Photo by Deb Gau When COVID-19 made it impossible to have an indoor fall play, the Marshall High School theatre program brought the show out to the bandshell at Liberty Park. All this week, students were rehearsing for “The Show Must Go On,” a musical revue covering a wide variety of Broadway show tunes. Below, the revue features songs from both classic and current musicals.

MARSHALL — They’ve been through a roller coaster of performance conditions over the past few weeks, from “roasting” heat to cold and rain.

“The first couple of rehearsals were a little rough. It was really cold,” said Marshall High School junior Emma Runchey Smalley. But even with the unpredictability of rehearsing outdoors, students in Marshall High School’s fall theater performance are happy to be back on the stage.

“It’s interesting to be outside,” Brenna Springborg said. “People will walk by and watch us.”

With COVID-19 precautions making it tough to put on an indoor stage musical, the MHS Tiger Theatre program is trying something new, said director Dan Smith. This weekend, students will be performing a Broadway musical revue at the bandshell in Liberty Park. Titled “The Show Must Go On,” the program features music spanning the history of Broadway, from the era of Rodgers and Hammerstein to current hit shows like “Hamilton.”

Performances will be Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the bandshell. Admission is free.

The show is “definitely something different from last year,” Runchey Smalley said.

To start with, students were working on a shorter time frame than normal for the fall musical. An outdoor performance wouldn’t work once the weather started getting cold.

“This is the fastest we have ever done a musical like this,” Ryan Schroeder said. But Schroeder and Zoe Vorbach said it’s also been good be able to join in the production away at the start of the school year. Lots of students were pitching in to put on the show — people would express interest in helping out, “And then the next day they’re here,” Vorbach said.

“We’ve had a lot of new people, and not just freshmen,” said Springborg.

After all the disruption that the pandemic has caused this year, “Everyone wants something that’s a little normal,” Schroeder said.

Students said the format of the show is different from a more traditional musical play, with songs and snippets of songs from lots of different shows.

“It basically covers the whole history of Broadway,” Vorbach said.

“It’s just one song after the next,” Ryan said. It means the show is shorter than past years’ musicals, but it gives students a chance to perform songs from plays they might not otherwise get to.

“It’s really fun to work on all these pieces,” he said.

Earlier this week, chorus members were running through some numbers from more recent Broadway musicals like “Matilda,” and taking time to perfect some of the fast choreography from “Hamilton.”

While students said they were excited to perform for the community this weekend, they were also happy to get the experience of a school play this year.

“It brought back a lot of hope that things will get better,” Layne Ziemer said. “We still get to make memories.”

Performances of “The Show Must Go On” will start at 2 and 6 p.m. on Saturday, 2 p.m Sunday and 6 p.m. Monday.