Eliza Doolittle, Where the Wild Things Are’s  monsters and Max, Dorothy, the Tin Man, and her friends, the Mad Hatter and company, Willie Wonka, Charlie and his competitors for the Golden Ticket, Harry Potter and friends, and even the woodland creatures of Narnia and the Ice Queen appeared, all sharing the power and beauty of books. In the finale, French revolutionaries came to life, as narrator Aaron Yanda pointed out, in a scene that included “Catwoman, that Roman Gladiator guy, and Wolverine….and they all sing!?”  They closed the show with “One Day More” before all of the performers took the stage for the grand finale, singing Firework as they proceeded back into the auditorium and filled the stage.

The all-school musical revue is one of the many ways that the Clinton staff, parents, and students builds a sense of community by bringing  together students from different grades to work toward a common goal and parents and grandparents in a myriad of volunteer roles. By the end of the show run, 5^th graders know the names of their new kindergarten friends, and first graders have gotten tips and advice from 2^nd and 3^rd graders about what’s ahead for them at Clinton. Teachers graciously turn over their classrooms to serve as green rooms for the week of the show, and many come to see their students on stage. 

Clinton parents Brian Umiker, Janet Traska, Heather Kern, Jeremy Moss, Christy McElynn, Patty O’Connell, Kyle Sturhann, Jen Schuetz, Sharon Geraghty, Melissa Van Varick, Kathleen Hong, Satoko Hoshino, Christina Nix Lynch, Mascha Kapoor, Amy Janay, and Kevin Lynch headed up a crew that numbered more than 60 adults and 40 students to run the house, design and print programs, build sets, usher, manage the props, do lighting and sound, and design the production t-shirt.