On Thursday night, the curtains of the Francis Howell North auditorium will open, revealing a colorful set and a group of middle school actors nervously awaiting to say their first lines. They’ve been waiting for this moment for over three months. The moment when they finally get to show off all their hard work. The moment when, just for a while, they get to shine as someone else. The moment when they go down in history as the first musical production at Barnwell Middle School.

“I’m ready for it to all pay off,” Zac Cary, an eighth grader playing the lead male role of Harold Hill, said. “It’s been a wonderful journey for everyone and since it is Barnwell’s first musical I can’t wait to see how the audience reacts.”

Normally drama teacher Kathy Carron choices a play for her students to produce. After many years of teaching, Carron decided it was time for the 150 member drama club to produce one of her favorite musicals “The Music Man Jr”.

“It’s something interesting and unique that we haven’t done before,” seventh grader Delaney Echelmeyer, who portrays the mayors wife, said. “It’s something the audiences will love.”

Auditions for the musical were held in late January after school. The rehearsals, which were held for about an hour after school, built on each other starting with music, then blocking and lines, and finally adding choreography and putting all the pieces together.

“It’s been a great experience,” Cary said. “It’s taught me a lot of new things. It’s been great to have a chance to put everything I’ve been learning in the past eight years into one place.”

On Wednesday, April 10 the students took a field trip to North in order to practice on the stage where they would be performing. The show will run on April 11 and 12 at 7pm. Tickets are sold in advance and at the door for $4.

“The audience can definitely expect to have a great time,” Echelmeyer said.