Recently, I attended a school play at a neighboring high school. While it wasn’t bad, sitting in the audience I immediately and subconsciously found myself comparing it to the GMHS show I had seen just the week before. The main thing that I walked away with after seeing the other school’s show was an even bigger appreciation for the GMHS’s theatre department than I had previously had, which is saying a lot. I might be biased, but I can confidently say that GMHS has the best shows that I have ever seen from a high school. The amount of talent that we have in this small school never fails to impress me.

This year’s much anticipated spring play, Moliere’s French comedy, “The Bourgeois Gentleman,” was a perfect example of what Mason does best, their stellar theatrical productions.

The show followed a gullible man named Monsieur Jourdain (Justin Valentino, senior) and his struggle to fit in with the rich French community. His daughter, Lucille (Lydia Gompper), is in love with a man who is not a “gentleman,” (Cleonte, played by Alec Reusch,) and Jourdain tries his hardest to keep them apart. A hoax is devised to trick him into allowing the two to marry.

Among the 1600s humor, there were plenty of modern updates that really made the show relevant to today’s audience, like Batman references and Bob Fosse inspired dance numbers.

The show was personalized by some of Mason’s own students. It featured many dance numbers, which were choreographed by senior Meredith Johnson.

The dancer’s fun costumes paired with live music by some of GMHS’s talented musicians brought the show to life. The dancers were worked into the story seamlessly and captured the attention of the audience.

The music by seniors Alex Smith and Arijeet Sensharma was extremely impressive. Alex’s well known vocals definitely didn’t disappoint and neither did those of Freshmen Will Langan, Grace Armstrong, and Michael Curtin. I constantly had to remind myself that the four were only high school students and that the music was written by an 18 year old. For me, it was especially nice to see freshmen stepping up and showing their talents.

The opera, which was a part of the plot, ended up being performed at the end, a genius (and hilarious) touch.

The set completely transformed the stage with bright, eyecatching colors and gave the show a very professional and well put together look for a high school play. I could definitely tell how much theatre means to GMHS and how much effort is put into every show. Of course, even without the sets and costumes, the talents of the actors would still be incredibly impressive.

The expressiveness and exaggerations of every cast member made the show captivatingly entertaining. There was never a dull moment. My favorite night out of all three was the last show on Saturday. Senior Megan Pierce (Madame Jourdain) caused the food piled on a table during a dinner scene to fly across the stage, Valentino exclaimed “I am your father” in a deep Darth Vader impression; the musicians joined in on a conga line the list goes on and on. They really went all out.

There was an obvious on-stage chemistry between all of the actors. I had the opportunity to spend some time backstage before the show on opening night. I was surprised and happy to see that instead of the serious practicing and last minute frenzies that I was expecting, I saw instead a group of friends who showed so much love and support for each other.

As they were getting ready, they were all joking around and helping each other out. A “magic rock” was passed around the room and everyone was instructed to think positive thoughts as they held it. And, as it grew closer to starting time, a circle was formed where everyone held hands and went through a fun pre-show ritual. And later, it was really touching to see people step into the middle one by one, expressing their love for theatre and how much the show meant to them. There were lots of hugs and some tears. I heard the word “family” used to describe the group of actors multiple times, which I found to be an accurate portrayal of the bond I saw between the cast.

The show’s witty humor definitely made it a hit and brought in an audience on all three nights. I can easily say that I was still laughing even after seeing it for the third time.