January 8, 2010  
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High School Musical Hits DeSoto

Disney Channel’s smash hit, “High School Musical” came to life on the high school stage. The musical’s three performances played to several audiences in which totaled to about five hundred attending individuals.      It all started with planning by James Hammer, and Latreasa Clark, head directors of the theatre department, in selecting “High School Musical”. According to Hammer, it took awhile to get the theater students behind the familiar show.      “We chose High School Musical because of the popularity for the franchise, it was something that most people had heard of, whether they liked it or not. There are many, many musicals out there, and it seemed important for our very first production to be a very well known show, “ said Hammer. “We didn’t want to mention the title of the show and have people go ‘huh? What’s that’?”      Since the majority of the students were familiar with the show, the theater department set a new level of entertainment for the high school. Teachers gave up time to take their classes to the production. The theater department was even assisted by Pamela Dawson, the choir director.      Although many people came to see the show, the total audience was not what was expected. “We had a total attendance of less than five hundred, “ said Hammer, “ I would like to have seen sold out houses for every show, but I think we had several factors working against us,” said Hammer. Despite the unexpected attendance rate, Hammer still encourages his students to work with a positive vibe in the theatrical department.      “I tell my students that when the Desoto community thinks of quality theatrical productions, I want them to think of Desoto High School first-a vision that takes time to develop,” said Hammer. The department is certainly on their way to becoming one of the best high school theater departments that the community has seen in a while. Overall, the theater department did a stupendous job on the stage with their first major play, and showed their talents in amazing ways such as singing, and even dancing. The musical surely did rock the house.

Written by: Kylania Brooks

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