This years musical put on by Highfields School sold out every single one of their four shows, and enthralled audiences with the story of breaking racial boundaries in Baltimore.
The cast of around 70 students gave a stellar performance, tackling issues of segregation, body shaming, love and more through the medium of song and dance. Among the cast were many Year 13 students, for them this was their last school production at Highfields, with many of them having been in shows since they joined in year 7. These students included Lauren Poole, Paige Cordingley, Aeryn Stubbs and Jack Williams who worked especially hard learning two parts.
Lauren took to the stage as Penny Pingleton and Amber Von-Tussle, while Paige delighted audiences as her on-stage mother Velma Von-Tussle. Sadly Paige was ill on closing night meaning she could not perform as Tracy Turnblad. Aeryn also performed as Velma Von-Tussle as well as Prudy Pingleton. Jack Williams entertained audiences playing Edna Turnblad and Link Larkin, totalling the roles he’s played to a record-breaking 9 during his time at Highfields.
The cast were accompanied by the extremely talented school band lead by Mrs Jevon, Musical Director. The band was made up of Highfields staff and students, both current and past who always enjoy coming back to play in Highfields school productions.
The contrasting light-hearted and upbeat form of musical theatre with the serious and profound themes of the plot is perhaps what interested BBC Radio WM and the Express and Star. Both news outlets picked up the story, with a broadcast interview live on the radio and an article in the paper, covering the outstanding production.
The school show managed to attract not only news attention, but also former student Beverley Knight, who attended the closing night to watch her niece, Tierney Smith, perform. Knight often takes time out of performing in musical theatre to support the school where she started out,. In 2018 she came to watch Highfields production of ‘Grease’ having played Sandy herself the last time the school staged the show.
Director of Performance, Ms Bishop sung the cast’s praises’, saying it was amazing to witness such inclusivity, “To me, ‘Hairspray’ is one of the most prominent productions we’ve done here, solely because of how powerful it is to see students from all backgrounds and year groups coming together to tell this story and have so much fun doing it.”
This came to light when footage from racial inequality protests was projected during Motormouth’s song ‘I know where I’ve been’. A moment in the show that had been long in the planning by Ms Bishop and Mr Francis, Creative Director of the show. He said, “We were eager to make a real impact during this poignant moment of the show. We used protests from the 60’s then brought it up-to-date with footage from the more recent George Floyd protests. We hoped this resonated with audiences and reminded them of the ongoing fight for racial equality”
The process of this show has been a wonderful experience for students and audiences alike and the school hopes the impact remains even now the production has come to an end.
