Musical Theater taps their way into a new year

Since 3ten last checked in on Musical Theater, the 45 students have visited and performed at all of the Decatur elementary schools, thus helping perfect “Schoolhouse Rock!” and have been tapping every week. The class runs smoothly, mostly, and the two teachers, Amy Rawlins and Elise Eskew-Sparks, have found their rhythm.

“Dr. ES and I work really well together,” Rawlins said. “I’m really glad she’s running this class with me.”

The class itself rotates through practicing their fall show (“Schoolhouse Rock!”), performing their fall show, learning about past shows and dancing every Thursday. The students enjoy the curriculum.  

“There’s a mix between performing shows and learning about the actual history of musical theater that my old theater class didn’t have,” senior Bailey Fisher said. “I like having the benefit of that.”

The class performs Schoolhouse Rock! for fall and then in the spring, they do a “Broadway: Then and now”.

“This is our way of making Musical Theater history more interactive and more interesting for the people in the class,” Rawlins said.

Performing at schools has given the students experience, and Rawlins loves it.

“It’s a good experience, being able to be the official performing class of Decatur,” Rawlins said. “The musical theater kids are going out into the community and reflecting the hard work and positivity that musical theater represents.”

She adds that “the little kids in the elementary schools look up to our Musical Theater kids, we’re kind of like celebrities.”

The students in the class equally enjoy performing.

“It’s really nice to be able to have this practice, be able to watch us improve every time, and watching us not screw up,” Fisher said.

As the class continues to grow, Rawlins thinks next year is going to be harder to teach.

“There needs to be a way to teach the first years about the curriculum and keep the second years entertained and still learning,” Rawlins said. “Since there is only one class period, we will probably make the second years ‘the professionals.’’’

As the year comes to a close, and musical theater successfully finishes, Fisher and the other students are very happy about the class.

“Before this class, I had like five friends,” Fisher said “Now I have a solid group of friends in my life.”

Photos provided by Sue Bresler and Amy Rawlins