Zeussical at Mount Olympus

Much better day today than yesterday... the student in question came in with 36 sentences completed and a scrawled apology note. 


Our day was kind of short because of the play at Nicollet.  It was all about the gods attending Mt. Olympus Elementary school.  One day a mortal shows up (he was from Mankato, MN instead of Athens, Greece).  Their teacher, Miss Athena is mistaken for someone Poseidon is mad at, and he puts her in chains for a sea monster to eat.  Her godly students have one day to figure out how to rescue her.  Meanwhile, the mortal, Bob, is feeling bummed because he's not a god and doesn't have any spectacular talents.  They all search for answers on how to save their teacher, but can't do it.  Then they find a magical cube that if solved, would cause Poseidon to forgive/forget whatever he was mad about.  But it's a Rubik's cube.  And none of the Greek gods can solve it.  Bob doesn't see what the big deal is because he solves them all the time!  So he solves the cube, finds his talent (super puzzle solver), and Miss Athena is saved.  Woohoo!


Usually these plays have some sort of moral to the story.  This year there were two, but they weren't emphasized as much throughout the play. I'm not sure if the students figured out what the morals were... don't be prideful, and in order to find your talents/be good at something, you need to practice and work hard at it. 


I was very impressed with this year's performance.  There was way more choreography, the singers' voices were amazing, and they showcased a huge variety of skills.  One song was a rap, another an acapella number, another full of harmony, and others were simple solos.  The costumes were good too.  And there was a lot of audience participation where the characters would ask audience members for answers/suggestions.  One time Hera needed to make a list of cupcake flavors and asked the audience to help.  Miss Athena asked the audience for examples of what they like that makes them happy... pools, candy, and Mom were the big ones.


The play is written by the MSU students who act in it.  At the beginning of the year the cast is chosen after a round of fierce auditions and the cast comes up with the theme/moral, writes the script/songs, designs the set, and pulls together costumes.  I think it's for a class, or at least they earn credit.  Kind of a bummer, but we had to leave before the question/answer session so we could get back to school for the buses.