A bit of Broadway
A touch of Broadway is coming to Brookwood Elementary School.
Tierra Moore, 8, rehearses for The Nutcracker with her class at Brookwood Elementary School in Martinez.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
A series of pupil-performed musicals at the school on South Old Belair Road kicks off Tuesday with The Cheese Stands Alone. It is the first in a new series of musicals performed throughout the school year called "Broadway at Brookwood."
Although none of the shows in the series were ever actually featured on Broadway, Brookwood Elementary music teacher Johnny Carr said it still feels that way to his pupils.
"When you see these little students up there it looks like they're all Broadway stars," he said. "They're all stars when the spotlight hits them.
"They have the same features of a Broadway musical where you have dancing, costumes, lighting, make-up and choreography."
Other shows in the series include Brookwood Sings America, The Nutcracker, I Remember Martin Luther King, Cinderella, A Froggy Day in Lindentown, Hats, and a Best of Brookwood variety show.
Each musical features a different grade level at the elementary school as the cast, which is the reason for the series, Carr said.
"The point was to try to get every student on the stage before the end of the (school) year," he said. "Everything we try to teach in school is summed up in a musical play, I feel."
The Cheese Stands Alone features the schools second-grade class and will be held Tuesday at 2:15 and 7 p.m.
The 30-minute show focuses on Cheese and his burgeoning friendship with Rat, which others say is unnatural.
"It's about friendship and not giving in to negative peer pressure," Carr said.
All of the shows in Broadway at Brookwood are free except Cinderella, which will be presented in a dinner theater format. Ticket prices have not yet been determined.