Good Morning on this rainy day!

 First things first, I need to correct an autocorrect fail for the last name thank you from a blog ago. 

Thank you to the Krapovicky-Chartiers for their generous donation, the Winslow Family and to the Griswolds your donations will come in handy paying for the rights and the building fees associated with this year's show.

Second, I wanted to give you a heads up that we are into the final week of the show, for those new to this, it may mean a few minutes over at the end of rehearsal.  We will try to get the kids outside as close to five as possible as we recognize many of you have other places to be. However, in the interest of getting all the notes done, last-minute costume decisions made, and perhaps finalizing a number know that we may be slightly after 5 when the kids are released.

This brings me to our show week break down.

Thursday (5/6) is a mandatory dress rehearsal for the entire cast and crew. The time for that is 3-6 PM (again recognizing we may go slightly over having to hang up costumes).

Your child should come with hair and makeup done (if they are home for the day, please) and if they are at school please have them come with the hairstyle they intend to wear for the show (I am speaking mostly to the long-haired ladies of the cast).

Drop-off will remain at the middle school through next week's dress rehearsal on Thursday.

Pick-ups will be at the high school front entrance (as they have been).

Friday 5/7 and Saturday 5/8 are show days.  The whole cast should arrive with hair and makeup done for 5:30 PM, this will allow attendance, warmups (not vocal, sadly) but physical and then any last-minute notes and microphone packs for the principals. 

The show start time is 7PM, this will be available to stream on the evening you purchased a pass.

The run time is approximately 1hr and 5 minutes. Your child can be picked up in front of the high school following the show.

On Saturday evening we are planning a small gathering OUTSIDE for cast and crew following our final show.  Pizza and Ice cream sandwiches are on the menu.  Pray for good weather!  We do have the tent to utilize but this will be from 8:10 - 9:10 or thereabout, you are welcome to collect your child whenever but since we can't have our traditional cast party this was the next best thing.

If you have any questions do not hesitate to reach out via email!  Thank you to everyone for your commitment to making this show a reality!

There is still time to order tickets, please help get the word out!

https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/51807

All the best, Kristen

Clearing up any ticket concerns

 Good Afternoon - 

Here we are two weeks out from the show, I am so proud of this cast for all their hard work, they deserve to be celebrated!

Here's that link again in case you needed to find it quickly:

https://www.showtix4u.com/event-details/51807

Feel free to share!

Now, there were a few questions that came up over the weekend and I want to clear up any confusion.

First, the cost of tickets for the show is $7.00 single access code.

The cost of tickets for a family package *which is on your honor* for more than two people watching at a time in a single household is $15.00. It was brought to my attention that somewhere I wrote $10.00 and I apologize if you caught that typo and were confused (rightfully so) the correct fees are written here. $7.00 for a single ticket (up to two people can watch) and $15.00 for a family ticket (more than two).

To the right of these selections, there is a drop-down menu for the number of devices. EACH TICKET purchased comes with ONE code. If you have more than one device that you are going use the code for, say you have a laptop in one home and an Apple TV in another you would select 2 and you would be charged two single or family ticket prices depending on which ticket you selected.  If you needed five different households and five different devices then you would select 5 and be charged for 5 ticket packages. I hope that clears up that confusion.

Of course, folks are more than welcome to simply make a donation to our show and they can do that by simply purchasing a ticket with no intent to use it, though I know you will be sad to miss this show.

Also, there is a friendly competition for most tickets sold, and under the evening selections is a cast list drop-down menu where you will find your child's name.  Please don't forget to select their name when making a purchase so that the correct cast member gets credit for the sale.  The winner gets sole bragging rights, but you'd be shocked at how seriously the kids are taking this!  We have two weeks to sell, sell, sell!  Please help us to raise enough funds to cover the cost of this year's production.  

Thank you to our donations from the Krovicky family, Winslow family, T-shirt orders through Grand Stand Apparel, and a generous donation from a business that prefers to remain anonymous!  Because of these donations, the cost of the microphones will be covered. 

Stay healthy, and well, we are almost to the finish line!  The kids and I are getting so excited!

Be well, Kristen Chapman

What a blur...

 Good Morning, 

The first week back is nearly complete.  Listening to the ooh's and ahh's from the kids upon our return from break and their first time seeing the set is always exciting.  The hard work and time spent over April break validated by their appreciation! 

This is an exciting and busy time for everyone, Spring sports have picked up and the play nearing completion it's almost, dare I say, feeling pre-pandemic in its crazy-normalcy!

