The long-awaited return of a beloved St. Louis U. High tradition—Senior Follies—was set in motion this past weekend. Instead of an extravagant performance in the theater for the whole school, the Follies were filmed and will come out in a video format for students to watch.

“This is a different format, but what they have been in the past are usually two live shows,” said Follies Director Daniel Becvar. “So the seniors that are involved in Follies, they'll perform some skits that they come up with.”

Senior Follies features jokes and playfully mocks teachers and events that have taken place over the school year. The show usually includes short skits and singing, dancing, and ballet numbers. However playful in nature, the entire show is scripted, choreographed, and professionally produced.

This year’s Follies will take place in a virtual format, giving new opportunities for sketches. Outside of the confines of the Schulte Theater, seniors were able to film sketches that more resembled this year’s Gadfly TV. In fact, two of the leading seniors to perform in Follies, Eric Richars and Lenny Madalon, have also been seen as Gadfly stars this year.

“We’re big involved in Gadfly and I just enjoy making videos,” said Madalon. “Since the Follies format is in video format, it's kind of cool that we can write around sketches and then act them out.”

“I went to St Gabriel the Archangel for grade school, and I had eighth grade Follies, which was a really fun experience for me, so I figured why not do it again?” said Richars.

In such a tumultuous year, fewer seniors than usual were interested in performing in Follies. This opened up the opportunity, however, for the seniors involved to act in more roles and be more central to the process of making the Follies. In addition to the actors, there were students who sang, danced, and helped film and edit. 

“We do have fewer sketches, but despite the small amount, I think editing will bring a whole new experience to it,” said Richars.

The Senior Follies are set to be about 25-30 minutes long, shorter than a typical Follies performance. The video will air first to the seniors at their graduation practice on May 28, then to the rest of the school at a later date.

“I'm glad I was involved in carrying on the tradition and hopefully more guys will be into it next year,” said Madalon.