2019 was my final year as a student at Norwich School. Having recently begun singing lessons with Posy Walton, she had convinced me to take part in her yearly tradition – musical theatre night. Despite my lack of experience in this genre (or solo singing in general), I soldiered on and prepared “Oh what a beautiful morning!” from Oklahoma!. Dressed appropriately in boots, jeans, and a checked shirt, I sauntered through the audience boldly brandishing my best generic American accent and proclaiming “there’s a bright golden haze on the meadow” with enthusiasm. Looking back at my first experience of actively combining music and drama, this may have been the seed that has since blossomed into my love for opera. Who knows?

This year, having returned to the music department after university, I found myself again persuaded to sing in this yearly tradition which has ballooned into two full evenings stuffed with as many musical numbers as possible. This time it was ‘Empty chairs at empty tables’, from Les Misérables. While I consider myself merely an imposter in the musical theatre world, the students seemed to be right at home. My sixth-form efforts to seem enthused at the prospect of life on a farm would have paled in comparison to the mighty spectacle of Dylan Parsons and Hal Major performing ‘Agony’, from Into the woods – a tune that was previously unknown to be, but I now suspect will never leave my memory due to the impassioned rendition by Dylan and Hal. Both gentlemen showed impressive competition to be more heartbroken and melodramatic than the other, and while greatly entertaining the audience, they (thankfully) did not sacrifice musical quality in the process!

Another highlight of the evening was Eliza Prior’s moving rendition of ‘Life is a cabaret’, from Cabaret. Her storytelling was compelling, and she injected humour into this tragic song with maturity. Other fantastic performances include Evie Alexander’s wonderful delivery of ‘Quiet’ from Mathilda, and Rachel Dean’s powerful performance of ‘On my own’ from Les Misérables, among many others.

It was a privilege to see all these young musicians, of varied ages and amounts of experience, come together. I think I speak on behalf of the whole audience when I say that the hard work of the students was greatly appreciated!