Dressed in their Broadway best, students in the Rancho Cucamonga High School Drama Department held their annual “A Night on Broadway” show on Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m.
A Night on Broadway was made as an opportunity for students to be able to perform their favorite Broadway songs on a big stage. The performance allowed all students to have free rein and explore their own creativity.
All students who auditioned performed songs that were performed on Broadway, and all students would be responsible for their own performance.
Instead of acting in the production, third-year student director, senior Khloe Wales, helped to guide the actors.
“It’s really cool to see something that’s like my creative vision come to life, especially this year because I feel like Mr. Loudermilk [Drama director] has given me a lot of creative control,” Wales said.
Performers had call time at 5:00 p.m. and continued to get prepared for the show until the doors opened at 6:30 p.m.
Aside from regular show practices, performers have done self-studying and additional research to fully learn their song as well as to give the audience a fulfilling performance.
“I found the sheet music for my song [Hellfire from Hunchback of Notre Dame stage production],” Hyde said. “I started learning how to play the sheet music, and I also did some research on the character’s background.”
When seniors were asked about this production being their last high school performance, they were mixed about anticipating it and mourning the experience.
“I’m really excited to perform my song. It’s a song that I really like, and it inspired me a lot in my high school theater career,” senior Alita Kanu said.
Community and working together are large parts of the high school experience, especially for theater and choir students. Experiencing putting on productions becomes a large part of their high school theater careers, and creates long-term memories for students.
“It’s bittersweet to be performing for the last time because I feel like this is going to be the best Night on Broadway, but I am sad to leave it behind,” Wales said. “I am sad that I have to say goodbye to all of my friends because this will probably be the last show we do all together.”
Unfortunately, the RCHS Drama Department experienced small technical issues during the show. However, even through all the technical problems, the performance was an overall success and earned a standing ovation.
Senior Jamie Jarqui, who was both a stage manager and a performer, elaborated on her feelings after the performance.
“It was very fun to get to be both an actor and tech for my last night on Broadway performance,” said Jarqui. “I could not be prouder of our tech team. Though we had a few sound issues, I am still proud of the team. ”
With the end of the year approaching, seniors gave advice to incoming students interested in the program.
“Don’t be afraid to just have fun and be yourself, which is really cliche advice, but I feel like I didn’t take it a lot my freshman year,” Kanu said.
Similar to Kanu, Wales advised newcomers to stay true to themselves and that the drama community is a can be a home on campus for anyone.
“I wanna say welcome, and you should stick around,” Wales said. “Drama is a beautiful community where you can really find yourself and your people, and just be in a safe space on campus.”
