What a night! Following on from the stunning performance of our dancers at Dance Live! with their Let Her Speak piece, Team Performing Arts hit the stage again with the annual celebration of musical theatre that is M Stars!
Expertly hosted by Max, Betty and Madison, the sold-out evening showcased dance, singing and acting; solo, duets, trios and groups; songs from stage, screen and stadium; and students from Year 7 to 13. As a big musicals fan myself, M Stars really hit the spot, including songs from Hamilton, Wicked, Matilda, Grease, Mary Poppins, Tick Tick Boom, Tangled and Frozen amongst many more.
We welcomed back Churchill performing arts alumni Lorin and Tia as our expert guest judges, who awarded the prizes. It really was an impossible choice, such was the array of talent on show – but choose they did! The deserving winners were:
Superstar Winners: Anna and Mia
Dance Star: Leah, Mati and Flo
Rising Star & Audience Award Winners: Billy, Joe and Joey
Acting Star: Will
Group Star: The Year 7 Dance Club
Singing Star: Maisie
Music Star: YUNC (The Band)
Thank you to all the performers for a great evening of entertainment!
And, if you haven’t had a chance to see the Dance Live! extravaganza, feast your eyes on this:
What. A. Show! The casts, crew and team behind our Key Stage 3 musical, We Will Rock You, have been working hard for months, and it certainly paid off. Over four stunning performances, the two casts, live band, and hard-working behind-the-scenes crew thrilled audiences in the Academy Hall with a hilarious, moving and exciting show that everyone involved will remember for a lifetime!
The musical uses the songs of Queen and Freddie Mercury to tell a story of a dystopian future world under the ruthless control of the Killer Queen, where musical instruments are outlawed and only manufactured, pre-programmed pop is allowed. Against this background, rebel Galileo Figaro teams up with no-nonsense Scaramouche and a ragtag team of Bohemians to reclaim “real” music and set everyone free.
The performers gave their all on stage, performing words and music with real confidence and assurance. The script was full of great humour and the audience was laughing along with them all the way through. There were also moments of real poignancy, and Oz’s solo of No One But You (Only the Good Die Young) moved me to tears. The lead performers – Joey Clausen, April Cashman, Billy Cargill and Brooke Austin – were stunning, and special mention must go to Isabelle Gilbert-Avison who stole the show as Brit! But every single performer on stage had a moment to shine, and they took it with both hands. It was a true ensemble performance.
We Will Rock You was directed and produced by our Sixth Form Performing Arts students. Directors Betty Clarke, Ash Shipton and James Hart, musical director Lily Spry, producer Gemma Seymour, dance director Bela Bradshaw, Chorus Lead Ceci Brumby and Stage Manager Adam Corke deserve a huge credit for their leadership, vision and commitment in bringing the show to the stage, and giving our younger students the opportunity to shine so brightly. They capture the essence of what student leadership at Churchill is all about!
My final word of praise must go for the live band. You would be forgiven for thinking you were listening to a professional pit orchestra, but these were Churchill students without a member of staff in sight! From face-melting guitar solos to chopping rhythms and delicate moments of tenderness, the band – under Lily Spry’s excellent direction – matched the action on stage and supported the performers brilliantly.
Many of these young performers will now be looking forward to the much anticipated Legally Blonde, our full school musical which is hitting the stage in 2026. Judging by the talent on show here, it’s going to be quite the show!
What a show! Three casts featuring over 150 students wowed audiences over four performances at Weston-super-Mare’s Playhouse Theatre last week. I was lucky enough to go to see it twice, but I would happily have gone again…and again!
Firstly, a confession. I love High School Musical. I was a fan when the first movie came out in 2006, to the point that I had a HSM calendar in my classroom which my tutor group bought as a Christmas present! I’ve watched all the films, and I even watched High School Musical: The Musical: The Series on Disney Plus…so, yes, I am a bona fide fan. So, I was a little nervous about our production. Would we be able to do it justice?
I needn’t have worried! The show wasn’t just good – it was brilliant! The acting, the singing, the dancing, the sound, the lighting, the performance…just brilliant! The leads have a lot of work to do, bringing these huge characters to life, with some really challenging singing and a lot of lines to remember, but they did a fantastic job. From Sharpay’s self-centred narcissism, to Troy Bolton’s struggle to be true to himself against the expectations of those around him, to Gabriella’s struggle to re-make her identity, the lead actors managed to bring depth and emotion to their performances.
High School Musical is also funny – really funny. Comedy is really difficult to do on stage, but our students really committed to the script and brought it fully to life, with hilarious results! Ms Darbus’s thespians, for example, showed how the background cast, with no lines to speak, could steal a scene with a dramatic representation of, for example, an earthworm on stage. In fact, the chorus and background cast were so brilliant that I often found myself watching them (and cracking up!) even whilst the leads were performing in front.
The key to the show, of course, is the music. The band were incredible, totally on point from the big showstoppers to the short interludes, giving a really strong platform for the singers and dancers to shine. And wow, did they shine! The solos, harmonies and chorus numbers blew the audience away. There were so many great tunes that it’s impossible to pick a favourite, although “We’re all in this together” is the number I’ve found myself humming in my head all week.
The Dance teams showed why practice makes perfect, nailing every move with energy and commitment – and some pretty impressive acrobatics! It was also great to see our performing arts captains taking lead roles in the production, with dance captains Matilda Nicholson and Lydia Wilson leading their teams with great distinction. And the younger students, learning from the senior students’ example, showed that the future is bright!
I also need to pay tribute to the staff who made it happen. The amazing team in performing arts have put everything into building the platform that enabled our students to shine on stage, and they have been supported by a whole-school effort to get the show on the road. The performances this week have shown that all those hours, the sacrifices, and the struggles have been worth it.
I could go on and on about how brilliant the show was, and I almost certainly will for months and years to come. The memories that our students have made will last a lifetime, and the experience that they gave the audiences will do the same. But what the show really did for me, in a time of stretched budgets, narrowed curriculums, and a challenging educational landscape, was reinforce why the arts really, really matter. A show like this does everything that education should do: its shows students that hard work pays off; that a team that works together is stronger than the sum of its parts; that full commitment leads to a better performance; and that you can be anything you want to be, no matter what anyone tells you to the contrary. The students have learned a million lessons through the experience of High School Musical, and they are all walking taller as a result.
In the words of the song:
Everyone is special in their own way We make each other strong We’re not the same We’re different in a good way Together’s where we belong
We’re all in this together Once we know That we are We’re all stars And we see that
We’re all in this together And it shows When we stand Hand in hand Make our dreams come true
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