Hillcrest High has held some amazing performances throughout the years as well as some not so amazing. Since I can remember, the high school plays had always had HUGE casts. If you were a student in band, choir, or the dance club, it was mandatory for you to be a part of the play. I don’t know if it was just at Hillcrest or if it was the entire Jordan School District (now Canyon Schools) that made it mandatory. I can remember going to only two other plays outside of Hillcrest – each in a different district.
For instance, mom and I had gone to Kearns High to support a co-worker who was playing Jasper B. Biggler in the musical “How to Succeed at Business Without Really Trying”. Jasper’s personality was so identical to Jack’s that we didn’t really consider it acting. We heard the same thing about the guy playing J. Pierpoint Finch. That is pretty sad.
At Hillcrest, it was also mandatory to see the play if you took certain classes. I remember being graded for my commentaries which included sets, performance, choreography and overall production. I must have given feedback on the plays themselves. Kismet and Brigadoon? I dare you to give me just one memorable song from either musical. It did not help matters any that the sound system sucked and so I missed a lot of dialogue and overall didn’t understand the stories themselves. I often wondered why they would torture both performers and audience members with unfamiliar musicals.
When I was a sophomore, the Hillcrest production was “My Fair Lady” a musical I actually enjoyed. Costumes were nice from what I can remember. The sound system was not the greatest at that time and seemed to have worsened each year I was there. The drama teacher had told us of an incedent that had happened during the production of “My Fair Lady” – though I don’t know if it had taken place in my sophomore year or another year prior to that.
The joke was suppose to be between two members of the band. I’m thinking one may have played the French horn. To make the scene pass quicker, he said with an announcer’s voice: “Here they come out of the pen, the race is on. Up in the lead is Madman Dasher with Snoop Dice riding his tails. Oh, this race is close. Trailing behind is Blue Scarlette” – I don’t know what names were used for his horses or what was said exactly. The point is that the “joke” became public knowledge as the words spoken had somehow reached the boy’s instrument and the mike had picked up the sound from the instrument. Thus even though everyone on stage had to pretend to be watching a horse race and the only sounds the audience was supposed to hear were the horse hoofs, the words of the false announcer could also be heard. It probably was a different year as I can’t imagine that poor sound system (which could barely pick up individual voice) could pick up something over an instrument.
Over the years the sound system and productions improved when Corey had attended school there. He played the part of Marcellus Washburn in the production of “The Music Man”. At that very same time Jenny, who attended Highland High, had landed the part of Sarah Brown in “Guys and Dolls”. Jenny was another co-worker from Snelgroves. She shared her enthusiasm with everybody saying, “Come to my play”. “Music Man” and “Guys and Dolls” both fell on the same weekend and it turned out Jenny could only go support Steven during Hillcrest’s opening night and Corey would be able to attend Highland’s closing night.
There isn’t room on the stage for 200 kids to performs, and the choreographer had started putting students in the aisle. Thus during certain numbers, the audience could watch students dancing next to them in addition to the ones on stage. Brandy and Jenny, who had come to Corey’s performance together, sat wide-eyed as they watched the dancers move in sync. One commented that the choreographer must have used a whip and chain. The participation of cast members at Highland was nowhere near the student body at Hillcrest. When the play was over Jenny said, “You can come to my play if you want to.”
Several years later Hillcrest put on its own production of “Guys and Dolls”. I remember mom getting upset when a couple of kids behind us started talking rather loudly. The guy had said to the girl something to the effect of “I can’t believe you dragged me here”. I could see the displeasure on my mom’s face. I leaned over to her to tell her that I believed it was part of the production. They weren’t talking about seeing “Guys and Dolls” but were performing and referring to the revival that was part of the story.
Once again, Hillcrest chose to put on another production of “My Fair Lady”. Kayla was involved with choir at the time and so had to be in the play. The school had decided to divide the juniors and seniors from the sophomores. The oldest group was assigned to find costumes to wear at the horse race while the sophomores had been assigned to dress like “serfs”. At first my mom felt anger that students might feel “labeled” as to their assigned clothes but decided finding a costume for a poor commoner would be easier than some ritzy outfit.
My favorite production seeing performed at Hillcrest High was “Fiddler on the Roof”. The special effects they had were so awesome. And at the end when they are all leaving was so effective as each cast member would leave the stage and all of them were walking down the aisles as though they were really leaving.
