There has been a wonderful display of Hornby High School talent this year, starting with the fundraising concert which helped Nadia to reach her goal of going to London to train and perform at the Globe Theatre.

Performers included current students, former students, and staff presenting an abundance of creative talent. There were songs and Shakespeare, dances and drumming, bands and the bard, poems and plenty of applause.The concert and raffles raised a very helpful and generous amount and it was an outstanding event. Thank you for supporting Performing Arts, as the whakatauki says -

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari kē he toa takitini

The Musical Theatre Showcase on 10 August featured senior performing arts students. This was a wonderful evening as these talented students have been performing musical numbers together since they were in year 7 and have built up great skills. It was an absolute pleasure for the audience to enjoy such a rich and varied show from these talented students.  Our talented solo and duet performers worked together as a supportive ensemble. They were all singers, musicians, actors, stage hands, dressers and curtain pullers. The first performance was I Can Hear the Bells' , a rock-pop song from the musical 'Hairspray' sung by Tracy Turnblad played by Meagan. She also sang 'Nothing's gonna harm you' from the melodramatic 'Sweeney Todd'. Celeste picked up the gothic theme with the transformational 'Älive' from 'Jekyll and Hyde', based on another Victorian novel, Henry was on bass guitar performing Benny’s Dispatch from In the Heights, a 2021 American musical.  Nadia then performed 'Nothing' from 'A Chorus Line' which-is set on the bare stage of a Broadway theatre as performers audition. Nadia played Diana Morales recollecting her horrible high school acting class.The audience appreciated the number 'Say my Name' from Beetlejuice, starring Tennessee and Alex, for it’s surreal quirkiness. Stacey performed a classic number, 'the Worst Thing I Could Do' with moving sincerity, from the musical 'Grease' and also energetically belted out 'Good morning Baltimore' from 'Hairspray'.   Sam charmed the audience performing the song 'Pulled' from 'The Addams Family', a musical comedy based upon The Addams Family characters . She created quite a different, ditzy and superficial character, Galinda, in the delightful song 'Popular' from 'Wicked'. The whole group took the stage singing and dancing in 'The Book of Mormon' led by Kaiden and Mason as naive missionaries.  The musical ultimately endorses the positive power of love and service. The night finished with a spirited 'Anything Goes' song by Nadia with the ensemble. It was a lovely evening with such a variety of items shared by a cohesive, energetic ensemble. Thank you to Jess for compering and Molly for running the tech. Everyone showed great commitment. This group has been a pleasure to work with and we wish them well in all future performances, Mrs Katie Beer and Mrs Joanne Clark.