After last year’s musical run was cut short by the pandemic, Cicero-North Syracuse High School returns April 23 and 24 with an original musical filled with the sounds of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
With a title drawing inspiration from the 1968 song “This Will Be Our Year” by The Zombies, the musical focuses on a typical senior year, in an effort to give back to the students the year that they lost, in a creative way.
The idea for “This Will Be Our Year” was born last year. The theater students at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, after rehearsing for months, opened and closed to a full house on the same evening in March 2020. Though the kids were able to perform their hearts out to a limited audience and a live-streamed show, when the lights went out on stage the final night, a light in all their hearts went out as well. Life was scary, uncertain, and everything was drastically halted.
During the beginning days of quarantine, the directors quickly saw how much the students still yearned for human connection. Throughout the summer, the musical team held weekly karaoke nights via Zoom, where the students were able to freely express themselves through song, monologue, and sometimes just conversation, in a safe and creative way.
As the year went on and fear grew, so did the darkness. In the early fall, the team quickly realized high school students needed something more than computer screens at home. Most of them had not only their school year taken from them, but their friends, their families, and their ability to release their emotions. The creative team then put their heads together and tried to exhaust every opportunity to give the students something to look forward to, something for their mental health, and something to benefit them emotionally.
In conjunction with the town of Cicero, the team launched the Cicero Area Student Theatre (CAST) program, which was a 10-week musical theater program held at Driver’s Village. It resulted in a streamed performance, which was a wonderful experience for all, and it showed that they could both safely and effectively operate meaningful musical experiences for the kids during these trying times.
After seeing the CAST program’s benefit to the kids, the team knew in their hearts that they had to do whatever they could to produce a musical for the students this year. As COVID-19 restrictions eased, and contingency plans were set in place with guidelines to follow, they finally received the okay to produce a spring show. Taking this on was a huge feat, but they knew they were ready and willing to work hard for the kids.
It seemed though, they kept facing obstacles tough to overcome. The time frame was more than cut in half, there were many new COVID-19 rules to adhere to, and many full-scale musicals were not available to stream. The team felt defeated and didn’t know where to turn.
That is when “This Will Be Our Year” started to take on its own life. The music director, Caryn Patterson, suggested to the director, Kimberly Panek-Edwards, a great idea to write a showcase with music, and then the ideas started flowing.
Panek-Edwards had never written anything before, let alone a musical, and especially with such a short time frame, two young children at home, and so much happening behind the scenes, it was scary to take this on. On the day when things got overwhelmingly heavy, her mom said it was time to pick herself up and do what she does best: Give the kids what they deserve.
Panek-Edwards’ mom pushed her to achieve new heights and sat with her while she wrote an entire musical in 48 hours, with the majority in the first 24 hours. Without her mom’s passion for feeling she could achieve what seemed impossible, “This Will Be Our Year” would never have been created.
With a book written by Kimberly Panek-Edwards and musical arrangements by Caryn Patterson of the great songs of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the musical touches on situations and events that can happen throughout a student’s senior year, from falling in love, gossiping, the loom of high standards, to divorce and heartbreak, along with the fun of “promposals,” the prom, and the culmination of graduation.
The show is a collaborative effort with so many different people from so many different areas, ages, and backgrounds. In addition to Patterson’s musical arrangements and original choreography concepts by Lisa Stuart, the show’s name and overall look of the show came from producer Renee Frontale; mascot ideas, set concepts, and lighting concepts came from students in John Nadler’s tech classes; and character development, costume inspiration, language development and much more came from students and friends. Even though so many people had a voice throughout the concept of this show, it will be the students who originate these roles.
Because of COVID-19 regulations and budget cuts, this year’s show will look a lot different from previous C-NS shows, with minimal sets and props, and most blocking and choreography will be symbolic. Even with all the changes, the team is confident they did everything they could to still give each of the 27 students a voice, a safe place, and a meaningful experience through the musical this year. The story is now theirs to tell.
The C-NS musical is being directed by the Syracuse High School Student Theater award-winning team of Kimberly Panek-Edwards (director), Caryn Patterson (music director), and Lisa Stuart (choreographer). Haley Stuart is assistant to the choreographer, Rich Greninger is in charge of set construction, John Nadler is the tech director, and Renee Frontale is the producer for “This Will Be Our Year.”
“This Will Be Our Year” will take place at 7 p.m. Friday, April 23, and Saturday, April 24, and will be livestreamed via YouTube. To watch the show and to find out more information, please visit cnsmusical.com and follow @cnsmusical on Instagram.
