NEWS PHOTO MO CRANKER
Crescent Heights High School students rehearse for the upcoming show "We Will Rock You."
cbrown@medicinehatnews.com@MHNBrown
The stars have aligned for Jennifer Davies. Those stars being the Crescent Heights drama students.
It’s easy to hear the excitement in Davies’ voice as she speaks about the talented kids who will present “We Will Rock You” next week.
“It is a big accomplishment for any high school to stage this musical,” she said. “I had to wait until I had a very skilful group of boys and girls who would be able to sing these very, very difficult roles.”
Davies says she needed to have just the right crop of well-trained singers to stage the musical based on the music of Queen, noting this is not a scaled-down version of the music or show in any regard. This is the real deal. The ability to “pull of the rhythm, the high notes and just have the confidence to go for those really crushing, belting songs” were key to the choice of show this year.
“All of this is probably the most difficult music my cast has ever taken on,” Davies said. “These are some of the most talented kids who have ever come through the Crescent Heights program. Many are the reigning champion provincially for their age level. The best singers in Alberta are in this show.”
The show runs Feb. 5-8 and 11-15 at Crescent Heights High School with the curtain rising at 7 p.m. each night. The story follows Scaramouche and Galileo of a post-apocalyptic world where there are no musical instruments and rock ‘n’ roll has died under the reign of Killer Queen. The heroes join the Bohemians and embark on a journey to restore rock ‘n’ roll as they search for freedom, individuality and love. It features a book by Ben Elton.
Parents and grandparents of the students would have grown up on music of Queen but many of the students knew only the bigger hits. Davies says she’s had a lot of fun watching the cast fall in love with the lesser known songs.
The production has gone to great lengths with the set design.
“Everything we have in set design is all matched with a them so every prop, every set piece, every costume matches a colour theme it co-ordinates really, really nicely and is probably something we’ll see more of in the future,” Davies said.
A 20-foot Hard Rock guitar, glow-in-the-dark costumes, a live band and generally “massive set pieces” for the futuristic world also have her excited.
“It’s quite a spectacle. I know I’ve used that word in the past but if you’ve ever been to a Crescent Heights show this is even bigger.”
Students at Crescent Heights got a boost during rehearsals and were honoured when Keri Kelly stopped by to work with the students before Christmas. Kelly is Medicine Hat High School grad who plays Scaramouche in the touring production of the show, which was at the Esplanade in January.
Many of the students saw the show here and some even went to Calgary to see it.
“What it was really good at doing was inspiring my students, raising their energy level and just getting everybody excited to know, ‘wow what a good show,'” said Davies.
For ticket information visit chhsweb.ca
