Every spring, the curtain rises, the orchestra swells, and students from two rival schools step onto the same stage in one of the district’s productions, the Glenbrook Musical. This year, North and South will share the stage, performing Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at North, a large-scale production that sets magic to classic story, Mandi Corrao, South Drama Director and Co-

Director of Cinderella said.

The musical employs a double cast, meaning two alternating sets of actors occupy the lead roles throughout the show’s course, senior Maddy Preston, one of the Cinderellas, said. This allows more students from both schools to take on major roles during the production, Preston explained. While most North and South activities are centered around competition, the annual spring musical facilitates teamwork between the two, Corrao said.

“It’s a really unique project,” Corrao said. “There is no other district that I know of that does a combined district musical. I think it’s a really positive way to encourage collaboration between the schools.”

However, coordinating a production with this large of a cast and crew requires careful communication between both schools, Corrao explained. Rehearsals typically start at 3:45 p.m. in order to give South students enough time to travel to North after the school day ends, junior Patrick Mcguire, one of the Prince Christophers, said. Despite the added coordination, the experience of watching the production come together makes the process worth it, Mcguire said.

“When we’re just working on learning choreography or songs, it seems impossible how it could become such
a cohesive, large thing,” Mcguire said. “Then you see it come together, and the first time it’s performed on stage with costumes and everything has always been magical.”

In past years, the musical has featured more contemporary productions, Corrao said. This year’s production of Cinderella, however,
brings a change of pace from recent shows, Mcguire explained. The musical is seen as different for many students as it is more classical and an older style of theater, he said.

Beyond the familiarity of the show, the musical helps build familiar faces across both schools, Preston explained. Students find that doing the things they enjoy with like-minded people help spark friendships and connections, Preston said.

“Most of my friends at North and South are people that I have met doing this kind of stuff,” Preston said. “It’s nice to just have time to be with them and do stuff that we love.”