The Erie High school auditorium bleeds the sounds of teamwork, laughter, and the building of a show. All Together Now, a musical, was rehearsed by musicians and performers from Erie High School November 5th, a day for them that was infused with teamwork. 

All Together Now is a play that was globalized by the organization Musical Theatre International, or MTI for short. Most of the time, when the Erie High School drama department wanted to put on a show, they would have to pay up to $9,000 but, as Scott Wright the drama director at Erie High puts it, All Together Now was, “completely free of charge.” 

Drama departments all over the world were dragged to a screeching halt by the COVID pandemic, afterwards many of them did not have the funds that they had in previous years. MTI in return had set up this global event as a way to help the drama departments to generate needed funds. All the money made by the show was generated by ticket sales and was divided amongst participating schools. An input that is rarely seen at Erie, Frederick, Skyline, and Longmont.

Usually, performers find themselves in the drama and theatre elective class during the school day. However, on November 5th the entire All Together Now cast from Erie High School had come together in the auditorium to work on the acts which they all worked together to make. 

The cast this year consisted of two different groups. Wright explains, “One of them I have a year-long theater class [with]… but then we opened it up to anyone in the school who wanted to participate [for the other].” 

Actors in the rehearsals leading up to the show were also anticipated to work with other schools’ drama departments. “Our drama department has a really close bond,” Saylor Russ, a drama student, and actor in the show says. “…[to] see the different dynamics that the other theatre departments have, how other directors run their departments, how tech runs their lights, and their sound is really interesting to see.” 

According to Russ, the November 5th rehearsal was a “hectic” experience, in which they had to all come together and finalize the Erie High section parts with people from outside of the class. “So it was kind of hectic,” she laughs, “we had to choreograph the entire piece in one hour, and you know, work with each other for the first time.” 

On the night of November 5th, as the actors from Erie High School came together to choreograph, and mold together ideas, some felt pressure to do better than the other schools who participated. Sophia Fenster, a participant in the show explains, “we were the largest representation there, so there was a bit of pressure to show up and surely represent Erie Theatre.” 

For many, it is necessary to practice to do something perfectly. For a show to be successful everyone has to be working together, as though the stage was a living organism to be kept alive, and the Erie drama department proved that with the November 5th All Together Now rehearsal which made the show a big hit, that generated money for years to come.