I Need A Vacation: Canyon School musical hits all the right notes

The dreaded car trip

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

The Canyon School gymnasium was packed on May 31 for the Grades 4-6 musical revue 'I Need A Vacation'.  Prior to the show Pincher Creek Legion #43 President Dick Waywood and Service Officer Hal Sigurdson presented awards to the winners of the Remembrance Day Art and Poetry contests.

Contest winners with Hal Sigurdson and Dick Wayward
C. Davis photos

At the conclusion of the event Waywood and Sigurdson presented a $1200 cheque on behalf of the Legion, the funds intended to help with the ongoing Canyon School Playground Project.

The musical was a real toe-tapper, with one snappy well-rehearsed number following another in quick succession.  Thematically it explored common positives and negatives of typical vacation experiences.  The play began with Jordan Neish, who was perfect as the teacher, all starch and stern. I'm still shuddering at the thought of the lunch menu - hamburger gravy over rice... Jessie Terpstra sang the poignant intro to the theme song "I need a vacation" which quickly turned into a peppy surf tune performed by the ensemble.

The next song, 'Are we there yet', featured the refrain that is all too familiar to us parental types, and evoked much laughter.  Lewis Anderson as the dad and Nicole Kirkness as the mom were notable, as was Sienna Dupuis, who showed great comic timing when it was her turn to insert the "Are we there yet' line into the song.  Jessie Terpstra, Kim Turnbull, Amenjot Sran, and Kyle Speight also did a credible job as the other troublesome children.  The cardboard cutout car was a nice touch too. It ran out of gas a bit at the end, but that was in the script, not in the performance.

Surfer dudes

'Gone fishin' put us in a lazy hazy relaxed mood, as did James Fitchner and Madi Whitehead. They were quite believable as a pair of drawling laconic fishermen in an reel nice interlude that was interrupted by classic surfer dudes Isaiah North Peigan and Kalib Smith, who provided the segue into the hand-clapping toe-tapping 'Hit the beach'.  Lots of entertaining choreography in this one.

"I'm not feeling better..."

'A letter from camp' examined the potential pitfalls of the group-camp experience, including boredom, rain, the dreaded computer camp.  The "Dear Mom and Dad, I'm still not feeling better" interludes in the song were particularly moving.  As for the line "I just wanna come home," who hasn't felt that way on vacation at least once?

Out in left field

'Out in left field' evoked hot dogs at the park and the highs and lows of playing the game.  The ensemble 'Take me out to the ball game' was spot-on, and Danika Warkentin and Jasmine Mahli performed a beautiful version of 'The old ball game'.  It was a highlight of the whole show for me when the two pieces came together in tricky counterpoint.  A happy ending for the lonely outfielder, and then it was time for 'I'm going to Wonderland', another snappy ensemble piece.

Then the buzzer, and a return to reality as the teacher issued her final orders of the school year and then realised she too needed a vacation, which led into a high energy reprise of the title song, and then it was all over.

Musical Directors Brenda Squair and Kathy Brown are to be commended for organizing such a complex and pleasing performance.  The Grade 4-6 Musical Theatre kids gave a wonderful performance and lifted this reporter's day out of the doldrums.  Thank you.

Related story:
Pincher Creek Legion donates to Canyon School Playground Project