In Freeport Area School District, the show must go on — even if a global pandemic presents new obstacles.

The district is staging three musicals this spring:

• Buffalo Elementary is performing “Lion King Kids” on April 22 through 24.

• The middle school is presenting “Matilda Junior” on April 9 and 10.

• The high school is hosting “13” on May 21 and 22.

At Buffalo Elementary, students are enthusiastic to work together and find a creative outlet at a time when many events have been scrapped because of covid-19, said Robert Harris, a music educator who is directing the school’s musical.

“Not only the culminating event of performing, but just the process — kids are so excited about it,” he said. “Being able to get together in person and be with the same group of people working together, it really means the world to the kids at all grade levels.”

Harris said he’s always eager to watch students grow and learn through musical theater, but this year, there are new lessons to be learned.

“No matter what the obstacle is, the end result is always worth it,” he said. “All of this stuff that’s been put in our way, working together and persevering through these things is always worth it in the end.

“I see it on the kids’ faces — it’s clear to us just how worth it this is.”

Nonetheless, Harris acknowledged covid-19 has thrown some serious obstacles at their musicals this year.

For elementary students performing “Lion King Kids,” their costumes will include masks that bear their characters’ facial expressions.

Rehearsals also have looked a little different. They couldn’t have the whole cast practicing together onstage because of limits on gathering sizes. So far, the group has been practicing in the gym, which is filled with tables and chairs because it serves as a second cafeteria to promote social distancing during lunch.

“Our kids have had to learn choreography standing behind tables and chairs, eight feet apart, with masks on,” Harris said. “It’s not easy to be doing this stuff with a mask on and not on a stage.”

Buffalo Elementary’s musical will be hosted at the middle school this year, where they have more space. Students will get a limited number of tickets to invite family friends, and the show will be streamed online as a pay-per-view event.

At the middle and high schools, Tom Koharchik, the choir director and director of their musicals, said he’s contending with similar obstacles.

Students performing in the middle and high school plays will be outfitted with clear masks so their facial expressions are still visible. They’ve scaled down the casts and crews to about 30 students for each show, and they’re working around social distancing measures at rehearsals.

Audiences also will be scaled back, he said. There will be no livestream or video option for their performances, Koharchik said.

“The more important thing for us is that we go through the process and give the students the opportunity to learn,” he said. “I think they’re all on board with the mentality that it’s more about us than it is about the audience. It’s about the process.”

Students are just excited to be involved in the performance after so many activities have been canceled throughout the pandemic, he said. Koharchik knew he couldn’t cancel this, too.

“It gives them something to work on,” he said. “It’s good for their mental health and their social well-being to have a goal in mind. I felt that if we put our minds to it, we could accomplish it no matter what.”

The middle and high school casts have been rehearsing daily. After they adapted to masks and distancing, he said, “it’s nothing a whole lot different” to perform in the midst of a pandemic.

“It’s important to know that the attitude of the students and the staff has been very positive,” Koharchik said. “The idea of covid negatively effecting our motivation is not noticeable. It’s obviously a present thing that we can’t avoid, the fact that there are some limitations — but at the same time, I think everybody has overcome that. We’re just carrying on with our normal operations the best we can while being safe.”

Meanwhile, at South Buffalo Elementary School, the annual play has been replaced with a series of theater workshops, said Jennifer Dell, the school’s general music teacher and choral director.

The school hosted a series of workshops for fourth- and fifth-grade students. Then they invited select students to participate in their production this year — though they’re taking a different approach to that production during the pandemic.

“What we’re doing is a series of prospective monologues,” Dell said. “Right now, we’re having four rehearsals, one each week, then we’ll do our videotaping at the end of the month.”

Each student will record their monologue individually, Dell said. Then they’ll piece the monologues together to create a video that will be sent to students’ families.

Dell said they opted for a different format this year to ensure it was an attainable goal during the pandemic.

“In the previous years, we have done full-scale play productions. This year, we couldn’t,” Dell said. “I wanted to make sure we did something we could see through the fruition. I didn’t want us to work so hard and then have something be canceled.”

But Dell knew the students needed to have some form of event, even if it was different from years past.

“I’m also a mom, and I’ve seen what these canceled activities have done in our family and how disappointed our kids have been,” she said. “I didn’t want that for the kids. They need a place where they can have this type of outlet.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)