The West Shore might be mistaken for Hollywood the next couple of weeks with its own rendition of the popular prime-time TV show Glee.
The Sooke School District’s PACE musical theatre is launching its Glee Club variety show, performing such Glee favourites as Beyonce’s Single Ladies and Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance.
“This is high energy family entertainment,” said PACE director Sandy Webster-Worthy. “If you like Glee you’re going to love this.”
The bonus of producing a Glee-style show as opposed to a traditional musical, is it gives more solo performances to the cast.
“Throughout the show I want every person to be performing on a mic.” Webster-Worthy said.
In the song Don’t Stop Believing by Journey, Webster-Worthy has created eight solos. “It’s a party on stage,” remarked David Rusekampunzi, a Grade 12 student. “There is lot’s of great music in the show.”
The students in this production watch and love the show Glee and say they relate to the songs and characters.
“The (TV show) is about a group of misfits, sort of like PACE is,” said Kelsea Bendall, 18. “We are really excited about this show.”
Webster-Worthy’s picked the Glee theme after being a dedicated fan of the show. If she hears songs from a recent episode, she adds it to the PACE show’s song roster.
“The show deals with a lot of issues the kids face, it also makes it cool to sing and dance,” Webster-Worthy said.
While creating the show Webster-Worthy was sure to pick songs the kids like. That is no easy feat when the cast has more than 300 students ranging from kindergarten to Grade 12.
“It’s easier to get bigger groups of participants when they are singing songs they like,” Webster-Worthy said. “I wanted it to have a huge appeal to the kids.”
The younger kids are performing musical numbers by Hannah Montana and Justin Beiber. “You gotta do Justin Beiber,” Webster-Worthy remarked.
There are also songs that appeal more to teens, such as My Life Would Suck Without You by Kelly Clarkson.
The show runs April 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 23 at 7 p.m., with matinees April 16 and 23 at 2 p.m., at Isabelle Reader Theatre, 1026 Goldstream Ave.
Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students and seniors, purchased at Westshore Learning Centre, 814 Goldstream Ave.
For more information call 250-391-9002 or 250-474-3081 on weekends.
reporter@goldstreamgazette.com