By Riley Gonzales, News Editor; and Babiha Kaur, Digital Editor
After a canceled trip in the spring of 2020 and two years of no out-of-state travel, the performing arts department of River Hill finally returned to their yearly field trip. On Saturday, March 25th, they got to travel to New York to view a broadway musical.
Six of River Hill’s fine arts groups-band, orchestra, theatre, dance, choir, and guitar-took an extended-day trip to New York to experience the bright lights and bustle of the city. Each group had their own itinerary that included a Broadway show in the afternoon, leaving most of the day to explore.
Buses left school at 5:30 AM, and upon arriving in New York, orchestra visited the Vanderbilt tower. Senior Rachel Warfield describes, “We went to the Vanderbilt, the Summit One Vanderbilt, which is really cool. It’s this really tall building in New York City that’s almost all glass and it’s really neat.” From the top of the tower, students got an excellent aerial view of the city of New York.
Theatre took a different route. Freshman Kaya Roy explained, “We went to the Museum of Broadway. It was really cool and colorful. It had a bunch of original Broadway costumes, and I learned a bunch of history.” The museum of broadway opened just last year and features exhibits from musicals like Phantom of the Opera.
Instead of simply visiting a New York landmark, dance got to create art in New York City. “I honestly loved the dance class that we took at Broadway Dance Center. The combo was one of my favorite songs, and just dancing in New York is always fun. Definitely a cool experience,” junior Lily Ulman commented.
Additionally, band and guitar got to visit Sam Ash Music, a large music store in the city, and try out the instruments there, while choir went to Madame Tussaud’s wax museum.
Students also spent much of the day wandering the city, eating New York pizza, and shopping.
“We went to a lot of stores on 5th Avenue, so we went to H&M, Lululemon, Zara,” junior Melina Mazzella shared. Other students noted visiting the Disney store and M&M World, in addition to a visit to Times Square.
The climax of the trip was watching a Broadway musical. Different departments saw different plays, either Hadestown, Wicked, Aladdin, or Moulin Rouge. Dance student Melina shared what she found captivating about Moulin Rouge, a play about a young composer who falls in love with a star actress, “They had flashy numbers which I thought was cool.”
Theatre had the pleasure of watching Hadestown, which depicted the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Freshman Lila Ahr explained, “It was really cool. I liked how there was a lot of movement on stage that happened in time with music, lighting, or sound effects.”
Kaya also had great things to say about the performance, commenting, “Hadestown was amazing. The woman [who played Eurydice] was incredible. I think the singing, the acting, and the chemistry between the two characters was amazing.”
Having seen such incredible performances, it’s no surprise that students walked away with songs stuck in their heads. Rachel points out a song that particularly stood out to her., “One of the songs they sang, ‘Wait for Me,’ was like, it’s a really pretty song to begin with, but actually seeing it in person it was unbelievable. The way that they choreographed it and designed how—I can’t explain it, but it was really cool.”
Band students saw Wicked, which tells the story of the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz. Senior Preston Passamonti shared, “If I had to say my favorite song would probably be the one that the Wizard of Oz sung, I think it’s called ‘Wonderful.’ He did such a good job. It’s such a wacky song.”
Not only did many students enjoy the show, they also appreciated the amount of time they got to spend with their friends outside of school. Kaya noted “the connection with all my classmates” as being the most memorable part of her trip, speaking to just how much community-building this gave the fine arts department. The New York Trip was an unforgettable experience that this year’s River Hill fine arts students will remember forever.