The performing arts faculty at Carlmont High School has canceled the 2022 musical because of problems brought about by COVID-19 precautions.
The performing arts faculty has been meeting since last school year trying to figure out a way to safely rehearse and perform a full-scale musical, but choir director Genevieve Tep announced last week that the musical will not be happening this year, disappointing both prospecting and past participants.
“I was very excited to do the musical this year because it is my first year at Carlmont, I’m sad about the musical being canceled but I know it is for the best,” freshman Asha Mehta said.
While many people are upset over the cancellation, it was especially crushing for senior Marguerite Fields, who has been an avid participant in theater at Carlmont.
“I am bummed that the musical got canceled this year, as it is my last year at Carlmont, but of course I understand the precautions we must take to protect everyone’s health,” Fields said.
Though they’re disappointed, most students agree that the cancellation was best for the greater good of the school. Tep truly tried all she could to make the productions happen, but it just wasn’t possible at this time.
“We couldn’t see a path forward for us to do a show in the way that we normally do it. It became pretty apparent to us that the restrictions and everything are not changing enough for us to be able to move forward,” Tep said.
Carlmont’s musical is usually an elaborate production with a cast of 50-60 actors with over 100 students total working on the show. The large cast would make following San Mateo County’s COVID-19 restrictions difficult, if not impossible.
“We literally cannot fit a full orchestra in the pit with the 6-foot rule that is the county restriction,” Tep said.
The only option that remained to perform a musical this year was to have a small, exclusive cast, limited crew, and a quartet or small professional band, though Tep was strongly against this possibility, though Tep is hoping that a 2023 production will be possible.
“That’s just never how we’ve done things around here and that didn’t feel right for us. We’re looking at a lot of ways to make it happen next year,” Tep said.
One way Tep may change the 2023 musical is by moving the timeline of production. The musical has typically started being rehearsed in November with performances in February. This timing inconveniently coincides with the height of flu season, another reason that contributed to the cancellation of this year’s performance.
“On a normal year we’re fighting kids to please get your flu shots and we just couldn’t imagine doing that this year with all the COVID-19 considerations,” Tep said.
Tep is looking into moving the musical to either the beginning or end of the school year in future years. Despite any prospective changes, students are still excited for the musical to be back next year.
“I’ll definitely be participating in next year’s musical!” freshman Ben Romanowsky said.
