The latest musical to launch at Marco Island Academy is on the rise, Torch: A Musical Tale, written and directed by Christopher Dayett, will be landing on the premises around April of 2025. This musical specifically resonated with Dayett as the character and overall aesthetic is unique and created by himself. A student at MIA, Lauren Riley, interviewed Dayett about Torch and his thoughts and background has been expressed thoroughly.
To begin with, Dayett’s background in theatre originated from when he was in middle school. Ever since he began with a Shakespeare play in middle school, he has found the true beauty and entertainment within the world of theatre. He has taught music and theatre in his past at a kindergarten level school and later developed a hit original musical, Dorian Gray, while attending Villanova University. Dayett then sent the musical in for the New York Musical Festival, and it went all the way to Broadway officially. With all of his accomplishments, MIA is truly fortunate to have him as our theatre and other arts teacher.
He understands that there is a stigma attached to the art, and encourages those to see past it. Apart from playmaking and acting in itself, as a teacher there are other classes to take such as production, design, and marketing that may teach you how to sew, marketing aspects, etc. He understands that not everyone may enjoy performing but you can still learn a lot from the world of theatre in itself.
Fast forward to Torch: A Musical Tale’s creation, Dayett had seen the Tangled Cruise Ship Musical in August of 2020 and the set inspired him to take similar aspects and apply it to his own. The structure of the story would flow well with the appearance of parts of the set. Around New Years Eve/New Year’s Day 2020-2021 he wrote the first song ever for the show which really influenced the rest of the musical and motivated him to continue the story. Despite having some trouble during the summer with writing the music he was fluent in storytelling and eventually got a hang of it with the help of some of his friends. The talent featured includes Ms. Pisculli’s ability to design parts of the set with her fiance designing the costumes. Dr. Lombardi will also be helping with incorporating choreography to the musical in itself.
Torch: A Musical Tale will be very unique and not look like your typical musical. Meaning that most of the main characters typically are seen with a song, but in this musical it is not like that. The ensemble is also in multiple big songs and dances. It just so happens when he put the musical together that most of the main characters don’t have a song. However, it all works out because some students who may audition usually say that they don’t want to do the musical since they don’t want to sing or have a solo of sorts. Dayett thought about it and said, “this might actually work”.
In total, the story gives a chance for many to understand and learn it thoroughly. Getting students excited about this musical is exactly what we need, since this will be a hit musical at MIA. Let’s create history Rays!
