Rolling Meadows HS choir virtual 'West Side Story' performance goes viral
The Rolling Meadows High School Choir was set to perform the music of "West Side Story" in concert Thursday night to a crowd of hundreds. Their substitute viral virtual performance has been seen by thousands.
By the magic of iMovie and Video Collage editing software, student Grace Anderson was able to splice together nearly two dozen separate video clips of choir members singing "Somewhere" into a seamless, streamlined online performance.
The Twitter page for the school's choirs program posted the video Thursday night. By Saturday evening, the video had more than 70,000 views.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker gave them a shout-out, tweeting, "This is incredible! @RMHS_Choir is showing us all that the show must go on."
Students from Rolling Meadows and other schools throughout the state have been home all week after Pritzker's March 13 decision to close schools in the wake of the coronavirus. On Friday, he extended school closures through at least April 7.
Anderson and Rolling Meadows choir Director Caitlyn Walsh were brainstorming ways to cheer up members of the choir after realizing their long-planned performance would be postponed.
After devising the virtual choir idea Wednesday, it was a quick turnaround to produce the video before releasing it Thursday night.
Walsh sent out instructions to students on the school's learning website, including an accompaniment track each could sing along to. To show their solidarity, students picked up red T-shirts to wear in the video - intended for their original stage performance - from Walsh's house.
After getting all of the videos, Anderson spent six hours individually editing the clips and making sure they all started at the same time.
The students had an online video launch party at 7 p.m. - the time of their originally scheduled show. They also posted videos of solo performances of other songs, but the group rendition of "Somewhere" has especially taken hold.
"We were going to use it as a finale because we really loved the message of the song, even before COVID-19 hit," Walsh said. "The most impactful video is the group one because it's so cool, and the message of unity is really important for everyone right now.
"Even though we're confining ourselves due to the virus, we have this incredible tool of technology and in my and my students' case, music, to make sure we stay connected and let everyone know there's always a way to make it work."