For anyone who enjoys stage performances, song and dance, you’re gonna love these first few weeks of February. No fewer than four stage and concert performances are scheduled, beginning this coming weekend, when Willink Middle School presents Disney’s Newsies, Jr. in three shows on Thursday and Friday Feb. 3 and 4.
Featuring a cast and crew of 100 sixth, seventh and eighth graders, the show is based on the real-life newsboy strike of 1899. It tells the story of Jack Kelly (Nicole Eggleton), a rebellious newsboy who dreams of a life as an artist away from the big city. After publishing giant, Joseph Pulitzer (Jeremiah Fischer), raises newspaper prices at the newsboys’ expense, Kelly and his fellow newsies take action. With help from reporter Katherine Plumber (Evie Aiezza), the newsies learn that they are stronger united and create a movement to fight for what’s right.
The show is packed with high-energy songs which have become well known to theater-goers and non theater-goers alike, including “Carrying the Banner,” “Seize the Day,” and “Santa Fe.”
Shows are Friday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, February 4 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at Willink Middle School, 900 Publishers Parkway, Webster. Tickets are on sale now on the Drama Club website. Cost is $10 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Children 3 and younger are free.
Also this weekend, on Sunday Feb. 5, our very own Chorus of the Genesee and Rochester Rhapsody will participate in a free concert at the Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre called “A Taste of Song.”
The concert, presented by the Greater Rochester Choral Consortium, will feature 16 area choral groups. More than 600 singers from local choirs/choruses of all sizes and musical styles will sing in this unique, 75-minute collaboration.
Each chorus performs for five minutes or less in a “prism” arrangement, with ensembles singing from various locations throughout the theater. Groups perform continuously without a break or applause between ensembles.
The Chorus of the Genesee and Rochester Rhapsody will be joined by the Eastman Rochester Chorus, the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus, First Inversion, Madrigalia, the Oasis Community Chorus, the Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus, and many more. For a complete list and more details, click here.
The concert begins at 4 p.m. at the Eastman Theater, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester.
Next weekend, on Thursday, Friday and Saturday Feb. 9, 10 and 11, Webster Schroeder Musicals will present the ABBA-inspired jukebox musical Mamma Mia!
Chances are you’re familiar with the story, but here’s a short synopsis for those who aren’t:
Young Sophie is readying for her marriage to her fiancée, which will be taking place on a beautiful Greek island where she lives with her mother, Donna. She’d like to invite her father to the ceremony, but problem is, she doesn’t know who he is. After reading her mother’s diary, she invites three men, one of whom she believes is her father. When Donna discovers they’re all on the island, she naturally becomes a little distressed. Emotions run high, but everything works out in the end.
The play features tons of popular ABBA songs, including “Money, Money, Money,” “Thank You for the Music,” “Dancing Queen,” and of course “Mamma Mia.”
Mamma Mia! will be presented on Thursday, Friday and Saturday Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m., with a matinee performance on Saturday at 2 p.m. Reserve tickets are $14 each and are available now. Click here to purchase.
Webster Schroeder High School is located at 875 Ridge Rd.
And last but not least, also on Feb. 10 and 11, the Webster Theatre Guild will present “The One-Act Play that Goes Wrong” as part of a dinner theater at the Penfield Recreation Center.
Both the Saturday and Sunday shows will begin with a pasta dinner at 6:30 p.m., followed by the performance. Tickets are $25. The event is a fundraiser and proceeds will help fund scholarships for graduating high school seniors and support the staging of upcoming musical theater productions.
I wrote a much more complete blog about this yesterday, so click here for more information.
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(posted 2/1/2023)
Jake Gorski, the son of one of my Plank North teaching colleagues, is working on his Eagle Scout project and is looking for some help collecting supplies. He explains in this letter:
The students of Willink Middle School will present their student-run production of Swan Lake on Friday, May 10 and Saturday, May 11 at the school, 900 Publishers Parkway.
Socola is currently an assistant principal at Merton Williams Middle School in the Hilton Central School District, a position she has served in since 2016. She is replacing interim Blue House assistant principal Annette McCabe.
think he’s Snake Eyes Johnson, Public Enemy #1.
A variety of events stuff today’s mailbag. A few of them I have mentioned before, but I want to shine some light on them again as they get very near.
The Webster Arboretum’s
webster on the web 