Feature film in the works on Uniondale High School show choir
Sebastian Irizarry, left, Emmanuel Beauge and Joshua Moodie, along with other members of Rhythm of the Knight from Uniondale High School, rehearse in Uniondale for their 2018 performance at a national competition. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Next destination for Lynette Carr-Hicks and her Uniondale High School show choir? A movie theater near you.
A feature film is in the works based on Rhythm of the Knight show choir director Carr-Hicks and the students in the award-winning musical group she’s built. “We’re very excited about it,” says a representative for California-based Amblin Partners, a production company led by Steven Spielberg. “The success of things like ‘Cheer’ on Netflix and ‘Glee’ gives you an idea of how powerful stories can be about young kids finding their voices.”
Carr-Hicks says a contract for the film is with her lawyer; the next steps involve getting a script, casting actors to play the parts and more. The Amblin representative could not give a potential timeline for the project.
Carr-Hicks says she hopes that Angela Bassett, Viola Davis or Taraji P. Henson will play her. “It’s pretty awesome,” Carr-Hicks says of the opportunity to highlight the choir she launched in 2010, which has performed multiple times on the “Today” show and in 2018 won the grand prize at the Show Choir National Finals.
The choir members and their parents are excited about the project. “I think it’s a great honor and she deserves it,” says Jacqueline Campbell, a tax accountant and mom of show choir member Jace Hanson, 16, a junior at the school.
Choir members and alumni will likely have a chance to audition for parts, Carr-Hicks says, though she won’t have any say in whether anyone is hired. Hanson says he plans to give it a shot.
He’s thrilled that Uniondale might be getting more national attention, he says. “It’s Uniondale, it’s not like all the other schools we compete with,” he says. Those schools often have more resources while Uniondale must fundraise to travel to competitions, he says. The show choir's next effort is scheduled for 7 p.m. on March 27 and 28 at the high school, when the group will perform benefit concerts to help them make it to the 2020 Show Choir National Finals in Branson, Missouri.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.
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