CATALINA FOOTHILLS, Ariz. (KGUN) — The entire auditorium at Catalina Foothills High School was filled with mic checks and students practicing their songs on Tuesday. They were all practicing for an original musical called Double Time: An Original Musical that was written, produced, and directed by five students.
The play is about a feud between a jazz club owner and a famous director. When the director shoots his next movie in the studio next to the jazz club owner’s club, there is a murder. A detective called Otto goes undercover to solve the murder.
Kiera Kuehnle is the director of the play and she said it’s been great getting to mold the story, but it’s also been a challenge because five students are putting their ideas together to fit into one script.
“It was also a blessing and a curse being able to write this ourselves and change things up because you keep changing until the last day,” Kuehnle said.
Zach Pittner is the composer for the musical and he said he got inspiration from gospel music, jazz, and swing music. He also said it was hard to fit the lyrics to the chracters and the plot.
“There’s always something so difficult between balancing perfection and time that you have to spend on it, so you really have to prioritize what’s the most important in every song and in every scene,” Pittner said.
A few of the students participating in the play including Pittner are going to get their Seal of the Arts for doing the musical. It’s an award and a seal on their diploma that they get for finishing the musical as a part of their senior capstone project.
The musical is running this Thursday through Sunday at the high school and tickets are $5 for students/alumni and $8 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at this link.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
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