Cornwall students take part in Grumbling Gryphons show

CORNWALL — The Grumbling Gryphons Traveling Children’s Theater transformed the gymnasium of Cornwall Consolidated School into an underwater wonderland Tuesday, June 3.

The troupe performed “The Ghost Net: An Environmental Musical of the Sea” with participation from students in all grades and a few teachers.

The 10-scene musical takes the audience on a journey from land to sea showing the impact of pollution on marine habitats. A girl, Marina, saves wildlife as she is guided underwater by a horseshoe crab with a broken tail, a sea turtle who swallowed plastic, a seagull with a tangled wing, an oil-soaked duck and others. Ultimately, she helps defeat the evil Ghost Net and save her friends.

Students played different roles by grade.

Kindergarten and 1st-graders played clams avoiding a hungry starfish.

2nd- and 3rd-graders played the minnows in a school of fish.

4th- and 5th-graders were tropical fish at a coral reef party.

6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders played trash creatures in the “Slimy Sludge Rap.”

Director Leslie Elias and cast fielded questions from students after the show, like “What is that thing in your pocket?”

“Wireless microphones,” Elias explained.