NEWS FEED

Petri: Things I think I think–Seussical the beautiful/I’m going to miss this place

Written by Donovan Petri

When I first heard that this year was going to be Schenleys’ final musical I thought it was going to be some epic coup de gras, like RENT or another contemporary and famous musical. When I heard they would be performing a rendition of Seussical, l I was shocked, and at first didn’t even want to waste my time going to it.

But one night I got a call and on the phone was a kid who invites me to go see it with him. Of course, being home with nothing to do, I accepted. I thought the musical would be childish and not very deep…that could not have been further from the truth. The songs, the colors, the voices and feel of the Cat in the Hat all came together to form something I can only explain as an explosion of pure ecstasy. The song selection was another thing that made the senses cringe with happiness, especially the opening song. I actually missed the first part of the opening song and through the entire musical I was thinking to myself “Sing it again at the end.” And they did.

The acting was also a thing to note. While watching the production I couldn’t help but notice the radiance of excitement coming through Thing 1, Thing 2, the Cat in the Hat, and the inhabitants of Who-ville, and at the same time, I got a sense of innocence from Horton. Mrs. McKrell did an excellent job of getting the actors and actresses into character, I could almost feel the silly child-like  presence of the cat.

When the production was over I couldn’t believe what I had seen. I wanted to see it again, but alas, it was the last performance.  I continued to replay my favorite songs in my head for the next few weeks after seeing it. Then I started to forget about it…that is, until Saturday.

I was watching yo-gaba-gaba with my baby brother on WQED when on came a commercial for the upcoming Dr. Seuss week. They were going to be playing The Cat in the Hat TV shows, movies, narrated books, and a few other things. But one thing made my jaw drop and my heart rise up, “And don’t miss Seussical the Musical performed by Schenley High School, here on WQED”.

I was so excited that I missed the date it was to be playing! I imagine it will only be a few of the songs due to it being so long, but even so, I’m going to take the time out of my day to watch, DVR, and watch it again!

The Schenley musical was definitely the epic finale I was hoping for. Mrs. McKrell did an excellent job, and I regret not thanking her for the experience before today. I also regret not being able to help her out next year. But I assure you, you’ll see me in the audience next year, and I can only hope that the birth of one legacy can be as good as the  “death” of the last.

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Late word…

The year is coming to an end and the teachers are starting to give up, no homework in math class, projects are being finished up in art, watching movies in Japanese. But there are still a few resilient teachers, in particular Mr. Denlinger. We will be reading Macbeth until the day of finals… COME ON MAN! The year is literally ending in like 7 days and we are wasting the time we could be taking to review what will be on finals…pop in a video, give us a work sheet, kick back and relax. And yes this goes out to all teachers, and yes I’m playing the annoying kid who continually harasses you for a free day.

The 2010-2011 school year was a pretty decent year, not too much happened but a few things I remember- and will continue to remember- are the student faculty basketball game(s), wasting time writing columns in journalism, the month of no teacher in art class, Spork, the Schenley musical, all the cool kids I met, Jade constantly telling sensei how big his muscles are, playing ping-pong during gym class, and even, wait for it, Ms. Ralston’s class, but not because I liked it, more because it’s a class that will be hard to forget.

CAPA orientation is today, and to be honest I am scared out of my life. I went to the IB school for years now and transferring out of it is going to be hard for me. I don’t know what to expect. Will the work be harder or easier or the same, will the people be nicer, will the teachers be kind and understanding, I don’t know. I’m definitely going to miss this school,  although getting out 40 minutes early is  nice. Something I’m going to miss out on-and it’s killing me inside-is that I’m not going to be able to take Theory of Knowledge (ToK). 11^th grade year I may sneak back in here every day just to listen in on that class.