Highland Middle School to stage 'Fame Jr.'
The dramatic musical "Fame Jr.," which follows students in a New York City high school for performing arts through their school years in a coming-of-age story, will come to life at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 6 and 7, at Highland Middle School, 310 W. Rockland Road, Libertyville.
Tickets are $7 each and may be purchased online at d70schools.org, under Highland Middle School.
This year's spring musical is set in the same High School of the Performing Arts as the 1980 "Fame" movie. This time it's four years later. The musical follows young actors, dancers and musicians as they grow and learn, make friends and move from freshman year to their senior year.
The cast is made up of almost 50 seventh- and eighth-graders, with more working behind the scenes. Featured performers include Emma Peterson, Maddy Wittenbrink, Kelsey Collins, Sarah Donofrio, Moira Duffy, Spencer Ford, Maja Gavrilovic, Amanda Gourley, Jessica Schrag, Matthew Pavlik, Ty Holzwarth, Brendan Lawless, Maguire Marth and Aidan Moore.
Members of the chorus are Michaela Gautsch, Gabbi Zaretsky, Gracie Benson, Maggie Vickers, Greta Schultz, Christine Massa, Olivia Mendralla, Dream Drummer, Margaret Stephenson, Jade Mirza, Molly Stilling, Kate Berry and Abby Gourley.
Making up the dance ensemble are Michelle Hogarty, Ella Bach, Natalie Smith, Grace Dillion, Kate Recker, Katie Olson, Rachel Erdmann and Brooke Hutchins.
Filling out the acting roles are Mary Piedrahita, Isabella Zalewski, Malaysia Salgado-Brown, Thomas Hubbard, Anya Ruzicka, Emma Bloom, Julia Fryrear, Haig Hagopian, and Ty Holzwarth.
For the music ensemble, there is Lucas Sale, Emma Bleck, Clara Beauchamp, Jennier Short, Amanda Murbach, Jordan Erdal, Johan Montag and Jacob Short.
The musical is produced and directed by drama teacher Shelby Burton, with musical direction by music teacher Bill Spakowski, and choreographers are international language teachers Jan Hutchins and Amy Rollefson.
The stage manager is Spanish teacher Sara Raymond, art director is art teacher Cindi Sartain, props mistress is paraeducator Amanda Bradley, and lights and sound engineering by language arts teacher Joe Romano.
Applied tech teacher Melissa Rosen is head of promotion, while volunteers Joe Burton and Sarah Lester did set design and costumes, respectively.
• To submit Your news with one photo, go to dailyherald.com/share. To submit Your news with multiple photos, send it to nbrcalender@dailyherald.com.