This fall season the High School Marching Band was busy bringing their show Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt to life. The marching band season begins in August with an intensive week of training where students learn the basics of how to march and play their show. After this week of training, students rehearse three times a week from August to November. Each year the marching band rehearses for over 150 hours to put their production on the field
This year's show featured music from the Prince of Egypt, Gladiator, and Beyonce. Soloists Andrew Fleischmann, Cooper Ten Eyck, Ben Baldini, Roman Spivak, and Jacob Dancey helped bring the music to life and received great praise from audiences and judges throughout the season.
Visually, the show featured a large pyramid prop and colorful stage. Color guard soloists Peyton Castillo, Meghan Anderson, and Emma Zimmerman played Cleopatra while drum major Ryan Gillogly played the role of Marc Antony. Throughout the show we see Cleopatra's rise to power, conflict with Rome, romance with Marc Antony, and eventual dramatic death.
While locals may have seen the show performed in part at football games, the band performed all around New England against bands in the USBands and NESBA competitive circuits. During the regular season, Mansfield High School earned first place twice in NESBA and put up some of its highest scores ever in USBands.
This past Saturday, the marching band traveled to Metlife stadium to compete in USBands National Championships. They were in a highly competitive division and scored an 87.25; their highest score in the last four years. On Sunday, the band returned to Massachusetts to compete in New England Scholastic Band Association championships where they placed second with a score of 92.75 and earned best visual performance.
While their competitive season has come to a close, you can still see the marching band perform at football games and town parades throughout the year. Be sure to cheer on the winter color guard, winter percussion, and concert band as they compete this winter and spring!