PAHS musical uncertain due to quarantine
According to Times Leader “As of March 16, 2020 Governor Tom Wolf enforced that all nonessential businesses close.” Sadly everyone, not just business owners are affected. Freshman Maddie Strauss said, “It is disappointing to have my first ever musical with the high school postponed. I was so excited to be able to be a part of something we all worked so hard on throughout the year. However, I feel even more sorrow for our amazing seniors who are waiting to see what will happen. We are all holding on to hope and we aren’t giving up on this play. It’s an honor to be part of this group.”
You walked across the stage, a smile from ear to ear on your face. The lines you memorized weeks before confidently fell from your lips. The applause of the audience only caused the smile on your face to brighten. All the work you have done and time you have taken to make this possible was finally paying off. But suddenly things went silent. The crowd weakened. Slowly, it all faded away from your view. The stage lights dimmed until there was no light left. The show had been taken away.
From March 26th to the 29th PAHS Students planned on stealing the show with the musical Pirate Queen. Without regard to the hours of practice put into this production, COVID-19 had different plans.
Students were saddened to hear that their show had now been postponed. However there are options to when and where the beloved musical would be performed.
The show could be pushed to July. Junior Jacob Montgomery (who plays Lord Richard Bingham) said, “As of right now, we’re hoping to tentatively open our full show in late July, but we do have back up plans if quarantine is not lifted by then. However, this is all hypothetically based on when quarantine ends, but we will ensure somehow that our audience stays safe while enjoying our show.”
The Drama Club could perform a “song version” of Pirate Queen held at the Majestic Theater. This production would be much smaller and would be the next option if it can’t be held at the school. Sadly this version would contain mostly singing, not the complete scenes of the play.
Junior Julia Malek (who plays The Pirate Queen and Grace O’Malley) said, “That’s one of the options, yes. But it’s definitely not the best option. I’m hoping to perform it in the summer in its entirety, but if that isn’t able to happen, performing it as a concert in the Majestic is still a very good option. I want to perform this show in any way I can.”
As a last resort, Pirate Queen could be rescheduled to October of next school year. The downfall to that idea is that many seniors who deserve to take their last steps on that stage will not be included in the production.
Senior Isabella Myers (who plays as Grace O’Malley with Julia Malek) said, “Coming into my senior year, I had a lot of expectations of what I thought the show should look like. One of the expectations is being a part of the spring musical. For the most part, rehearsals continued normally, as they should have. But we were so close to tech week, and as stressful as it is, most of us make our best memories during it. I was really looking forward to stepping out on the stage for the last time with all of my amazing cast members, that I am proud enough to call my family. I was even hoping to get nominated for a Majestic Award. But I have to remember that this is not only affecting me, it is affecting millions of people around the globe. It is sad that seniors everywhere might not get to experience a series of their last memories in high school. Inevitably, life will goon, but we need to remember that we were the class that stood together in a time of a pandemic. We are the survivors and no one can take that from us.”
