NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Jan. 29.
SEQUIM — Once I was a selfish fool
Who never understood
Never looked inside myself
But on the outside, I looked good
Then we met and you made me
The man I am today
Tracy, I’m in love with you
No matter what you weigh
‘Cause without love
Life is like the seasons with no summer
Without love
Life is rock ‘n’ roll without a drummer …
So sang Link and the crew in “Hairspray,” just one of the musicals featured in “What Is Love?” at Sequim High School this weekend and next. It’s a show all about romance, friendship and family ties, and it’s on stage for just four more performances at Sequim High’s auditorium, 601 N. Sequim Ave.
“What Is Love?” is also the senior class’ fundraiser for its graduation party — and a collaborative project between the students and director Robin Hall. Senior class president Megan O’Mera, along with her peers, brainstormed a list of songs and scenes from Broadway, television and the cinema, and linked them together for the show.
“I had to screen them all, of course,” said Hall, “but I was surprised by some of their suggestions,” which range from a Monty Python “Spamalot” number to “Saturday Night Live” skits and songs from “Beauty and the Beast” and “South Pacific.”
There are musical numbers and vignettes about falling in love accidentally, about the differences between women and men and about how awful breaking up can be.
“There’s something everybody can identify with,” said Hall.
“We’ve thrown in a lot of comedy . . . and some drama,” naturally, while “What Is Love” is fueled by abundant youthful energy.
“This class is very enthusiastic,” the director said, adding that more than 20 seniors have joined her cast. They include O’Mera along with Ashlyn Reeves, Eric Hermosada, Hayden James, Heidi Powell, Hunter Cauffman, Jackson Oliver, Jared Kneidl, Jessica Craig, Juan Cadenas, Katie Rogers, Kayley Lofstrom, Mariah Franco, Miranda Cays, Morgan King, Mykaela Hatton, Nick Fazio, Quintan Johnson, Ryan Macedo, Waverly Shreffler and Zachary William Hebert.
The underclassmen and -women in the show include Abygail Mundy, Ali Cobb, Annabelle Armstrong, Brittney Rives, Colleen Carpenter, Damon Little, Gabi Simonson, Jack Dismore, Sara Zarit, Spencer Neale, Thomas Hughes and Tommy and Victoria Hall.
“Everyone comes so alive in it. There’s so much personality,” said senior Niki McElhose, who appears in “Third Wheel,” a comic number with Betsy Merrikin and Seth Mitchell. It’s all about being part of a trio of friends: a romantic couple plus one. McElhose, 18, is that third wheel in life and art, because Merrikin and Mitchell are in fact dating.
In another skit, “Accidental Love Confessions,” we have seniors Alysha Graham and Logan Habner at an ice-cream shop. She says “I love you” kind of by accident; then he says it and they proceed to argue over and explore the idea. This is just one of the comic turns Habner, 17, gets to do in the show. Another is his performance, alongside his classmates, of “There Is Nothing Like a Dame,” that Rodgers & Hammerstein number from “South Pacific.”
“The show is so entertaining,” said McElhose.
“It’s got amazingly talented people … if I wasn’t in it,” she quipped, “I would go.”
