Astley cooper's school production of 'jesus christ superstar'

On Tuesday i went to watch my friend perform in astley coopers school production of 'Jesus christ superstar', having seen a professional production of it before i thought it would be a really hard musical for a school to pull off as the whole cast has to be amazing at singing as there are no speaking parts and because its so well known.

the opening was soo clever, the dancers were climbing all over the climbing frame-like set whilst performing a simple but very effective dance that really set the scene for the first song. The three lead roles, Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene were all amazing singers. The boy that played Jesus gave me goosebumps everytime he opened his mouth and the acting that went on between Jesus and Mary was really beautiful.

You could tell just by watching it how much effort went into everything. The whole cast were putting in all there effort the whole way through which isnt something thats seen a lot in school productions which just shows how much they must have loved the musical and performing. Considering its a story line that some people take very seriously i think you have to be careful how you stage it and especailly how you go about the crucifiction at the end, but they honestly made it perfectly and really did this amazing musical justice. Im really glad i went to watch

Majorettes do 'Santa Clause the musical'

every other year the majorette troupe i belong to do a massive non-majorette based show at christmas time. We have done everything from Cinderella to a whole production based on world war one songs, all of which are written specaily by our teacher. This year we are putting on a show based loosely on 'Santa Clause the movie' however its been written to include a lot of songs and a lot more panto like scenes.

None of the productions we put on are ever taken completley seriously. The main aim of the shows is to let everyone do something that they want which is one of the main reasons for writing our own script and to raise a bit of money for next years majorette costumes. The massive age range of 2-19 years means writing a script is also the best way to make sure its suitable for everyone. The story line isnt anything spectacular but were all having so much fun with it in rehearsals at the moment so it doesn't really matter. The audience will only be parents and although we are going to try and make it look spectacular it is all really just a bit of fun, and its nice to do something like this where there is absolutely no pressure for it to look amazing and its just a bonus if it does. i dont think theres one person in the cast that isnt going to make a fool out of themselves at one point or another. and as i am one of the oldest ive had a lot of input into the show and have been choreogrpahing rediculously cheesy dances for some of the younger ones which will hopefully get a few 'awwr's'

this year im playing an elf called Patch and i have an hilarious Christmas edited version of 'man in the mirror' to sing. i was very glad when i realized i wasn't meant to do this song seriously as it is pretty massive and absolutely everyone knows it so the slightly odd change of lyrics was a great relief. I also have a lot of almost stupid scenes that should get a few laughs and that are amazingly fun to rehearse.

The whole show is starting to look really really good, especially considering we only rehearse for three hours a week. everyone is having such an amazing time dressing up as snowmen and giant presents whilst singing weird versions of 'low' and 'ive got a feeling' and i cant wait for my family to come and watch me and my sister in December.