The Music of Movies and Musicals

Parents, staff, students and musicians from across the school came together on Wednesday 27^th April, just three days into the start of the Summer Term, to celebrate music from the movies and musical theatre. It was a superb way to welcome everyone back and offered an excellent opportunity to showcase the many hours of Easter holiday practice that had been put into the performances. The programme provided a selection of old favourites together with some novel arrangements of classics and some less familiar pieces, bringing a sense of innovation and enjoyment to the whole evening. The wonderful student tech crew ensured all ran smoothly and the Friends of Leighton Park Music kindly provided an interval bar keeping everyone refreshed.

It was a joy to see the large ensembles such as the Orchestra, Senior Choir and Fryer Voices on stage with a live audience as it has been many months since we were able to stage groups of this size within the pandemic restrictions. Highlights included the orchestra’s performances of Miss Saigon and the John Williams’ Flying Theme from ET. The two Sixth Form vocal groups were stunning. The jazz groups for Years 10 and 11 appeared towards the conclusions of the first and second half of the night were incredible and had the audience tapping and clapping along to the beat. 4 in a bar Barbershop quartet (recent winners of the Isa a cappella event) and the 5 6th formers singing ‘First Burn’ from Hamilton were absolutely outstanding, bringing members of the audience to their feet as they finished. The solo performances and smaller ensembles across voice, violin, wind, brass, flute, guitar and strings were inspiring and everyone seemed pleased to be back in Main Hall without a camera and a zoom meeting as an accompaniment!

Director of Music, Rosemary Scales, commented, “What a wonderful evening showcasing our talented students and their superb musicianship from across the whole school through the ever-popular genres of musical theatre and film music. With around 100 students taking part, the music of Sondheim, Bernstein, Williams, Gershwin, Lloyd Webber, Larsen and many, many more all featured and I was incredibly proud of all of our students. To hear a living breathing audience responding makes such a difference to any performer and our students really delivered a night to remember.”

“It was great to have an audience back to support us and be able to see the final product of what we’ve been working on.” reflected Siân (Lower Sixth) “If you want to do music at LP there’s an abundance of students who will join in with you and teachers who’ll support you. It’s a really fun department to be a part of!”