“For the second year in a row Spectrum Community School is producing a Broadway musical adaption of a Hollywood movie. Last year’s show involved an alien person-eating plant intent on world domination nurtured unknowingly by a nerdy young man and his flower shop owner boss, with a love-interest and a crazy dentist boyfriend thrown in for that wholesome B-movie flavour. That was of course the Little Shop of Horrors.

This year’s production boasts a larger cast with three female leads whose nemesis has the tables turned on him in more ways than one. Based on the 1980 20th Century Fox hit movie and mounted onto Broadway in 2009 with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton herself (book by Patricia Resnick), the musical has all of the hilarious trappings and turns that the movie had.

Spectrum Community School continues its long-held tradition of staging musicals that go a step beyond the typical high-school production through a team of dedicated professionals. A local professional vocal coach Noreen Smith from The Connected Voice vocal studio and the Canadian College of Performing Arts has brought out the cast’s singing talents. Parker Jolliffe, Spectrum’s Music program director, brings together a group of instrumentalists that provide music in the only way that a live band can. Lia Shannon from Spectrum’s own top provincial award-winning dance program has choreographed toe-tapping numbers from a range of styles. Returning to the director’s chair is René Schwarz whose classical theatre training from Toronto Metropolitan University dives into the story and characters’ journeys without holding back on the humour in every conflict and resolution, while teaching the finer points of lighting, set, sound, and costume design to a group of very dedicated students.

When asked why these teachers spend extra hours outside of class to do all of this the answer for them is easy; seeing their students connect with each other, with their characters, and with their audiences to make lasting high school memories is a reward that lasts a lifetime.

Curtains open on “9 to 5” at 7:00 p.m. at Spectrum Community School Theatre (957 Burnside Road West) on February 27, 28, and March 6 & 7 with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on March 8. Bring cash to the door $20/adult or $15/Senior or Student. Seats can be reserved through Eventbrite.com (search Spectrum Community School). If you choose to pay at the door with your credit/debit card, the district will add a 4% processing fee to your payment.”