At center stage on the front page of Saturday’s Seattle Times was an article on big budget local high school musicals. Many local drama departments are going all out, licensing Broadway shows whose royalty fees alone exceed the budget of most high school productions. Ticket sales and donations make up the bulk of these ambituous shows’ costs which run $25,000 and up to $90,000 (Bishop Blanchet High’s “Barnum”). Elaborate sets are constructed, costumes custom-made or rented, fight choreographers hired. Pros (aka “ringers”) are even hired to plump up the pit orchestra. The kids of course have a magnificent experience, but I wonder if they’d be better off learning how to gather the forces needed to put a play on in a barn.