Hear ye! Hear ye! North hosted its annual Madrigal concert Dec. 9 and 10. 

Seniors Jacob Budd as the king, Emma Rizzo as the queen and Ross Loftus as the jester along with junior Ella Schuler as the wench led the cast.

“The concerts featured the three after school groups: Northern Voices, Bassics and Angelics,” choir director Cristian Larios said. “We are also collaborating with our band program as well.” 

While the event was labeled as a concert, there were many different acts along with the singing. This year the show was titled “Law and Disorder”.

“The kingdom is looking for answers after they discover a crime has occurred,” Larios said. “Through a series of wacky antics and subpar investigating, they come together again to celebrate the holidays.”

The story was told through song, acting, comedy and plenty of holiday fun. The musical performance included traditional madrigals such as “Boars Head Carol”, and plenty of other songs like “Fum Fum Fum” and “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”.

 “I like the theater aspect of the show,” Budd said. “It’s not a concert like other choirs have. There’s acting, there’s a script, there’s even wiggle room for improv. It allows us to have a lot of fun while telling a story.”

The combination of entertainment offered a fresh twist on a usual concert. Madrigals allows for students to highlight all areas of talent.

“I decided to join [Madrigals] because I love music and theater, so it’s the best of both worlds,” Loftus said.

The event has changed from years past and dropped the dinner portion of the  show.  Tickets are now “pay what you can”. All proceeds go to the music department for maintaining and cleaning costumes as well as purchasing sheet music and scripts.

 “I really miss the dinner aspect of the show,” Loftus said.  “It was so much more immersive and personal, but I think the ‘pay what you ca’n tickets is a good idea.”

 Despite the show’s differences from years  past, the audience was composed of loyal fans, friends and family.

“The show is always so fun,” North alum Annalee Heckman said. “This year’s show was such a cool take on a traditional holiday show; the singing was of course beautiful, and the silly crime scene storyline was great.”

For most of the lead cast members, this is their last Madrigal performance.

“I first participated in Madrigals as a server my freshman year,” Rizzo said. “I’m so grateful to be queen this year and be a part of an extremely talented group of people. Everyone has worked so hard these past few months and we’re so excited to perform for an audience.”

Cast members and the directors worked tirelessly behind the scenes to put on the annual show, and their hard work paid off.

“I’d like to thank everyone for coming to see the show,” senior Sovereign Adams said. “I’d also like to thank our amazing directors Mr. Larios and Mr. Mejorada for their hard work to make the show possible.”