Palmer High students, staff explore ‘The Evolution of Music’

PALMER — Music of every generation and genre from around the globe will take center stage this weekend for Palmer High School’s homegrown production, “The Evolution of Music.”

Written, arranged and directed by longtime Palmer teacher Stan Harris, the show traces the world’s musical history from ancient origins to modern hits. Audience members will hear tons of Broadway tunes from shows like “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Guys and Dolls,” as well as internationally known numbers from the likes of Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, Elvis, George Michael, Johnny Cash and Michael Jackson, just to name a few.

“It’s pretty much the world’s biggest mash-up,” Harris said.

The show is a musical revue, meaning it combines song, dance, and small acting sketches under one theme, rather than following a set storyline, like in a musical.

“It’s a little bit different thing than what we normally do,” Harris said.

Palmer High typically puts on one musical every other year, but this year there will essentially be two, between the revue and the upcoming April production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

Though the revue was planned as a kind of a filler play at first, it’s developed into quite an undertaking in a short amount of time, Harris said. For a cast of 18, there are about 180 costumes to be donned over the course of the two-act play, and they’ve only been in rehearsals since the semester started in early to mid-January.

“I imagine the next (musical) will be set intensive but it won’t have 180 costumes,” he said.

With sometimes just seconds to change costumes, senior Sarah LeCheminant said things can get kind of chaotic — but it would be a lot harder without the base layer of black leggings and tank tops the girls wear.

“It just goes by so fast,” LeCheminant said. “In a normal play, you have scenes, but not in this one.”

In a way, each song snippet is its own scene, but the length of each piece varies and the stage never really goes all the way dark.

Harris said one of the biggest challenges is timing the music of the six-piece band with the entrance of the actors. Just as the actors have to hurry on and offstage and maintain the flow of movement, band members must smoothly transition from one song to the next, sometimes without any rests.

Though most of the band sits in the same place the whole time, guitarist Andrew Toro is always moving between his seat with the musicians and the front of the stage, changing costumes in the process. Occasionally he’ll set the guitar down, too, and join the dancing group for a spell of acting.

Toro (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Bruno Mars during his rendition of “Uptown Funk” near the end of the show) said the show’s strength is its diversity of musical styles.

“It’s good quality entertainment with good music,” he said, and a way to let audiences “experience artists that no longer live.”

Junior Jarrett Hardy said he’s enjoyed that experience himself. Though he had prior knowledge of many of the songs and artists referenced in the show, he confessed to not having known all the words.

“There are some really well-known songs that you can’t understand what they’re saying,” Hardy said.

In some cases there’s also a lot of perceived pressure in mimicking the movements of an iconic artist, such as Michael Jackson, whom Hardy depicts in the show.

Harris thinks the show will be a crowd-pleaser.

“We expect people to sing along,” Harris said.

“The Evolution of Music” opens Friday, Feb. 12, and Saturday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. each night. Additional showings are available next weekend at the same time, Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 18-20.

Tickets are available at the door and online at palmermusicbooster.org (no same-day online purchases), $10 for adults, $7 for students and senior citizens.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.