by Sam Farrell ’12

Rock ‘n’ Roll is a tradition that has offered student-performed entertainment to the community and created a central identity for Sherwood for 40 years. It provides students with the opportunity to get their own taste of the stress and joy that comes with putting on a show for sold out crowds over the course of two weekends. But this year’s show comes as a more emotional event than previous ones, because this year the Sherwood community will witness the departure of a legend.

Physical education teacher Gene Orndorff will retire at the end of the school year from a career that includes a 31 year involvement in Rock ‘n’ Roll. For a number of these years, he has been the show’s director and tech producer. Not only did Orndorff contribute much moral support to the hundreds, if not thousands, of students he has mentored over his three decades, he also has changed the aesthetic face of Rock ‘n’ Roll, and has contributed multiple ideas that have made the whole show more efficient.

“In 31 years, we made a formula that made things a lot easier around the set,” explained Orndorff. “For a while, it was just student crew only, which gave us limited time to make the set and such. Then, volunteer parents started to help, even after their children graduated, and we were able to form a permanent night crew.”

Rock ‘n’ Roll also has improved in its technological advancements with help from Orndorff. “One of our main goals is not to repeat songs,” said Orndorff. “So now we have a database that stores all the songs we’ve ever performed, so as not to repeat them. If a song is repeated, it has to be at least five years after it was last played in the show.”

Orndorff also helped establish the ability to hold true to the original record by duplicating sound effects and splicing them so they fit the song. “One of the major goals of performing these songs is staying true to the original record. For example, if there is a motorcycle sound playing at the beginning of the song, we will either record or replicate that sound and play it at the beginning, just like it was back on the record,” he said.

Although Orndorff will soon leave Sherwood, his impact will remain for audiences to see in future performances of Rock ‘n’ Roll. “He was the driving force behind the show for 30 years. His creativity, artistic eye and ideas helped shape the show and his tireless work helped us until the end,” said Music Director Bill Evans. “He will be sorely missed. He got everything started and was there when it finished.”

“I will definitely miss it. I’ve done it for 31 years,” said Orndorff. “I got to appreciate all the hidden school talent outside of school. But now I’ll get to appreciate it from afar.”