CHS to Perform Disney Classic in Spring
Actors' request for spring musical rewarded with a Disney favorite.
December 13, 2019
Thunderous applause rang throughout the auditorium Monday, December 8, when choir director Natalie Hamilton announced to an ecstatic ensemble that Chanute High School will be having a musical this spring. After the success of this fall’s presentation of Fiddler on the Roof, many participants in the previous musical asked Mrs. Hamilton if a spring musical was a possibility. As it turns out, it was, and Disney’s Mary Poppins has been chosen.
When asked about the decision to direct another musical, Hamilton said that the administration approached her about the possibility, and she accepted.
Hamilton said about the selection of Mary Poppins, “I love the songs, and it’s something my mom used to play the music for me to sing with her at the piano.”
Fiddler cast members who were inquired about the decision had similar opinions,
“I’m actually very excited; Mary Poppins is my favorite musical of all time,” said junior Keondre Gregory.
Senior Jillian Vogel, after expressing great sadness from her final performance in Fiddler on the Roof, was ecstatic about the opportunity to perform one last time. “I thought that I was never going to perform another musical with my friends at CHS and now I can and it’s great,” said Vogel.
For those expecting a play this spring, a musical is a shock. Chanute High School has traditionally presented a musical in the fall and a play in the spring, but the announcement of Mary Poppins has broken this trend, leaving some confused and blindsided.
Seniors Dustin Cooney and Kaitlyn Baum, both regular play participants, expressed concern about the replacement of the spring play. Cooney says “I feel that a spring musical would take away from the fact that people don’t have to be great at singing in order to actually get up on stage.”
Baum voiced that “it would be nice to do theater plays instead of another musical, just for people who can’t sing and want to act instead.”
Junior Susanne Cunningham expressed mixed emotions: “I love musicals, but it has been a couple of years since I’ve done true scripted works.”
While Mary Poppins might be a spoonful of sugar to some and a bitter taste of bad medicine to others, students around the school have almost universally expressed approval for the choice. Hopefully, with a lot of hard work and a little bit of Disney magic, the 2020 spring musical will prove to be a “supercalifragilistic” opportunity.