The program dates to the 1970s under direction of teacher Alice Timothy, followed by Susan Palmeri. The baton was handed in the 1980s to Jim Di Benedetto ’71, in addition to his football coaching duties. At that point, he had never seen a Broadway show.

Gradually he grew the program, generated new funding, and attracted a following. Before long, he recalls, “A huge amount of talent started coming into the building.”

After stints by teachers Geraldine LaPierre and Cory Fischer,  Di Benedetto’s old role is now filled by two of his proteges: theater director Edwin Velazquez ’90, and band leader DeShawn Withers ’00.  Today, some 600 students – roughly one in ten Technites – take part. Students from all 18 majors participate – as performers, set designers and builders, and stage crew. There are multiple choral recitals, concerts by bands and four levels of orchestra, plays, and musicals – Sweeney Todd, Hairspray, A Midsummer’s Night Dream and Clue among past productions. The chorus has performed at Carnegie Hall.

It all unfolds on a recently upgraded stage and orchestra pit in the iconic auditorium, gleaming after a recent renovation that upgraded the sound system. Stepping onstage in a professional-level setting, students say, motivates them to outdo themselves. Many of  them have gone on to success as actors, singers, musicians, and technicians.

Professional singer and music teacher Cindy Hospedales ’02, a graduate of the chorus and two musicals, says she learned “a high standard of excellence in approaching music that sticks with me to this day.” Former TV news reporter Jeanine Ramirez ’88, a star of Bye Bye Birdie in 1986, says, “Being on stage in that grand auditorium taught me how to command presence.”

To thrive in a large school like Tech, students need to find a niche. The program is that home for many. “We’re like a small family,” band leader Withers says.

But the program benefits the entire school, and not just from the enjoyment of the performances. Middle school students are invited to attend performances, in hopes some will be dazzled and take the admissions test. Velazquez says the program’s prominence “says something about how we are a well-rounded school. There’s something for everyone.”

And Vaishnavi, the violin-playing mechatronics major, is reaping a benefit from choosing Tech’s engineering-music combo: her offstage, in-classroom performance earned her a software development internship for a major global consulting firm. “It’s a job I would not have gotten from another high school,” she says.