Written by Gabriella Headley, Theatre Director

Over the past 2 weekends, 36 high school students, cast & crew, presented The First Academy’s Upper School Musical, Hello, Dolly!

Gower Champion’s Hello, Dolly! premiered on Broadway in 1964 & ran for 2,844 performances. It quickly became one of the most endeared musicals of all time with many of its songs becoming musical theatre hits including “Hello Dolly” featuring Louis Armstrong in the movie and “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” seen in the Disney cartoon Wall-E.
This story is one of love and letting go. Dolly & Irene Molloy are both trying to move on from the death of their late husbands by marrying for money. They feel like they experienced all the love they deserved and have no hope for finding true love again. However, their attempts to marry rich actually end with them finding love where they least expect it.

Just as Dolly and Irene look for and find love again, I think this is true of us as looking for true love and fulfillment on earth. We either give up on love or look for love and fulfillment from people or things, but the truest love comes from Jesus Christ.

The students did an incredible job telling this story & all of their hard work in the rehearsal process truly paid off! Despite all of the new procedures & circumstances, the cast & crew put on a phenomenal show!

Out of the 36 students involved, 8 are seniors which we honored for their time in the Fine Arts at TFA at their final performance.

We cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store for next year!

PS: We also submitted the show for the Dr. Phillips Center Applause Awards, which honors excellence in high school theatre. We will find out the results next Wednesday!