Being able to be a part of the 2025 BMS production of Madagascar: A Musical Adventure Jr was such a fun, exciting, and nerve-wracking experience. BMS stands for Burnie Musical Society, and they host two musicals every year, one junior show for kids 18 and below, and the other show is a show for adult cast members.

My audition was held late into 2024, and we had our orientation weekend late into January which was the ultimate test to help the directors and other adults to select the best roles for us. For the first half of rehearsals, we all met up at Parklands High School with our rehearsals in the PAC, a couple months later we moved into the Burnie Arts Town Hall and that’s when it started becoming big, and the nerves started.

Some of the main people involved in this project, just to list a couple, were the directors Jacqueline de Jonge, Miss Cordwell, and Heather Burgess, and our vocal coach Janet Matic –who we also worked with in the Drama Eisteddfod in June! –and so many more. Many of the parents of our cast members managed to chip in their time as well into building sets and helping in any way they could.

Some of my personal highlights from performing this show were, making new friends I still talk to after the show, getting new songs to put onto my musical theatre playlist –and my actual playlist –opening night, and all the emotions everyone felt after the curtains closed for our final show.

This was my second, and definitely my biggest show I’ve done so far. It gave me a good idea of what to expect if I keep going down this fun path of life in theatre. It was a fun experience I wouldn’t trade for the world.

–Riley, Grade 9

On Monday the 19^th of May, Music and Drama students went to the Burnie Arts Centre to watch a musical, Madagascar: A Musical Adventure Jr, by Burnie Musical Society.  A few Parklands students acted in the cast we saw, like Kyann Gardam and Riley Perry (Grade 9). In the audience with us were two cast members of another cast of the show, Jordanna Pearson (Grade 9) and Tasmin Dean (Grade 7).  We had a nice time watching the show! The adaptation into a musical was a success, the songs conveyed perfectly the emotions expressed by the characters. It was also enjoyable to re-discover some of our favourite scenes from the film played-out on stage, and the actors’ performances were good. A great job was done on the lightning and sound, and the choreography parts was excellent! It was amazing!

–Ernestine, Grade 10