Students bring teacher’s high school operetta to life in Arlington Heights
Take 80 students dressed in toy soldier and rag doll costumes, choreograph them in 15 musical dance numbers, and you have the stuff of a modern day operetta.
But if the term conjures up Gilbert & Sullivan and HMS Pinafore from the late 19th century, think again.
Over at St. Peter Lutheran School in Arlington Heights, they have brought back the art form, and its first, second and third grade actors can’t stop tapping their toes and singing the songs long after they’ve left the stage.
Take third grader Kyle Orton of Arlington Heights. He loves to play soccer, basketball and baseball, but he now ranks dancing right up there.
“It’s awesome,” he declared.
Orton and his classmate, Cade Milligan of Arlington Heights, portrayed head toy soldiers in an original operetta called “The Toy Shop.” Together they rescued the ballerina, Katrina, from robots who threatened to add her to a stuffy toy collection.
“My favorite part was learning how to dance,” said Jasmine Laethy of Prospect Heights. Jasmine played the ballerina who learned to dance only after all of the other toys built up her confidence and inner strength.
Sybil Kramer, a second grade teacher in her 30th year at St. Peter, first wrote the script for the toy story caper in 1965 as a creative writing assignment in high school.
“I always wanted to do more with it,” Kramer said.
The opportunity came in 1993 when she collaborated with Donald Hermann, the longtime music director at St. Peter. Together, they set the play to music, with Hermann composing the music and lyrics for its 15 songs.
“The kids just love the idea of being on stage, and they love the songs,” Kramer said. “One of my students told me he wished it would never end.”
St. Peter Principal Bruce Rudi said the chance for students to experience the fine arts is part of the backbone of the school. He points to fourth and fifth graders performing in a musical, while junior high students stage a play.
Every three years, he added, primary grade students perform in an operetta.
“We think experiencing the fine arts is an integral part of education,” Rudi said. “It gives them poise and self confidence, and it builds up their speech education.”
He also points to all of the music and singing as part of the heritage of the Lutheran Church.
“The Lutheran Church is known as the ‘singing church,’ with all the songs and hymns,” Rudi said. “This is just carrying on that tradition.”
Third grader Sarah Skaggs of Arlington Heights, who plays the jack-in-the-box in the show, says that besides the music, the show revolves around friendship.
“It’s about friends helping each other out,” she said. “It’s just right for us. We’re a Christian school, and we’re all about loving and caring.”