Spooktacular returns to the stage

Oct. 25—The annual Permian High School Orchestra Halloween show Spooktacular is back.

The show is set for 6:30 p.m. Oct. 28 at the West Texas Event Center at the MCM Fun Dome.

Tickets are $12 and you can buy them after school in the orchestra room at Permian.

About 150 students from all four orchestras — philharmonic, freshmen, symphony and Satin Strings — will perform. The theme is the 80s, Director Todd Berridge said.

"We're going to be pulling some movie music themes. We're going to be doing some old rock and roll themes. The symphony is doing 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' Our philharmonic group is doing Michael Jackson's thriller and doing Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing.' Our freshmen are going to be pulling out the seminal '80s hit 'Sweet Child o' Mine by Guns and Roses. Satin Strings is going to be doing some AC/DC ..."

There will also be some games in between, like "The Price is Right."

"It's going to be kind of like a big circus atmosphere," Berridge said.

This is the 20th year for Spooktacular, but the 19th because they missed last year due to COVID.

"The kids are so looking forward to it because they get to dress up. We had opportunities last year to perform and do musical things, but this year it's been so much more fun to get them together and be able to get them out into the public and work on this music. It's just been a blessing," Berridge said.

He added that he will be joining in on the guitar.

The event also is a fundraiser and he hopes to raise $15,000 total.

Music from the 80s is often made fun of, but Berridge said it's difficult to play because of the syncopated rhythms and the vocalized rhythms that the students aren't used to.

"In classical music, it's more straight forward. This is pop music, so it's a very vocalized style. ... It's a great teaching base because they're actually being taught how to play the difficult things; the difficult syncopated rhythms and that's going to carry them so much further into the future."

Berridge said their contest music will look easy after that.

He added that he's happy this won't be a virtual performance.

"This is going to be fun. I'm just so happy to have this back ...," he added.

Berridge credited the fine arts department downtown for advocating for the orchestra to perform Spooktacular.

Paula Garcia, a 17-year-old senior viola player, Swetha Kesavan, a 17-year-old senior violin player, and Iris Rizo, an 18-year-old senior cello player, are all looking forward to the concert.

"I'm very excited about Spooktacular," Garcia said. "I think it's one of the main events of our orchestra and it's really exciting to come together as a full orchestra and hear all the orchestras playing. It's really fun and really exciting."

Kesavan said she has always loved Spooktacular and it's even more important this year because they are seniors.

Garcia noted that the parents will be able to see all the hard work and effort that went into the performance.

Asked whether they were unsure if they would get to perform, Garcia said a lot of them knew that Berridge would try his hardest to make it happen.

"... He knew we all missed it and he missed it as well," Garcia said.

Berridge said it would give the students some normalcy because they have not performed like this in a couple of years.

"This is our primer for the year as far as getting used to rehearsals, getting used to performing and it's also fun because you can't do 'Thriller' at contest," Berridge added.