RANKED A Musical-High School Pressures Combust amid COVID Memorialized

The pressures placed upon high school students for getting good grades to get into good colleges, these are the times that try teens' souls.  Hey, let's put on a show of our trials and tribulations.  David Gomes, composer, and Kyle Holmes, (G&H) theater director at Granite Bay High School in CA, decided to turn  student's concerns into a concert shedding light on the insurmountable pressures felt by teens to achieve academic success.  Students were interviewed by G&H and much of the dialogue was lifted directly from their conversations and writings.  RANKED is a doc. of the making of the musical at Granite Bay H.S. but it achieves much more.  The camera follows students through their junior/senior years to graduation and several months post-graduation.  Several students are featured not only from Granite Bay but other schools throughout the country that optioned the rights to perform RANKED.  The camera closes in on faculty and close family members.  What's captured is a refreshing angle on young people who care not only about their futures but each also other and the supportive adults committed to obtaining the best opportunities for them.   While feeling the burdens of grades and schoolwork, the overriding sense of camaraderie and youthful exuberance is prevalent and up-lifting.  And, just when the students thought it safe to go back on stage, COVID caused a national lockdown marking 2020, one for the record books.   Ingenuity, humor and artistic fervor surmount obstacles caused by forced separation and isolation.  Videos of the students sharing their feelings during lockdowns should be treasured in time capsules for posterity.  Their struggles with boredom and navigating online learning are candidly charming.  These students worked hard to graduate but were robbed of the rights of passage that come with senior years in high schools.  Fordham School principal was teary eyed when acknowledging the class did not receive year they deserved.  The students irrepressible attitudes prevailed.  They reveled in their accomplishments with pragmatism, good cheer and gratitude.  They were sad they were unable to thank their teachers in person.  The doc. filmed the derailment of RANKED being staged for Broadway due to COVID.  The Broadway auditions were fun to watch but not nearly as poignant or rewarding as watching students auditioning for the show and colleges online.   RANKED soars when the camera captures the students performing and really hits its stride when sharing the student's unabashed moments of pride.