The Iowa Thespian Festival allows students from all over the nation a chance to perform and compete with other very talented theater and music students. Students compete at state Thespian Festivals in order to qualify for the International Thespian Festival where, if chosen, they will perform in front of thousands of their peers.

One competition for the International Thespian Festival allows students to submit a soundtrack and script for an original musical. When Michael Banwarth, ‘17, and Eric Leigh, ‘18, learned of this opportunity, they immediately went to work.

First, they had to come up with an idea for their submission. Banwarth said, “Hey, if you have an idea for this, you should tell me.”

So Leigh thought, “I have an idea, so I told him.” Leigh suggested they write a musical about, “a guy being murdered and the suspects being interviewed.”

More specifically, the musical is about a man being murdered, but each interview reveals a new unknown bad side of the suspect. This storyline creates a funny and complex musical. According to Banwarth and Leigh, it took a few days to write and a few class periods to record their work.

Next, they had to record the soundtrack. They got together friends who were up for a fun and incredible challenge. These friends included Abby Burns, ‘18, Aidan Mcsperrin, ‘17, and Lela Udry, ‘17. Each of the characters had a very different backstory and song.

Leigh says, “The most fun was trying to teach complicated lyrics and utterly failing.”

While lots of fun, this process was also very difficult and challenging. Thinking everything was ready to go, Banwarth was alone and calm until he realized that they had forgotten to record one song. So, in order to complete this incredible musical on time, Banwarth had to do all parts of the song alone. This meant that Banwarth was forced to become soprano for the day.

Leigh can confirm one thing though…Banwarth, “was the most beautiful soprano I had ever heard.”

Finally, the musical was finished. Now all they had to do was wait, and that they did. Almost two months later they got the results. They had been selected to go to Internationals along with only seven other musicals from the country! Being selected not only means that they are going to be able to have their musical performed, it also means that Banwarth and Leigh both get to go to Internationals for free!