<p>Our HS is famous in the area for the shows it puts on every spring. This year’s show, just completed, was Elton John’s Aida, with a cast of 70. Last year they did Into the Woods. The previous year was Les Miz. Every year, at the end of the run, the audience wonders “what will they do next year to top this one?” I don’t know how much this year’s show cost, but the year they did Miz they spent a huge amount of money to add a revolving section to the stage. During the years that my daughter was there, the printed program was produced in-house by the graphic arts club; however, the year they did Miz the program became a professionally produced novelette. The kids love what they do and work like dogs, but there is such blatant favoritism involved in the casting that many kids don’t bother auditioning after freshman or sophomore year. If you aren’t in the premiere choral group or the show chorus, or if you haven’t managed to endear yourself in some way to the director/music director who is also the choral music teacher, you’ll never make it out of the chorus no matter how talented you may be. There are two views of the director/chorus teacher: one, that he is a genius; two, that he is a megalomaniac. After knowing him for many years, I go with the latter choice. Yes, the shows that the school puts on are fabulous, but somewhere between December’s auditions and May’s production everyone loses sight of the fact that this is a high school, and that these are kids whose primary job is to be the best students they can be. By the time my daughter was a senior she couldn’t wait for the show to be over, the pressure was so intense. Yes, the school ends up with a highly professional end product, but whatever happened to the whole idea of having fun? Personally, I find this terribly, terribly sad.</p>