‘Anything Goes’ on New Kent High School stage Dec. 5-7

The fifth collaborative stage endeavor linking students at New Kent High School with those attending Kent, England’s Astor College for the Arts runs this Thursday through Saturday.

Performances of the Cole Porter musical “Anything Goes” take place on the New Kent High School auditorium stage at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday (Dec. 5-7). Tickets are $5 for students with a valid ID and $7 in advance for adults. Adult tickets are $10 at the door.

The New Kent-Astor partnership began in 2005 with a production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and has continued every other year since. In 2007, the effort renewed with “West Side Story” followed by “Sweeney Todd” in 2009 and “Cabaret” in 2011. Since the partnership’s inception, New Kent teacher Susan Musselman has served as executive producer on this side of the Atlantic while Christopher Russell, headmaster at Astor, functioned likewise in the UK.

“All five productions have been very difficult and challenging for students for a variety of reasons and raises the bar for [students’] performances,” Russell told New Kent School Board members during the board’s Monday night meeting.

Six performances of “Anything Goes” have already taken place in the UK and have been deemed “a huge success,” he added.

The partnership, Russell said, provides students with the experience of working within a theater company and bridges a cultural gap between countries.

“Hundreds of our youngsters have enjoyed and developed through this arts program,” he told board members. “This is preparing our young people for life as global citizens and in a global economy. It is important for character building and understanding what life is like.”

In other business, the board approved adding several new credit courses to the list of electives at the high school, effective for the 2014-15 school year.

The courses, which carry one credit each, are English College Seminar/Capstone Course, Dual Enrollment College Algebra, Introduction to Marketing, Sports and Entertainment Marketing, Guitar I, and Guitar II. All are designated as “honors” courses rather than “advanced.”