The Jamestown Post-Journal

FULL ARTICLE: "Premiere Performance Of ‘Cast Party’ Set At CLCS" by Michael Zabrodsky

In the summer of 2019, Davis with support from the CLCS Board of Education and Administration, reached an agreement to have Wachter write a musical for the school’s secondary musical, as well as provide students a peek inside the process so that students are involved from page to stage. A core team of students videoconferenced with Wachter in October 2019 to ‘meet’ the composer and share possible themes and ideas for a show as well as ask questions about his process.

“He (Adam) delivered the script and the music to us at the end of December,” Davis said. “We had arranged that he would come visit with us after learning the songs. We always planned that there would be an interactive piece of his visit, so we opted to do it sooner rather than later, so that would give him a chance to make sure the keys that he’d written songs in the voices of the kids and there were some changes that needed to made.”

Davis said she really liked how all the parts came together.

“He has been great to work with the entire process,” she said. “He is very in tune to the kids’ feedback asking them for questions. A couple (students) approached him about lines that were awkward, so he modified those (lines) and in a couple weeks got changes to us. It was great for him to share his process with us. By the time we had everything ironed out with the agreement, it didn’t leave him much time to write it.”

“Cast Party” is an original musical by composer and lyricist Wachter that celebrates the magic of theater for performers and audiences alike.

WKBW Buffalo (ABC Affiliate)

FULL STORY: "Chautauqua Lake Central School performs original musical" by Jeddy Johnson

It's a musical unlike any you've seen before... and that's not me just being dramatic. Chautauqua Lake Central School actually commissioned someone to write their very own spring musical.

"It's the first time ever that we've decided to invest our entire budget into supporting a musical writer," Secondary Music teacher at Chautauqua Lake Jennifer Davis said.

"Cast Party" was written and composed by Point Park University Professor Adam Wachter, but the show's concept and the final product were inspired by students here at Chautauqua Lake.

"We came up with the idea of having it, like the setting, be in high school," Junior at Chautauqua Lake Raegan Ward said. "And have the cast play people their own age."

So that's exactly what Wachter did. "Cast Party" draws on real life high school experiences and Ward says, that makes the show more relatable.

Jamestown Post-Journal

FULL STORY: "CLCS Commissions Work For Spring Musical"

The Music Department at Chautauqua Lake Secondary School is trying something new this year.

Instead of repeating one of the standard shows performed frequently over the years, the department has commissioned a new work which will receive its debut this spring on the Chautauqua Lake Central School stage.

The idea started in the early spring when musical director Jennifer Davis had the opportunity to meet Brian Usifer, a State University at Fredonia graduate. Usifer, the music director of Disney’s Frozen on Broadway, was visiting SUNY Fredonia as guest conductor of the Fredonia Wind Ensemble. Davis and Usifer discussed their shared passion for musical theatre and music education, which led to the idea of sponsoring a new musical that would not only support a contemporary composer, but provide a once in a lifetime educational experience for students. Usifer introduced Davis to Adam Wachter.