by Olive Redd, '25

A show packed full of glitter, incredible makeup, and loads of drag queens danced and sang its way across the SHS stage in the first week of December. The Highlander Theatre Company’s (HTC) talented performing arts team performed the musical Kinky Boots and astonished audiences over four shows in three days. 

SHS students, alumnus, family, and friends attended this year’s shows, packing the auditorium, engrossed in the remarkable story of a failing shoe factory that rebrands itself to create lovely performing shoes for the drag queens of Northamptonshire, England in time for Milan shoe fashion week. 

The show featured returning actors as well as some new faces, creating what many members of the  HTC call one of the most tight knit communities at SHS. The show encapsulated all that the HTC does, from incredible costume work to dedicated actors work in embedding themselves in their characters. The show was magical, with glittery shoes and incredible songs, quite deserving of its praise.

According to junior actors Alice Hunter and Eclipse, this show felt like a full circle moment for them. As participants in numerous shows since their freshmen year, Kinky Boots brought new life and energy, and drew in new faces to further the large ambitions of the HTC. 

Hunter and Eclipse and all the actors also deeply encourage staff and students to continue their support of the theatre group. These individuals time and time again put on showstopping productions. 

The SHS community extends sincere congratulations and a big thank you to the HTC for their continued excellence. Please give friends and classmates who acted, made costumes, did makeup, built sets, organized, and/or worked behind the scenes an extensive thank you for their hard work.

Marta Miekkelsen, 2027

     Taylor Swift has been in the news a lot lately because of her love life, career, and not least The Eras Tour, which is still going on and will be in Europe next year. Swift has dominated headlines with the new movie she released, her re-recording of her album 1989, and of course her love life with Kansas City Chiefs football player Travis Kelce.

Her new movie, titled Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, is a live recording of her Los Angeles performance. Swift made the movie for those who could not afford tickets to her concerts, but also for people who did not get a ticket because it is so popular and so many people wanted to go. The movie has made about $100 million so far, but it is set to make a lot more due to its popularity.

But that is not the only thing that Taylor Swift has been working on. The album 1989 (Taylor's Version) was released on Friday, October 27. 1989 was the fifth album she released in her career and is now the fourth album she has rerecorded and rereleased.

She is doing this because when she signed with a music producing company at the start of her career, the contract said that it was the company that owned all the music she produced with them, so she did not own her own songs or albums. The company could then sell the songs to whoever they wanted, and Taylor Swift could not do anything about it. Now that she is rerecording all the songs she made with this company, she fully owns the new versions of her songs.

As for her love life, she and Travis Kelce are now dating, although neither of them has made a formal announcement about it. They have been spotted together many times, and she has been to many of Travis Kelce's football games with his mom. Travis Kelce is 34 years old and is a professional football player. He plays tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs.

This reviewer gives the movie a rating of 6 out of 7 hills.