NEWS

At the beginning of the school year, Evan Brezicki and Griffin Small were writing music with their teacher, Matt Glass, at Community School of Davidson. It was during these sessions that Glass encouraged the seniors to write a musical. Instead of filing the idea under the mound of pressure they were already under as seniors, they worked with fellow senior Garret MacIntyre to create Moving Up, a Community School of Davidson original musical production that runs May 31 through June 1.

“I had wanted to write a musical for quite some time, so I jumped on the idea immediately,” explains Small, previously seen as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors and Shrek in Shrek, both CSD productions. In this show, he plays the role of Ethan and is also directing the piece. He says that this project has involved “draft after draft of songs, scenes, different plots, and entire characters.”

The coming-of-age musical takes place the night before a group of friends leaves for college. It’s the first time they’ve ever gone to a high school party, and wild things happen. “Moving Up is a story about growth and acceptance,” says Small. “It’s coming to understand that things change.” He says that even though the characters face specific problems, he thinks that everyone will see themselves in this show.

From left: Evan Brezicki, Griffin Small, and Garret MacIntyre.

This is the first time an original, full-length musical created and produced by CSD students has been performed on campus. Melissa Ohlman-Roberge, CSD’s upper school theatre arts educator/director, has been guiding the production from afar and has been impressed with the maturity of the product. “The songs are varied and engaging and make sense in moving the story ahead,” she explains, adding that she’s also been impressed with how tenacious everyone involved has been. “Griffin has really taken the lead as far as the production is concerned, but he has lots of students that were wanting to support creatively and who have really come through.”

The cast and crew feature students from CSD, in addition to William Amos Hough High School. “It’s all of my best friends,” says Small, who will study musical theatre this fall at Shenandoah Conservatory.

Brezicki, a senior attending Cornell University this fall, serves as the musical director for the production. A student of piano for 13 years, he can be seen weekly performing at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. MacIntyre, seen most recently as Orin Scrivello, DDS and Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors and Donkey in Shrek, plays the role of Jay in Moving Up and will attend UNC Wilmington this fall.

Small says the character situations in the show, outside of graduating, are all fabricated. However, he says for smaller bits of the show, they did add a couple of personal Easter eggs.

“I just want people to really understand that this show is a love letter to our struggles and our ability to persevere,” says Small. “We get to choose how we move forward when we’re faced with adversity.”

Moving Up runs May 31 (7 p.m.) through June 1 (2 p.m. and 7 p.m.) at Community School of Davidson Art Space at 404 Armour Street in Davidson. Tickets can be purchased here