Meet Musical Madness: the Lafayette Theatre’s unique way of announcing the next year’s Winter Musical. Every year, Lafayette Theatre posts a bracket outside of the theatre room with 32 possible musicals. Then, on the Monday of every week, that number is halved, until the musical is announced at the Thespian Honors Society Induction. This year, the countdown to the 2026 musical started on April 14. By May 5, the Final Four had been announced: “The Music Man”, “Pippin”, “Shrek the Musical”, and “Matilda the Musical.”
“The Music Man” first hit Broadway in 1957, and has since had a film adaptation in 1962, a television adaptation in 2003, and two Broadway revivals, one in 2000 and the other in 2022. The Musical follows the character Harold Hill as he travels from town to town, putting together boy’s bands for the town’s children to play in. However, he’s the only person selling the instruments and uniforms. And little does the town know, as the “The Music Man” playbill reads, “he doesn’t know a trombone from a treble clef.” This fast-talking traveling salesman’s plans to get the cash and dash out of town are stopped when he falls for the town librarian, Marian. This American classic of marches, ballads, and barbershop quartets has been a family favorite for generations.
However, Lafayette’s likelihood of performing “The Music Man” was low. This is because the School for the Creative and Performing Arts (SCAPA) middle and elementary school, often lovingly referred to as “Baby SCAPA,” had already announced plans to perform “The Music Man” for the 2025-2026 school year. Due to Lafayette’s close ties to SCAPA, this took “The Music Man” outside of most people’s expectations.
The 1972 show “Pippin” is an interesting musical because it is a musical about a musical. The play follows The Players, a group of performers who are telling the story of Pippin. Pippin is the child of a king, and he goes on many adventures of self-discovery. Throughout the play, some of The Players abandon the script, which has many strange consequences. “Pippin” is a little-known gem of a musical, but some knowledgeable fans would love to see Lafayette Theatre perform this show. One such fan, Journalism and English teacher Ms. McPherson, told The Times, “Lafayette is the school that could pull off Pippin.” While “Pippin” was not the most popular option, it’s fun and unique nature would have made it a great choice for Lafayette.
“Shrek the Musical” was easily the most well-known musical in the Final Four of Musical Madness. Based on the 2001 DreamWorks Animation film “Shrek,” this musical rendition first appeared on Broadway in 2008. The show follows the story of Shrek, an Ogre in a storybook world where the infamous Lord Farquaad is pushing all of the fairytale characters out of their realm, and onto Shrek’s land. In an attempt to regain his quiet life, Shrek agrees to go on a quest to find a princess for Lord Farquaad in exchange for him removing the fairytale characters from his swamp. Throughout the musical, he learns how to live and let live, and how to love.
While the “Shrek” movie is quite popular to this day, the musical version was not loved by many Lafayette students. Many people felt as if it was overdone. Some students were passionately against the choice, leading sophomore Lucas Melton, a SCAPA Theatre Major, to say this about “Shrek the Musical”: “Imagine the horror in the auditorium if that’s announced at the [Thespian Honors Society] induction, pure terror, thriller movie screams.” “Shrek the Musical” was also low on many students’ expectations, because Bryan Station High School was finishing up their 2025 production of “Shrek the Musical” as Musical Madness was starting.
The last of the Final Four musicals was “Matilda the Musical.” Roald Dahl’s book “Matilda” was written in 1988, and a movie of the same name based on the book was released in 1996. The musical came to Broadway in April of 2013, following the same story as the book and the movie. The story is about a young girl named Matilda who is astonishingly smart and has learned that she can move things with her mind. It follows her life with cruel parents and a terrible new headmistress who hates children, and how she brings light and laughter into her school. Many students at Lafayette were worried about how they would do a high school production of “Matilda the Musical”, which follows many elementary school students. Sophomore Calynn Logue, who played in the pit orchestra for both shows this year, said, “Can you imagine seniors playing literal British school boys?”
Before the final two musicals were announced, theories abounded. “The Music Man” was mostly counted out, and not many people thought that Ms. Kisling, the Lafayette Theatre teacher, would choose “Matilda the Musical.” While some believed in those two, most guessed that the musical would be either “Pippin” or “Shrek the Musical.” But the final two threw a curveball.
The final two musicals were revealed on Monday, May 12, to be “Matilda the Musical” and “The Music Man,” which weren’t widely expected to win. This came with an announcement from SCAPA that their middle and elementary school show would be changed to “Dr. Dolittle the Musical Jr.” This exciting turn of events surprised many in Lafayette Theatre’s community. Sophomore Esme Morris, a member of the Thespian Honors Society, an honors society for theatre lovers, told The Times, “This is the most stressful Musical Madness, I swear!” That Wednesday, May 14, was the Lafayette Thespian Induction, where new members were welcomed to Lafayette’s chapter of Thespian Honors Society. That night, the 2026 Winter Musical was finally announced to be… drumroll please… “The Music Man.”
Next year’s Winter Musical is sure to be a hit. The comedy and musical numbers of “The Music Man” are sure to leave the audience doubled over in laughter. Prospective auditionees for “The Music Man” should prepare audition music from classic Broadway shows in the 50’s and 60’s, and be ready for lots of comedic acting. Lafayette Theatre lovers get ready, because “The Music Man” is coming to town.
