Zest Musical

It feels like a century ago when, in September, 80 students took part in the audition process for the show. Fewer than a third of those auditioning students made it through to reach show week, which is hardly a surprise given how gruelling the rehearsal process is. Every week, students have attended two lunchtime and two after-school rehearsals, making for a total of 4 hours of rehearsal a week. More recently, the cast has been in school on Saturdays and even missed lessons to properly prepare. It’s a wonder they’re still standing, let alone singing and dancing.

Zest is the third full-scale musical production ever put on by St. James’ Catholic High School. Last year we presented The Addams Family, with The Wizard of Oz the year before. This year, however, we’ve dared to attempt something completely different, and entirely original; every single word, lyric, song, and moment in Zest has been specifically written for performance by the students at St. James, which means there have been no recordings to refer to, no staging on YouTube to follow, and no expert’s examples to steal from. It has been a pleasure to write material for this talented cast, and their talents have helped shape the music in return.

The cast are the first people to breathe life to the characters in the script, and we hope you’ll see how they’ve done a phenomenal job. They have discovered traits about their characters that we hadn’t even considered were there, and have developed show-stopping performances from scratch. The show’s writers, Mr and Mr Howlett-Reeves, are deeply proud of every member of the cast for what they have achieved, and they hope that you enjoy the show.

A final thank you must be said to every single member of our community who has contributed to the show. From teaching staff, to support staff, to pupils, to parents, to senior leaders, and everybody in between, Zest would not have been possible without your input. Thank you all.

MrHowlett-Reeves - Music Teacher