Niles North’s upcoming musical, School of Rock, will premiere in early December. This will be a departure from the school’s long-standing tradition of the spring musical, with shows previously opening in February.

The school’s Theatre Department is changing its tune this year with School of Rock. Previously, musical auditions would take place the week or so before winter break, with its premiere often set in late February. This year, the prospective cast auditioned in September, and the show will open Dec. 8. It’s a seemingly inconsequential change that will affect the Theatre Department’s entire season. In an interview with Megan Baskin, Theatre Instructor and School of Rock Director, she revealed 3 key components of the choice.

“The musical is usually our biggest show of the year [because] it involves the most students, so why not get them involved as soon as possible,” Baskin said. “[…, also] I really want to make the show accessible to our middle schoolers to show off all of our programs prior to course registration, because I want them to be able to see what they might be able to do on stage, or in Choir and Band. [Finally,] the probably biggest reason is to clear up space in our auditorium both for our concerts but also to allow for other events to have some time and space in particular we want to make sure BSU has a space in there for Black History Month […] we have always been able to give them some space it’s always been hard or they have been pinned into certain days and I want to make sure there is a little more flexibility to offer that space to all of our colleagues.”

Senior Michelle Bandura will play Rosalie in School of Rock, and has participated in the musical for the past 3 years. 

“I understand [the change, but]  it’s stressful because it’s around the time of college applications, so now I’m juggling my role, college work, and schoolwork but I think we will make it happen,” Bandura said.

Junior Molly Mehr, cast as Summer in School of Rock, was excited about the opportunity this could bring.

“It’s cool that the musical is in December now, because middle schoolers can come and see it and see how cool and amazing our theatre department is and want to sign up,” Mehr said.