This winter, Melissa Theatre will debut “Bullets Over Broadway: The Musical” alongside the Melissa High School Jazz Band. While the Melissa Arts Center has been complete since 2021, this will be the first year Melissa Theatre will use live music in their annual musical. There will be four performances Jan. 25-27, and tickets are now available for purchase on the district website.

“Bullets Over Broadway,” a musical written by Woody Allen, tells the story of a failed playwright attempting to make money off his latest work but reluctantly makes a deal with a mob boss. The musical is known as a jukebox musical; it consists of many already existing songs to tell one story.

Since August, the jazz band has been working hard to perfect each song from “Bullets Over Broadway.” The jazz band will play from Band Hall 2, which will function as the remote pit. Their sound will be electronically piped into the MAC live during the show via microphones.

Some jazz band students expressed that they have always found theatre interesting, and now they have the opportunity to merge their talents.

“It allows us to create a bond between those two groups, which lets us see some band kids create friendships with those in theatre; I think that is great,” junior Nathan Rose said.