This musical does not have a linear narrative, but presents a series of scenes and songs showing events that take place during the last year of high school. Tri-School Theatre On Purpose is an arts training school for students at Cornelia Connelly, Rosary and Servite high schools in California and this is their first visit to Edinburgh.
The production opens at the end of the year, as students are signing each others year books. Their thoughts about events in the last year are shown as a series of flashbacks, beginning at the start of the year. Each scene highlights a different aspect of life in school, many of which, naturally, relate to relationships and their problems. In Boys, three girls sing about the pointlessness of boys and why theyre better off without them; Miss Jones is about a boy who has a crush on his teacher and believes that she feels the same way about him; What If has two boys singing about the difficulty in approaching girls.
Other scenes are comic; Nerd is about a boy who is academic rather than sporting (Im A Dork, well sung by Matthew Ballestero); Accidents Will Happen has three students complaining about how it isnt their fault that things have happened to them (although their parents may see things differently) and Grounded sees four different attempts to avoid a ruined social life.
The most tender scene is Mrs. Johnson, which is about the death of a much-loved teacher.
A very enjoyable performance; funny, moving and well-performed. Worth the trip to the Church Hill Theatre.
