For this year’s musical, the PHS Spectacle Theater presented a rendition of “Beauty and the Beast,” in collaboration with PHS Orchestra to bring this tale to life. Audiences had the opportunity to experience this production in the auditorium from March 14  to 16. 
In preparation for the musical, the cast practiced singing, multiple choreographies, and acting, which proved to be challenging when combined. 
Alternating between two casts, the Red and Blue casts, each offered its own interpretation of the characters. For Samara Raju ’24, who portrayed Belle in the Red Cast, this marked her first time playing the lead role. 
“[Belle is] a confident woman who is well-read and purposeful, yet elegant,” said Raju. “Maintaining all these characteristics throughout the show [was] difficult ... It’s the ability to prepare for the show and having everything you need that will determine your success!” 
Similar to Raju, Enea Meloni ’24, who played  Gaston in the Red Cast, the arrogant hunter determined to marry Belle, faced his own share of challenges, namely, portraying Gaston’s misogynistic tendencies. 
“Gaston always carries himself in a certain way,” said Meloni. “You always have to pose as if anyone could take a photo of you at any time. You’re supposed to keep your chest really big, never [slouch], and speak with a low voice, which can be tough when singing.”
Other actors in the production were also confronted with difficulties regarding intertwining acting and singing together seamlessly. Edward Cao ’24, who played the Beast in the Red Cast, found modifying his voice to be a challenge, as he also had to convey his character’s growth throughout the musical to the audience. 
“In order to imitate the Beast’s tone, I [had] to completely change my speaking voice by adding grit, which [could] be hard on my voice sometimes,” said Cao. “On the outside, he’s an angry detested Beast, but it’s important for me to show his vulnerable side.”
Julianna Krawiecki, drama teacher at PHS, took on the responsibility of directing the show. 
“Along with getting the costumes and cast ready, the copyright paperwork can take months. Directing a production is a huge responsibility,” said Krawiecki. “The students experience[d] many opportunities to explore their talent and [were] excited to share their hard work.”
The production also featured music from the PHS Orchestra, who performed in the pit under the stage. Since the beginning of January, the orchestra rehearsed the orchestral score by Alan Menken in order to synchronize with the actors’ singing. 
“There [were] a lot of parts where the orchestra [wasn’t] able to just sight read the music on the spot. Those parts require[d] a lot of work, but [we got] through it slowly in class,” said Audrey Kang ’24, one of the principal violinists in PHS Orchestra.  
When it came to coordinating the music with the acting and the singing, the orchestra teacher and conductor, Robert Loughran, played a crucial role. 
“Following the course of action of the drama, I [had] certain cue lines that I refer[ed] to,” said Loughran. “As we [got] nearer to our entrance as an orchestra, my hand [went] up to tell the orchestra that it [was] time to come back into focus. I then [got] the tempo and cue[d] the orchestra. Between the script and the score, it [was] a balanced act.”
Ultimately, the cast was eager to show everyone all the long hours they dedicated, making the musical a memorable experience for everyone involved.    
“We [rehearsed] almost every day since mid-January, and I just [knew] it [was] going to be a really fun and energetic show,” said Meloni.


A tale as old as time: “Beauty and the Beast” musical

The Business & Technology Education and Science departments have made significant changes to their respective programs of studies for the upcoming school year.
In the Science department, the Physics I Accelerated and regular Physics I class will now be available to sophomores and will fully replace AP Physics 1. Additionally, AP Physics C, previously a one year course covering two AP tests: Mechanics and Electricity and Magnetism (E&M), will become two separate full year courses. Lastly, the Business & Technology Education department has restricted the joint-semester AP Macroeconomics and Microeconomics classes to upperclassmen.
Physics I Accelerated first debuted last year in conjunction with AP Physics 1, allowing rising juniors to choose between both classes. Next year, however, rising sophomores will only have the ability to take Physics I or Physics I Accelerated as introductory physics courses.      
Oren Levi, a physics teacher at PHS since 2015, believes that the change will increase the accessibility of the program.
“It used to be that physics was kind of capped for junior year. [This year], we’ve finally managed to convince guidance to let sophomores take physics as long as they meet some of the required math — Algebra II mostly,” said Levi.
The removal of the AP Physics 1 class, according to Levi, will help students better navigate the science curriculum.  
“AP Physics 1 was not intended to be a first-year physics course, but Physics I was never a prerequisite so you could take [AP Physics 1] without having even taken physics before.” said Levi. “So students decided to take [AP Physics 1] simply because it was an AP science with no science prerequisites; it would give [them] a boost to their GPA, which I personally don’t agree with.”
Levi said that this structure resulted in many failing scores on the AP Physics 1 exam.
“In the two AP classes that I taught, only half of each class even took the test. [A trend that] we’ve been seeing for years now is that the AP Physics 1 scores are never as good,” said Levi. “With the scores, usually you want an even distribution of all scores across the board, but in physics the distribution is much heavier [towards] one side.”
After Physics 1, students can continue their studies with AP Physics C, which has been split into two separate, full year courses — one year of AP Physics C: Mechanics and one year of AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism. This change will provide students with more time to understand the material and study for the AP exams.
“With the extra time, we’re going to be able to do a lot more labs and practice that we wouldn’t have been able to do before because of how quickly we had to rush through the curriculum,” said Levi. “People will have a better chance at succeeding on their tests.”
Although completion of Physics 1 has become a prerequisite to taking AP Physics C, students with a strong background in math have the option of skipping the requirement, provided they take a math-based placement test and complete a physics summer assignment.
Andrew Rivera ’25, a student of physics teacher Peter Martens, noted that while the change may result in greater depth in the physics curriculum, it could also reduce advancement in other disciplines.
“If you were to take both years of AP Physics C, you wouldn’t be able to take two years of chemistry,” Rivera said.
With regards to the Business & Technology Education department. Instead of Algebra II and English, the joint-semester AP Macroeconomics and Microeconomics courses now require Pre-Calculus and U.S. History II as prerequisites.
AP Macro/Microeconomics teacher Katelyn Wagner advocated for the change after talking with many high school economics teachers from across the country.
“We did see a pretty big correlation between how well students do in math courses versus how well they do in economics, because there is a lot of math involved [in AP Macro/Micro]. [We] swapped out the English [prerequisite] for the history [prerequisite] because there’s a big crossover between U.S. History II and what we learn in Macro/Micro,” Wagner said.
As a result of the new requirements, the course will no longer be available to sophomores, reserving it exclusively for juniors and seniors. 
“For the last few years, we’ve had an insane waitlist for the course, and a lot of times what happened is that juniors and seniors who really wanted to take it weren’t able to, because sophomores were filling the spots. I thought that it would be more fair to juniors and seniors,” Wagner said.
Wagner mentioned that there are still other opportunities for sophomores to learn economic concepts.
“We offer an introduction to economics course that you can take as a freshman or sophomore, which goes through the first two or three units of AP Macro[economics]. 
Audrey Huang ’27 feels that delaying the course  will make joining many clubs requiring knowledge of economics, such as PHS Young Investors or Euro Challenge, more difficult for underclassmen. Further, she argues that restricting one of the few AP courses available to sophomores will only make their upperclassman year course loads more stressful if they still want to to take AP Macro/Micro.
“I think economics principles are better taught earlier in high school and a lot of juniors and seniors already have a lot of course work so taking on [AP Macro/Micro] would just be even harder to manage,” Huang said.

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