Making Up for Lost Time: All Together Now!

On November 12th of 2021, Lompoc High’s Theater Arts program performed their first live show All Together Now!, since COVID-19 had taken over. They had been shut down completely on their opening night of Matilda the Musical in 2020. It had been over 18 months since they performed with a live, in person audience and they couldn’t be happier to now be back to semi-normal! 

As the director of the theater arts program for 20 years, Mrs. Barthel has encountered many obstacles when it comes to theater production. But, when COVID-19 had hit, she didn’t know how she would incorporate theater without being able to perform live–until they had the idea to perform and rehearse virtually through zoom. So, throughout the 2020 and a part of 2021 school years, Lompoc High Theater Arts performed online. Although they had missed live shows during 2020, they collected a lot more knowledge with technology for future productions. Consequently, All Together Now!  was live streamed online in tandem with multiple in-person productions. Depending on the show, if you prefer to be in-person watching the production or at home on your comfy couch, either is possible now.

As for this last show,  All Together Now! was a combination of many different musicals (a revue) to appreciate the productions that we’ve been unable to perform over the last year, as a nation. For actors all across the world, the absence of live production has been stifling for their performative creativity. All Together Now! incorporated many famous musicals like Frozen, Matilda the Musical, High School Musical, and many more. Each sub-musical had its own little spotlight, and the entire show re-invoked and reminded audiences of the love they had for live theatre entertainment. It truly was fantastic to see a live production again, let alone all of our favorite musicals included! 

As mentioned before, it has been a rough year and a half for the theater community. To have the opportunity to perform to a live audience again was truly incredible. They are so happy to be back and wouldn’t have the opportunity to do so without the help of the Lompoc community. Without this support they wouldn’t be performing live today. So, in the future, look out for any upcoming performances and support your Lompoc High Theater Arts program!