The first week back from break I always try to make a flex week so that students called to do more than just the musical have the freedom to be a part of multiple things but we are approaching the week and a half leading to the show and every moment we can have the entire cast and crew present all the better for our final product. 

We are still going to be doing drop-offs at the end door of the middle school and then pick-ups at the high school through May 6th. The show evening schedules will look a little different, please stand by for more details about this.

There are currently no temperature checks as per the state of Vermont Covid protocols but the expectations for masking and social distancing have not changed.  The only real difference is that the questions and temp checks should be administered at home and of course, if your child is under the weather please keep them home and contact me and the school nurse. 

Ticket sales are going quite well, the link is CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS or you can visit any of our social media venues or the hmmsvt.com under the extracurricular tab. Thank you for your patronage and support of our program!

Onward, have a wonderful weekend, Kristen Chapman

TICKETS! TICKETS! TICKETS!

 The link is here:

CLICK HERE FOR LINK FOR TICKETS

You can also find the ticket link on the tickets page to right.

Lastly, when purchasing tickets there is a drop-down menu to select your child to credit your student with the sale!  We have a friendly competition for most sales in the cast!

Looking forward to this production, we hope you are too!

~Kristen Chapman and Production team

Calendar is updated

 To note:

Rehearsals are still 3-5 PM

DROP OFFS remains to the end door at HMMS.

There will be no temperature checks, students will simply check in with me at the end door and should have done a temp check at home prior to departure.

Masks are still and will remain mandatory.  Social distancing is still an expectation.

PICKUPS should be done from this point forward in front of the HIGH SCHOOL please at 5 PM.

If your student will be later than 3:15 PM please drop them off at the high school and text 802-291-0283 and someone will be out to let them in the building.

As always if you have questions please email Ms. Chapman.

Update on helpers...thank you for considering it

 I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting information about helping this week. ;)

Thank you for your patience. As it turns out the few that showed as planned were more than enough, this isn't as difficult a set as some years, simply because we have done it before and some of the detailed things were taken care of and preserved in the catacombs before this week!

Thank you for your willingness to help.  

We can't wait to show you what we accomplished this week, see you all soon! Ms. Chapman and Crew

OMGOODNESS It's been a week since 17 degrees greeted us for recording

So much transpired in the past week, I can hardly keep up!  Now, here we are at the start of April break with set building, painting, and finishing touches toward the final push!

I am going to share some pictures of the process on this blog today but first the logistics.

Saturday, April 3rd it was 17 degrees when I arrived with my son for setup and met our sound crew. It warmed up to a balmy 40 but it was a COLD day for sure.  At least the sun shone throughout and the smiles on everyone's faces provided extra warmth. At the end of the day, we packed up feeling satisfied with the efforts of everyone!  Thank you for getting your children to the school in ample clothing, and with food for the day of work ahead.  I ordered pizza for all as an added bonus and I left humbled by the extra work everyone had put in to make this year's show a success!

This week was full steam ahead, we worked every day on tidying blocking, and working out kinks in the show, there will be more when the set is designed and in the new space following vacation but I feel confident that we will get there, this is a hard-working bunch of kids for sure. We even managed to choreograph bows already...say what?!?!  AWESOME!

This week, April break has been traditionally set aside for set builds. Last year was the first time in 17 shows I didn't spend the duration of the break on the stage at the high school. It feels both exciting to be going back to the "norm" of set building over break and overwhelming having gotten out of the rhythm last year. I also have just one half of my dynamic duo for set building, thank goodness for Aiden Bettwieser.  We will miss my son this year, I know Aiden will, they are quite the team!  So glad we have FaceTiming capabilities so their humor and antics will still entertain! 

I am going to be putting a sign-up for painting help for later in the week, later in this week on this blog so make sure to watch for that if your children are around and interested in helping with the set design.

Also, tomorrow, if you are around in the morning (I know that is difficult for most because of working schedules) we are moving the large pieces of the set into the stage at the high school, if you are so inclined to lend some muscle, or if you have knowledge of drills and putting things together, we are meeting at 9AM to do the heavy lifting portion of set building.  Please email me for details, chapmank@hartfordschools.net

Lastly, you have probably seen the guidance change from Tom DeBalsi at this point but if not here is that email he sent home on Friday the 9th: CLICK - THAT DOC HERE

This means we will no longer be taking temperatures upon return from April Break.  Your child will have to have been screened at home before arriving for practices and performances. If you have questions about the specific guidance please email me and if I cannot answer the questions I will forward to the school nurse or principal. 

