Video: The First Musical at the New Burlington High School

https://youtu.be/ImKuD1fFvI8?si=5QDqK194jXT-_E9w

The past six years were bumpy ones for the students and staff of Burlington High School. In 2020, the pandemic shifted students to remote learning. Later that fall, the New North End campus closed due to PCB contamination, and BHS moved into a former Macy’s department store downtown.

The high-school-in-a-mall story went viral, capturing attention around the world. Downtown Burlington High School was windowless and noisy, and some students struggled to adapt. Finally, this past August, students returned to a brand-new, 256,000-square-foot, $204 million building on the site of the old BHS.

This month, the BHS Drama Club stages its first musical in the state-of-the-art auditorium. Guys and Dolls, which runs November 19 through 21, represents an exciting new chapter for the club, which has built an impressive legacy over the past 30 years but faced a change in leadership and dwindling participation during the mall years. Now, BHS alumnus Peter Bowley is bringing fresh life to the program as the drama director. When he was a student at the old BHS, Bowley was featured in a 2013 “Stuck in Vermont” video.

In the latest episode of “Stuck in Vermont,” Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger got a tour of the new school and watched a rehearsal of Guys and Dolls.