Valparaiso High School hosts the Indiana premiere of Ranked: A Musical! November 19 and 20 at 7 p.m. and November 21 at 2 p.m.
Set in a high school where the only thing that matters is class rank, the academic leader board determines who is “Above the Average” and who is “Below”. Students must find their place as they try desperately to stay above the status quo, even if that means destroying themselves and each other to score their way to the top. When an accusation of academic dishonesty throws the "system" into chaos, students grapple with understanding their worth, who decides what they are worth, and what to do when that system comes crashing down.
Matt McCann, the assistant director of the musical, depicts the show as an insight into life as a teenager.
“This show is a very eye-opening experience to what it's like being a teenager because sometimes you forget when you're an adult,” said McCann.
Colleen Peluso, director of the musical, addresses how personal the show is to her and her students.
“Our students overwhelmingly echo the sentiments of their California counterparts that were the inspiration for this show. They brought up extremely high expectations (from everyone), pressures to be involved (in everything), and the added stresses of facing almost two years of their high school experience against the backdrop of the pandemic (from everywhere),” said Peluso. “Even as a teacher who hears about the teenage perspective all day every day, it was eye-opening for me to see exactly how deeply these students connect with the material.”
McCann notes the show allows students to step into authentic characters they can relate to.
“What's really cool about this show is that all of the characters have a name. So, nobody is just an ensemble person. Everybody's got a name, and every character is a high school kid. You don't have a kid trying to play a rabbi or Grandpa Joe or something like that. They’re all playing their age, or close to it, which is really cool,” said McCann.
McCann is excited for the students to finally be able to perform the fall musical after two years off.
“It's good to see the kids up on stage. You know, I felt bad last year when we couldn't do a musical in the fall, but it was really good to be able to get the kids on stage in the fall with an improv show and then again in the spring. This year, it's good to be able to get them exercising different talents in a musical,” said McCann.
Peluso states that audience members are in for a treat.
“There will be a lot of laughing, and then maybe some tears. There's a lot of heartwarming moments,” said Peluso.
Her favorite moment from the show reiterates the theme of the musical.
“My favorite moment is when the six leads sing a song together at the end when they finally realize that there's more to life than just grades and the classroom,” said Peluso.
Peluso and McCann are proud of what their students have accomplished this fall and look forward to the community enjoying the hard work of the student’s labor.
“This is the work of over 100 students. It is a different kind of musical; it's not your typical-old school Broadway musical. It's contemporary music and contemporary themes. People who don't think that they're theater people would really like this show,” said Peluso.
Valparaiso High School still has two more shows of Ranked: A Musical! this weekend on November 20 at 7 p.m. and November 21 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available at the door. The show is best suited for audiences ages 12 and up. To find out more, visit https://www.facebook.com/vhsdramadept/