By Babiha Kaur, Digital Editor
The performing arts groups at River Hill High School are preparing for the winter extravaganza. Although this performance is typically annual, due to COVID-19 this will be the first extravaganza in three years. Taking place on December 22, the performance will consist of representatives from the entire music department.
Mrs. Meyer, the theater director, describes the winter extravaganza as “a performing arts assembly for the school. Band, orchestra, guitar, choir, dance, and musical theater all get together, and in the past we’ve also incorporated the art department.”
Musical theater is planning to sing and dance in a series of four different songs, each relating to a different season. Mrs. Meyer comments, “Musical theater is going along with the unit we’re working on in class about how we use pop culture and how we mash things together and use theater to tell stories.” This year’s theme for musical theater is “Connecting through the Seasons.”
Sophomore Victoria Nganga is part of musical theater and is eager to be performing in the extravaganza this winter. She comments, “I’m looking forward to having it come to life. Everyone in our musical theater class is so talented and have done incredible things for the theater department. 2022 was a year, so I’m excited to have it wrapped up in a beautiful bow.”
Other students in musical theater are just as excited to sing and dance in front of the school. Sophomore Bhavika Vyas exclaims, “I love doing group projects in theater, especially when we get to perform in front of the school. It’s cool to show what we do.” Junior Mira Karpati agrees, commenting, “I love performing, and in general theater there’s not a ton of opportunities to do that outside from within our little group, so I’m really excited to be able to perform in front of a larger audience.”
Musical theater isn’t the only class that is eager to perform. Sophomore Gina Dhaliwal sings in Vocal Ensemble and has never performed in the extravaganza before. When asked what she is looking forward to, she shares, “I am excited because it seems like a really cool thing, and it’s also going to be an excellent performance from what I’ve heard because everyone gets to showcase not only what they’ve been working on, but they also get to share festive spirit with the people around [them].”
Junior Athena Devashish is looking forward to be playing as a member of Wind Ensemble. Athena shares, “I’m excited mostly because no junior, sophomore, or freshman has done the extravaganza since the last few years have been halted, so it should be very interesting and chaotic.” She is also keen to see how the All-Play piece goes. Band, orchestra, and chorus all participate in this piece.
Overall, performing arts groups are excited to be performing in the winter extravaganza. The talented thespians in musical theater are putting in large amounts of time preparing. When asked if she thinks that musical theater’s appearance will be beneficial to the school community, Mrs. Meyer concludes, “I think musical theater is the most enthusiastic performing arts group because our class doesn’t get many performance opportunities as some of our other performing arts counterparts. For instance, we don’t have a winter concert of our own. It’s a nice way to show what our class gets to do for the school, so that the school gets to see how much fun we have, and we actually have an audience to show it off [to].”
The winter extravaganza is a fun way for many different groups to come together and teach the school about what they are striving towards. Through the winter extravaganza preparation, performing arts classes are figuring out the best ways to put their knowledge together to share their expertise with the rest of the school.