And, this is exactly why St Catherine’s Catholic College drama teacher, Lisa Hall, opted to stage the feel-good musical based on the iconic Paramount Pictures television series.

The popular sitcom portrays the life and times of a quintessential American family in the 1950’s – the Cunninghams. But it was the character who lived above their garage that stole the show; the insuppressible king of cool,  Arthur ‘The Fonz’ Fonzarelli.  Ms Hall says the story line is superior to Grease and is set to entertain as she has plenty of strong male vocal leads at her disposal to tackle the challenging production. Without giving too much away, she reveals Broadway All-Star, Byron Fletcher, is set to channel the Fonz, while Noah Godschalk is playing Richie Cunningham. Happy Days is a welcome departure from the last musical they staged in 2015. “This is a real feel-good production compared to Bats,” she explains. “For me the process of bringing it to the stage has reinforced how complicated our lives have become compared to the simplicity of that era.” However, the musical score is far from simple. Musical director, Dominique Smith, would like to acknowledge the efforts of her inexperienced young charges. She explains that most of the band members have never done this before but have really stepped up.  The family friendly musical will have you rockin’ and rollin’ all day long and opens on Thursday with a matinee at 11am followed by an evening show at 7pm and they will take to the stage again on Friday night at 7pm. It is being held at the Civic Centre and tickets can be purchased at the door or online at https://www.trybooking.com/book/event?eid=329819

Choreographer, Sarah Purnell, says they would like to thank SATS, Tony Fletcher, Deb Thomas, Natalie Maxwell, and Sarah Manthey.