As the curtain rises one final time, this musical carries a deeper meaning–a heartfelt farewell from the seniors and from Mrs. Tracy Clark, the beloved director who has shaped Grand Ledge High School’s (GLHS) theater tradition for years. The musical Spelling Bee is the final musical for the 2025-2026 seniors, and Clark performed on March 13th through the 15th.
Clark has been teaching at GLHS for 25 years and has been in the musical program since 2013. During her 13 years of directing and choreographing, she directed 24 shows and graduated many seniors from the musical program, including her daughter. Clark has decided that it is time to retire from GLHS and let someone else take over her spot.
“Every year we graduate kids, then there’s more amazing kids coming,” Clark said.
One person graduating this year in the musical program is Bailea Benjamin. Benjamin has been in the musical program since her sophomore year. She joined because of her love for singing and dancing. In this latest musical, Benjamin played Olive Ostrovsky. She is a young girl who is innocent and weird.
“It was cool to be able to see myself and characters that were very different from me and my life. So, like, when you’re that character, you kind of look into the backstory of that character and stuff,” Benjamin said.
Many memories are made during the production of musicals. Musicals are special because you are close to everyone around you; there are fewer than 100 people in each production, especially in the past musical, which had fewer than 40 people in the whole cast.
“It was just a really special show, and we ended up with a really, like, a tight-knit group of people. I think being a smaller cast, let us get a lot closer to it,” Benjamin said.
A junior at GLHS, Logan Hansbarger, watches as his senior friends and musical director leave, and he looks towards the unknown.
“It’s definitely frightening, but I try to stay optimistic about it, because I know that we’ve set up, like, we’re set up for a really good program,” Hansbarger said.
He joined theater during his sophomore year. He performed in the latest musical as Dan Dad, one of the two fathers of Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere. Watching his senior friends perform their final show brings in many emotions as he knows they will be leaving, and he will be stepping up to his final year at GLHS.
“It made me feel like a dad. I was just so proud of them, watching them perform for the last time, like, it definitely made me sad, but at the same time, it was like, happy tears, because I was so proud of them, and I knew, like, when they graduate, they’re gonna do such beautiful things,” Hansbarger said.
To the future musical director, to the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors, and to those worried about the loss or unknown of future musicals: everything will be ok. Lives are transformed from the musical program on and off stage. With the legacy of Clark and the seniors, the story continues.
“You go through different things with different groups, and therefore, you have different impacts on your life,” Clark said.
