News Briefs: ‘Crazy for You,’ Worlds of Fun’s Winterfest and Saugus High School shooting

East

The cast list for this year’s spring musical, “Crazy for You” written by playwright Ken Ludwig, was announced on Nov. 14.

The musical is a romantic comedy based off of 1930s musical “Girl Crazy”, that follows a classic boy-meets-girl storyline, according to director Brian Cappello.

“It’s still kind of an older story, but the dialogue is very funny,” Cappello said. “It’s got great songs.”

The songs were written by George Gershwin, a well-known Broadway composer. Cappello thinks these classic songs will be well-executed by this year’s cast.

The cast features 43 students, starring freshman Fritz Sullivan as Bobby Child and senior Lucy Brock as Polly Baker.

“Crazy for You” strays away from last year’s fantasy-filled production of “The Little Mermaid.”

According to Cappello, this show is going to be much more showy and extravagant — in areas such as set design and costuming — than last year’s production.

“We haven’t had a show that’s the old Broadway type of stuff,” Cappello said. “It was about time.”

Unlike past shows, this one will also feature rented costumes and tap dancing — two features that will contribute to the show’s glitzy and glamorous storyline.

The most exciting part of the show, according to Cappello, is the cast overall. He believes that this year’s cast is perfect for this show and will be able to execute it perfectly.

“We have the kids to do it,” Cappello said. “We have a lot of very talented kids in all areas.”

Local

Worlds of Fun’s second annual Christmas festival, Winterfest, will begin on Nov. 23.

Winterfest, similar to Worlds of Fun’s Halloween Haunt, is a holiday celebration that features decorations, holiday mascots and Christmas-themed shows featuring holiday songs.

The centerpiece of Winterfest is a two-story lit tree that greets guests as they enter the park. The rest of the park is covered in thousands of lights that are meant to illuminate a cheery atmosphere.

Junior Lydia Seymour attended Winterfest last year and thought it was a great way to enjoy the holiday season with her family.

“The decorations are really good. They really hype up Christmas time,” Seymour said. “It’s very magical.”

To further the holiday experience, the park has decided to make changes to some of their dining options. Restaurants throughout the park will be switching up their menu to add wintery entrées and desserts such as maple-glazed ham and hot chocolate.

Along with holiday decorations, new holiday-themed attractions will also be available for kids and adults alike.

Younger audiences can take part in cookie decorating, sending letters to Santa and attending a Christmas-inspired Charlie Brown show. New additions to the park for parents include carriage rides and holiday shopping opportunities like Christmas tree ornament shops and Christmas-themed merchandise.

Seymour thinks Winterfest is not only a great opportunity to have holiday fun, but also a great distraction from a stressful end to the first semester.

“Last year, I went to make myself feel less depressed about taking finals,” Seymour said. “I kind of forgot about all the stuff I had to do. I was just having a good time.”

National

Two students were killed in a school shooting on Nov. 14 at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, Calif. making it the 45th school shooting that has occurred in the U.S. this year. 

With 45 school shootings in 47 weeks, the U.S. averages approximately one school shooting per week in 2019.

This event brought a growing debate among school administrations about the traumatic experiences that active shooter drills themselves carry. Administrators around the country believe that the quick actions of the students during the shooting in Santa Clarita might prove that active shooter drills are too realistic.

Junior Sophie Rice, Kansas Youth Lieutenant Governor, believes that active shooter drills are an effective and successful way to prepare for an unexpected situation.

“I think [active shooter drills] are a real situation that could be a potential possibility in school,” Rice said. “I think that it’s good that people are prepared.”

On Nov. 19, East took part in an active shooting drill which illustrated a real-life situation and prompted realistic responses to the scenario.