On Tuesday, September 25th, the KHS theatre department made its long-awaited junior high and high school musical announcements during an after-school meeting in the choir room.

Leading up to the meeting, students involved in productions at the high school speculated about what this year’s show could possibly be. Sophomore Josiah Taylor said the anticipation leading up to the announcement was evident.

“[There was] lots of excitement,” Taylor described. “People were anxious and kept guessing show after show trying to figure it out!”

Tweets from the Kings Theatre Twitter only fueled the fire. Subtle musical lyric references hidden within the tweets made students wonder if one of these references could be from this year’s musical.

“Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomor… oh wait, that was last year!” read a tweet from @kings_theatre the day before the meeting. “Don’t miss our big announcement(s) tomorrow afternoon… #OneDayMoreTillYouKnow #DontThrowAwayYourShot #FullDisclosureItsGonnaBeBig #AnythingCanHappen”

Little did students know, one of these hashtags would provide a major clue to what this year’s high school musical would be.

Musical director Scott Hayward is no stranger to dealing with students’ questions and curiosity.

“It is always fun to have so many students express interest in knowing what the musical is going to be for the year,” he said.  “They know that I am not going to tell them. They are always looking for hints, so I try to come up with fun ways to give little hints here and there, but I also enjoy throwing in fake hints to throw them off track a little bit.”

Due to the excitement among the student body, attendance at the meeting was high among both junior high and high school students.

“There were so many students at the meeting today. It makes me really excited to get started,” Hayward enthused. “I saw so many new junior high students, and even high school students who were there that have never done theatre before!”

After a few more clues, Hayward finally announced to students that this year’s high school musical would be The Addams Family and the junior high musical would be Snow White and the Prince. Students were thrilled.

“I was very surprised, but also very happy,” Taylor said. “It’s a show I haven’t done yet, but it has been on my bucket list!”

Students are not the only ones who are excited about this announcement. Hayward also said he is eager to get started on both shows for this year’s theatre season.

“I’m excited for the new twists on the story of Snow White. It is not your stereotypical Disney version of the story,” he explained. “For the high school show, I am really excited about the opportunity of bringing the classic feel of The Addams Family to life on stage through analyzing the original TV show.  We also have some new ideas on the technical design of The Addams Family that I am excited to explore.”

Junior high students will perform Snow White and the Prince in February and high school students will perform The Addams Family in April.