Trouble in River City

Several times during the Jerome High School's performance of "The Music Man" I found myself awestruck by the fantastic display of talent, timing, and teamwork on the stage.  Right away the opening scene of 12 -15 young men portrayed traveling salesmen on a train with syncopated swaying of bodies, shuffling of feet, keeping pace amazingly well with the change of tempo as the acapella train pulled away from one station and into the next.  As I witness each of these yearly musicals develop, I must conclude that either this town is a gold mine of thespian talent, or the drama teacher is a genius.  The complicated scenes in the library and the "Goodnight Ladies/Pick A Little" medley were well crafted in choreography, music, and balance.  It's blows me away to see a cast of 50+ with a pit orchestra as well coming from a school of just over 900 students during the spring when so many sports and other activities occur.  It also baffles me to think that most of the leads were played by those who won the Idaho State speech title last week and still earn 4.0 GPA or close to it.  Of these pictured, the girl played center mid for me in the fall, the sheriff is a youth leader of youth at church, and the boys on either end took my daughter to the prom the past couple of years.  Oh what these youth can acomplish!