The new year at Whitefish Bay High School kicks in with the winter musical, something several students hold dear to their hearts. 

This year, the musical is called WORKING, and will have a cast of around 55 people, which is very small in comparison to past years. However, the cast isn’t the only area creating questions. 

The most questionable area of the musical is the pit. 

The usual pit consists of both string and wind instruments, usually in a smaller space. Theater director Amber Kind-Keppel announced that there is still a plan to have a pit, but they haven’t decided where they will actually play. The two main options Kind-Keppel brought up were the pit playing in the band room, with speakers in the auditorium capturing their sound, or in the back of the auditorium, to have more space.

Not only is spacing a concern but so is instrumentation. String instruments and orchestra specifically has been able to play since the first day of school. Band, however, had to wait for all their PPE equipment, like bags and opening covers, to prevent the spread of droplets. There is always an option to make the pit more string and percussion-based, but doing so does lose some of the sound brass and woodwinds give to the music.

Freshman Ella Smullen, who participated in last year’s Beauty and the Beast pit, as an eighth-grader said she loved “being in the pit orchestra [and it] was a lot of fun and a great experience.” She continued, “Playing the beautiful music…with other musicians was extremely rewarding and I hope to be able to do that again.” Despite the crazy circumstances, it’s safe to say everyone is hopeful there will be a somewhat ‘normal’ pit this year for the winter musical.