La Guardia High's School Musical Halted Due to Budget Bust

The New York Times is reporting that the Fiorello H. La Guardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts has postponed its annual musical this fall and is now considering canceling it due to current economic constraints. La Guardia High is best known for being featured as the "FAME" school in film, television and stage, in addition to several touring companies, an Off-Broadway musical based on the motion picture FAME played the Litte Shubert Theatre 2003. 

Their annual musical is perhaps the biggest event of more than a dozen student performances and exhibits put on at La Guardia each year reports The Times. The cost of putting on a musical can reach the very high six figures and during this cycle of belt tightening such an expense is seeming too dear at this time.

An Education Department spokeswoman told the paper that the school was still considering having a musical in the spring if students and parents could raise enough money. The spokeswoman emphasized that the musical was only one activity at a school that offers many arts, music and dance classes as part of its core curriculum, in addition to many advanced academic classes.

Last year the school produced a production of "City of Angels." For 2006 the muscial was "Ragtime." In 2005, the students put on "Hair," and in 2004 the classic "West Side Story."

To read the entire New York Times article click here.