A Boarding School Musical

So, I wrote a one-act musical about boarding school. Hamilton-inspired, it’s a hip-hop, pop, and classical music fusion that aims to both send up and speak authentically to the bizarre experience of being an adolescent in a boarding school.

It went up at a school meeting, total surprise to the students. 25 awesome faculty members joined in. The kids were ecstatic.

Part satire and part tribute, it begins with learning about boarding school for the first time, carries through the first day of classes, and finishes, of course, with a dance number.

While it’s about boarding school holistically, there are good chunks that apply to most any school, like the classes section, in particular. Here are the time-stamps for different scenes:

00:00 Opening Number
14:04 Sit-down Breakfast
17:30 Classes (US History, Physics I, Math)
28:00 Co-Curriculars
30:30 Walk-Through Dinner
32:11 Epilogue & Dance

Click "Show More" on the YouTube page to jump to a scene. But it's best from the beginning.

Partnered with my colleague Sam Watson a year ago to write and produce original music, and then the cast of teachers had only two rehearsals to learn staging and put it up (you know how busy teachers are!). The motivation for writing it was pure joy — what’s more fun than working with colleagues and reflecting on what we do? — and in retrospect, I’m really proud of the effort everyone put in, especially during an already busy time of year.

This isn't your parents' Gilbert & Sullivan, so put on your headphones and crank up the bass. This is music to move (and learn) to.

Enjoy!

Link: A Boarding School Musical (YouTube)

Photos: Jess Marsh Wissemann, Jacklyn Bunch, and Brent Hale for Deerfield Academy

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