Suddenly the doors to the gym swung open and the other 92 cast members stormed in on a blast of cool air, belting out the lyrics until the gym rocked.
The critics didn't have a chance.
They puffed with pride and melted with delight as their children entertained them and moved them to tears. By the end of the show last Thursday, they had also learned a thing or two about judging people on the basis of labels instead of on the content of their hearts.
The first production of the North Penn Elementary Players was a tremendous hit - and a monumental undertaking. Director Judy King, teacher of gifted students at North Wales Elementary School and Inglewood, wanted to bring students from all 10 of the district's elementary schools together for a production. But was she going to be satisfied with the 2,000th rendition of The King and I or The Sound of Music?
Hardly.
King chose a musical titled Homeroom, written by Andrea Green and Selma Tolins-Kaufman. The original play centered on a high school class, so King adapted the script, using dialogue from her classes and suggestions from the cast. Then she set about teaching it to 119 elementary school students from kindergarten through fifth grade. The actors were driven five days a week by a squadron of professional car-poolers (parents) to Inglewood, where they rehearsed their songs, memorized their lines and expanded their horizons.
The cast put on four performances last week before sellout crowds. In the 2 1/2-hour show, there were six scene changes, armfuls of costumes and hundreds of small props that could get lost.
When asked how difficult the planning and execution had been, King could only laugh.
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