Broadway comes to SCHS

Broadway is coming to Shawano Community High School.

The school’s orchestras will come together to perform their annual Golden Strings concert Friday and Saturday, presenting 18 songs that include pieces from 10 Broadway shows.

The orchestra will re-create many of the songs loved and adored by young and old from shows such as “Phantom of the Opera,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Les Miserables,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and others.

The concert will also feature several singers from the high school and the community.

Students determine the theme and organize the show. Senior Mikaela Selle said the show will appeal to locals in their teens and 20s as much as it will older audiences who grew up with the original music.

“It’s really unique because there are a lot of accidentals in the pieces, and those come out when you play,” Selle said. Accidentals in the music world are emphasized sharps and flats.

The Broadway theme, with music from several shows based on Disney movies, will help appeal to some of the adults who feel like a child at heart, junior Elijah Albertson said.

“They’ll probably watch this and sing along to it,” he said.

The annual Golden Strings concert is a showcase concert, senior Sam Klein said. While most of the orchestra concerts during the school year are free to the public, Golden Strings is also a big fundraiser for the music program.

“It’s just flaunting all that we can possibly do,” Klein said. “It’s proving all we can do that other orchestras can’t do because they don’t choose the pieces we do.”

The orchestras overcame a couple of additional obstacles preparing for the show. Mold found in the music classrooms forced initial rehearsals to take place in the library, and several instruments were delayed in getting to the school.

“We managed to adapt to the situation,” Selle said.

Besides Broadway pieces, the orchestras will play their four signature pieces: “Blue Moon,” “Spanish Serenade,” “Helena Polka” and “Night Train.”

Junior Britney Bamke said those four selections help underclassmen get used to the demanding pieces that they will be asked to take up later.