CEDAR HILL, Texas – The orchestra pit begins to crescendo as a chorus line dances across the yellow brick road on the stage above, and at the center of the line, Cedar Hill High School senior Amara Bourgeois belts out the lyrics to "Soon as I Get Home."

The young actress is just days away from making her long-awaited debut as Dorothy in the musical classic The Wiz, and the final rehearsals are in full swing.

“I’m happy-nervous 'cause like, my family’s gonna be there and this is the first time they’ve seen me in this big [of] a role,” said Bourgeois.

The nerves and excitement of the entire cast can be felt throughout the Cedar Hill High School auditorium where this truly is a “long-awaited” production, and a production like no other this theater program has ever put on.

The student actors singing and dancing across the stage all catch their breath through masks. Actors how would normally be shoulder to shoulder have an extra few feet of space between them. They all prepare to look out into a small, spaced-out audience on opening night. 

This is theater in the COVID-19 era, or at least it looks like it will be. After all, their production is one of the few to really give it a try so far.

“This show was originally supposed to go up in October, but because of COVID, we didn’t even start rehearsing until September,” said director Bethany Kennedy as she worked with the orchestra off stage.

Students taking a break between their scenes said the wait had really been even longer than that. They recalled the excitement of the show being revealed to them last spring - right before they ended up going home for the remainder of the school year.

Bourgeois and her fellow cast members said at times, they weren’t sure the show would ever make it to the stage; the theater industry everywhere gave them little reason to be hopeful.

When the pandemic lockdowns began, live theaters and places like concert venues, cinemas, and other large gathering spots were all among the first to shut down in hopes of preventing the spread of COVID-19. As cases continued to rise throughout 2020, some of those spots slowly reopened - often to small crowds and little success - but live theaters have, for the most part, remained shuttered.

Even the most famous theaters in America on Broadway in New York City remain closed. According to broadway.com, all shows there have been canceled through May 30.

However, in a growing number of theaters across the country, the old adage “the show must go on” is beginning to take hold again, and theater companies are starting to come up with new ways to return to the stage as safely as possible.

Cedar Hill, and several other Texas high schools, are among that group.

The Wiz cast and crew started working early in the school year to figure out ways to put on their show with as little risk as possible.

It was clear they would have to do this show with masks on, but in an attempt to make it a little easier for the featured singers and dancers, senior Sandy Johnson and others in the crew found patterns for larger, singing masks that sit elevated over the nose and mouth and allow those doing solos to be better understood.

“I sewed them. Each one took about an hour and a half to two hours and we fitted them to each individual lead singer’s face,” said Johnson, pointing to the mask on Bourgeois’s face.

The cast is also undergoing all of the usual COVID-19 protocols. They’ve become used to going to school in person again, but the biggest changes to their production came from the audience.

The Cedar Hill ISD says the shows will have a very limited number of spaced-out seats, all audience members will be required to pass a COVID-19 screen, and everyone in attendance will have to register some information with their ticket purchase, just in case it becomes necessary to contact trace for the illness later.

Admittedly, and understandably, it’s not how Bourgeois or any of the young actors hoped to make their debut. With just days to go before the opening night curtain call, though, disappointment had given way to excitement and determination in the company.

“Honestly we’re grateful to even be here right now because a lot of shows aren’t doing any, any shows this year,” said one excited chorus-line member as he ran off to join his next scene, too focused on the rehearsal to even say his name on the way back out to the stage.

Even Kennedy’s Labrador, who will play Toto in the production, seems to follow cues with little distraction at this point. 

Kennedy said it’s clear that across the entire cast and crew, there was more focus to put on a great show than ever, due to the circumstances. 

“The passion is alive for them because everything was abruptly taken away from them in March,” said Kennedy.

It may not be their ideal way to open a show, but they will open the show - finally.

“The show’s gonna be amazing! It’s gonna be amazing!” said Bourgeois, her smile showing beyond the corners of her singer’s mask.

The Cedar Hill High School production of The Wiz opens Thursday, January 28, and runs through the weekend with very limited tickets available.