Deer Lakes High School gets groovy with 'Beehive: School Edition'

Get ready to be taken back to the 1960s this weekend at Deer Lakes High School.

A cast, stage crew and live band of about 50 students in grades nine-12 will perform “Beehive: School Edition” from Jan. 31 through Feb. 2 in the high school auditorium.

The hour-and-a-half-long musical tells the history of the ’60s through popular songs of the decade.

Featured songs include “My Boyfriend’s Back,” “Be My Baby,” “Son of a Preacher Man” and “Me and Bobby McGee.”

“The show is about the challenges that were met by American society in the 1960s and the changes that were made by the society to meet those challenges and make the American society better as a whole,” student director Jacob Kozlowski said.

Matthew Derby, drama productions co-director, said one of the reasons Deer Lakes chose to showcase “Beehive” is because it gives a lot of students the opportunity to feature their talents.

“We were able to really spread the talent among all of our students,” Derby said. “When the kids aren’t singing a solo they’re on stage and they’re dancing and they’re singing backup. They’re going to be featured in more than just their song.”

Most of the two-act show is music. In all, there are 28 songs that will be sung by individual vocalists.

Derby said there is “a real difference” between the first and second acts.

“The early ’60s is still a lot of that 1950s innocence carry-over, so the songs are a lot more pop in nature,” he said. “When we get into more issues in the later part of the decade, the songs kind of take on a different meaning. We get Aretha Franklin, and we get Janis Joplin. We get songs like, ‘You Don’t Own Me,’ which has become a real feminist anthem that lived on since the ’60s.”

Kozlowski, 18, is singing “The Name Game,” which is in the first act.

“It’s more innocent and lighthearted, doesn’t have too much meaning to it. Just a fun song to get the crowd all riled up,” said Kozlowski, a senior.

Senior Alyson Frank choreographed the musical and will be singing “I’ll Never Change Him,” another first-act song.

Frank said she had to do some research into what dance moves were popular in the 1960s. Some of those include The Pony, The Jerk and The Monkey.

“You definitely see a lot of that throughout the show, but I would probably say there’s about three to four big numbers with the entire ensemble,” said Frank, also 18. “Teaching about another era was definitely a little bit of a challenge.”

Kozlowski said when he and other students were first told they’d be performing “Beehive,” they didn’t know what to expect.

But they’ve been rehearsing since December, and he thinks it’s shaping up to be a great show.

“Certainly the work has paid off, and I am really excited about the production that we have for the community and beyond here this weekend,” Kozlowski said.

Show time is at 7 p.m. Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, and at 2 p.m. Feb. 2. Tickets are $10.