Members of the cast of Mars Area High School's production of “Mamma Mia!”, from left, Meredith Gaura, Emily Mayer and Ellie Howell. The high school revisited the musical after it was canceled a week before opening last year.

The show must go on.

But given current crowd limits and social-distancing rules, high school musicals may be presented in slightly different forms this spring.

For example,Mars Area High School students presented “Mamma Mia!” Friday and Saturday and will present it again at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the auditorium.Audiences for the first performances were limited to family of the cast and crew, said Josh Schwoebel, director of communications for the school district.And the audience was restricted to 10% of the seats normally available, or 76, he said.“They had to recast some of the cast members,” Schwoebel said. “But the production was canceled last year a week before opening night.”Because of that, the “Mamma Mia!” sets still were available, and chorus students who provide the bulk of the cast kept rehearsing the show's songs.“It was sort of last minute,” Schwoebel said about the musical production this year. “We were shut down from Thanksgiving to Christmas, and they wanted to do it as quickly as possible in case we got shut down again.”He said the cast rehearsed and performed wearing clear performance masks.The high school will decide if tickets will be made available to the public for this week's performances.

Freeport Area High School is producing “13.”The original performance dates were to be in April, but the school is considering moving the performance to May.The musical will be performed in the middle-school auditorium, or the school is making a plan to perhaps perform at the Syria Mosque's outdoor pavilion.

Grove City High School is planning to livestream performances of “The Theory of Relativity” at 7 p.m. April 8, 9 and 10.Information on ticket reservations and how to watch the livestream will be available at a later date, according to the school.Tickets to attend a live performance will be available only to invited guests.If COVID-19 mitigation requirements should make livestream performances impossible, the school will release a prerecorded version of the show at a date and time to be determined.

Karns City is producing the new pop musical, “Cyrano de Burger Shack,” on March 4, 5 and 6.The school will allow a few people in the auditorium for live performances, at 10% of capacity, and will stream the show through a company called Broadway On Demand.

Knoch High School is taking a different approach to its production of “Beehive the '60s Musical: School Edition,” said its director Jen Bronder.“Right now, we are rehearsing, and we are going to be filming the musical in stages,” Bronder said.Filming will begin Feb. 20 and continue through April on both the high school stage and on location.Bronder said Knoch has a small recording studio, where the pit orchestra will record musical tracks, followed by solo vocalists and chorus tracks.Students will mix the tracks, student cameramen will photograph the cast singing to the musical tracks, and the filmed musical should be available for streaming through Showtix4U.com on or after April 17, Bronder said.The 40 cast members, nine pit orchestra members, 10-member stage crew and 10-member film crew are observing strict COVID-19 procedures.

Portersville Christian School will stage “You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at 7 p.m. April 30 and May 1.Audiences will be limited, but the school plans to livestream the show both nights.

Also going live instead of livestreaming is Seneca Valley High School, which will stage a musical version of Shakespeare's “Twelfth Night” at 7:30 p.m. June 3, 4 and 5 and at 2 p.m. June 5 and 6 at the Cranberry Park Amphitheater.Tickets won't go on sale until April.

Other schools have also announced plans.Because of the pandemic, Butler High School has scrapped plans for a musical in 2021.Allegheny-Clarion Valley High School will not make a decision about staging a musical until March. If it decides to go ahead with one, any performances won't be until May.Slippery Rock Area High School is planning to have a musical sometime in May. Dates are not secured, and the school will livestream its production.Union and Moniteau high schools' musical plans are uncertain.

“Mamma Mia!” cast members at Mars Area High School, from left, Meredith Gaura and Emily Mayer rehearse while wearing special clear performance masks.