Drop-offs following April break will still be to the end door of HMMS.  Any drop-off after 315 will have to be at the High School main entrance this will require texting me to let me know you are running late so someone can let your child in. We will collect the students and take attendance and then walk over as a group to the high school. Pick-ups will now take place outside of the high school main entrance at 5PM.

Do not hesitate to contact me via email or text over break, this is a working break for me and I will be available to discuss if questions arise. Any student traveling over break is on their honor to be particularly strict with the social-distancing guidelines, gathering limits, and masking suggestions. Since Vermont no longer requires quarantining it is our mutual - responsibility to keep everyone in the cast safe and to the ultimate goal of production on May 7th and 8th.

Ticket sales will start, online, Monday, April 19th.  Stay tuned!  

We have made about $500.00 in donations and t-shirt sales to help offset the cost of the recording from this past Saturday, we are also having to pay for the rental of the individual mics for our speaking parts in the show. Please consider a tax-deductible donation or an ad in the online program for the show.  Email me for details.  All checks can be made payable to HMMS memo: HMMS Musical.  Thank you in advance!

Looking forward to the final weeks!  Thank you for everything, Kristen Chapman

Silliness with Snapchat filters, how we entertain ourselves while taking temps

Warming up from the cold recording morning!

Break times look like

Dedication to their craft, Sharpay and Ryan giving it their all!

Hail, Hail the gang's all here.

Trying to rehearse the Monday following outside, we didn't last the whole time it was still pretty cold and windy, but as you can see the kids thought it was much much warmer ;) 

Lunchtime, pizza and friends, recording day!

Never fear they carpool together and are "family" thus the closeness of the photo :) 

Silly kids!  They make me smile!

Always chatting! ;) 

A quick photo op!  Musicals = memories for a lifetime and extended family!

Still trying to handle the wind and the cold that Monday after our recording...this was right before we gave it up and went inside!  They were and have been troopers throughout.

A cast photo op (quickly) following a cold 6-hour recording session!

Gabriella and Martha mugging for the camera!

"Counting on You" rehearsal - The Brainiacs

More of that Cold Monday

Couldn't have done it with this lady's help!  Thank you Cass North for all you do and have done for this show, for everything!

Mugging for the camera - Rex!

"Counting on You" rehearsal - the Jocks

 

RECORDING DAY TOMORROW - IMPORTANT INFORMATION

 Schedule for tomorrow:

9:00 AM - 2:00PM (TO ALLOW FOR EVEN RECORDING TIMES, I respectfully request the additional half hour).

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM - ARRIVE AT THE END DOOR CLOSEST TO THE FOOTBALL FIELD FOR TEMP CHECKS AND THEN HEAD TO THE BLEACHERS.

9:00 AM - 10:15 AM - FIRST RECORDING SESSION (EVERYONE OUTSIDE) 

10:15 - 10:25 AM - BATHROOM/WATER/SNACK BREAK INSIDE AND OUTSIDE 

10:30 AM - 12:00 PM SECOND RECORDING SESSION (EVERYONE OUTSIDE)

12:00 PM - 12:30 PM LUNCH 9OUTSIDE)/BREAK/WATER FILLS BATHROOM BREAKS 

12:35 PM - 2:00 PM FINAL RECORDING SESSION (FINISH AND CLEAN UP ANYTHING WE NEED TO).

2:00 PM PICK UP OUT FRONT OF HMMS.

PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT THE HIGH FOR TOMORROW IS SUPPOSED TO BE 49 DEGREES AND SUNNY, this high will happen around or shortly following lunch, which means the greater portion of the morning will be closer to 30 degrees. WINTER JACKETS are mandatory, mittens/gloves, hats, and scarves are advisable. We will have access to the middle school but the idea is to be outside during the recording sessions.  

TO BRING:

• A folding chair to sit on for breaks and lunch if you don't want to sit on the bleachers or ground.
• A blanket or blankets to sit on on the bleachers and wrap in when it is cold in the morning especially.
• Sunglasses, visors, baseball hats whatever will help you not have to squint for the whole day.
• Sunscreen is a good idea as well, especially since no one loves a mask tan ;)!
• Lunch and a refillable water bottle, snacks for breaks.
• YOUR SCRIPT
• A positive attitude and your very best focus are also requested and very much appreciated!
• Parents are welcome to come by, we have to stay off the football field but you can sit in your car, offer warmth to your child if the need arises.
• Also, cell phones are allowed for communication.  Please have a plan to check in with your student.

Let's do this!  ~Ms. Chapman