South View students prepare for their upcoming show, High School Musical

Students in South View’s production of High School Musical have been hard at work creating their show. Students submitted audition videos using Flipgrid to the directors, Erica Gardner and Jim Hawthorne. After the show had been cast, students began meeting virtually to learn the vocals, choreography, and blocking. The original plan was to film a movie version of the musical in small, socially distanced groups. While the cast would rehearse, the crew, under the direction of Matt Pearson, learned about filming techniques and best practices to create the movie.

In March, when students and staff found out that all hybrid students would be returning to school four days a week, Gardner, Hawthorne, and Pearson began to research the idea of performing the musical live at an outdoor venue. When the students returned on March 22, the directors, including choreographer Josh Fremder, were overjoyed with the cast’s knowledge of

the music and dances. Since the return to in-person learning, the cast has been meeting daily outside on the bus parking lot at South View, rehearsing outside, socially distanced, and masked. They are preparing for a live performance for a small audience of 250 families and friends at the Maetzold Amphitheater at Centennial Lakes in Edina on Friday, April 23. A livestream of the performance will be available here.