ST EDMUND'S COLLEGE CREATIVE & PERFORMING ARTS 

Good evening everyone, 

 

Today the College Leadership Team at St Edmund’s announced that all co curricula activities will cease to take place until further notice. This unfortunately includes this years musical. It is hoped that we will resume at some point in term 2. 

 

It is with sadness that I have to say that as a result it will mean that the musical itself will be postponed.  However, we will still be putting on the musical and at the moment we are working towards rescheduling  the show for early term 4,(mostly likely week 2 term four 22-24 October). 

This has to be approved by the license holders and all schools involved.

 

Why Term 4?

The decision to move the show to term 4 was made for a number of reasons. 

1 - If we added the 7 weeks that we will currently miss, to the first day back we can rehearse that would take us right into the middle of NAPLAN and or end of semester exams.

2 - St Clare’s has a production tacking place mid term 3 as does Girls Grammar we don’t want to clash or put added pressure on those students involved in those shows.

3 - We will be in a similar position rehearsal wise as we are now if we perform in term 4.  We can rehearse with a little more intensity in weeks 8,9,10 of term 3, rehearse during the holidays and then have the 2 weeks to finalise the show and perform, as we would be doing at the end of term 1 and beginning of  term 2.  This is of course if the term 4 dates are viable. 

 

What does this mean for rehearsals?

This means that we will no longer be having Beauty and The Beast rehearsals for the rest of the term, including Sundays and the holiday rehearsals. 

As soon as we are able to resume rehearsals we will do but on a much less intense basis. Assuming we can perform in October, and rehearsals start back in term 2,  we will have around 22 weeks excluding term 3-4 holidays to get the show up to performance standard. 

 

This is not an ideal situation for the show. It is sad and upsetting considering the amount of hard work and effort everyone involved has put in.  We have created a fantastic community within the Beauty and the Beast cast, I do not want us to lose that connection and family feel. This is why we will continue to have regular rehearsals in term 2 and 3. 

I also do not want you to get bored with the rehearsal process and the show. We need to keep it fresh and exciting during term 2 and 3 we will try and have some events for everyone that keeps the sense of connection and community - watch this space. 

 

I am sorry that we have had to make this decision however in the interest of health and safety for everyone involved it its the correct one to take. 

Despite the disappointment there are positives to take from this. We have more time to perfect the dances and songs, we have more time to organise the costumes, the band will have more time to work on the complex music and we have the time to create and paint the set and props. We can also take our time to work on tricky staging such as the transformation in Act II. 

 

It is not an ideal solution however with the phenomenal cast we have and creative team this show will be even bigger and better when we come to stage it later in the year. 

 

Thank you so much for your support and I’ll keep in touch and let you all know of any changes and updates to the rehearsals schedules in term two. 

 

Stay safe and healthy and please follow the guidelines regarding social distancing and hygiene. 

 

Take care 

 

Nigel Palfreman.