A banana brought down the house.

Southport Central School's annual Spring Concert at Southport Town Hall Wednesday, May 29 was mostly serious, as a number of songs and recitings were about protecting the Earth, which was the theme of the production. There were a few lighter spots and jokes told but it was a skit about garbage and the importance of recycling which got the entire gathering roaring in laughter.

Fifth grader Ella Watts was part of the garbage skit and the presentation took a bit longer than expected to begin as everyone on stage started laughing while trying to say their lines. Suddenly, Ella lept onto the stage dressed in a banana suit, as she was the main character in the part about recycling and composting. Even Ella broke down in laughter as the fourth, fifth and sixth graders pushed their way through the gut-busting sketch.

"The Earth: Celebration, Connection and Responsibilty," organized by music teacher Jennifer McIvor, featured all of the 21 SCS students, kindergarten through grade six. McIvor played piano and guitar on the songs while the students sang and played various instruments, including trumpets, guitars, clarinets, flutes and recorders.

The Celebration songs included "This Pretty Planet" by Tom Chapin (all students), "Over the Rainbow" by Harold Arlen (K and first grade), and "How Beautiful is the Rain" by Mary Lynn Lightfoot.

The Connection songs included "Father Sky" by Bentz/Tankasila (K-3 and grades 2-3 recorder ensemble) and "Colors of the Wind" from "Pocahontas" by Stephen Swartz and Alan Menken (grades 4-6 choral ensemble).

The Reponsibility songs included "Have to have a Habitat" by Bill Oliver (grades 4-6 and wind ensemble), "Garbage" by Bill Steele (grade 4-6 choral ensemble), "Turn the World Around" by Harry Belafonte and Robert Freedman (grades 4-6 and K-1 boomwhacker ensemble), and "Touch the Sky" by Alex Mandel (student body).

The songs and skits were introduced through a makeshift TV screen by fifth grader Sarah Harris, with "news reporters" Sage Wickline and Brian Abbe, both sixth graders, roaming the stage.

Set design and decor were done by school staff member Eileen Higgins. The decor was paper cutouts of each student's arms and hands holding a paper photo of the Earth and held together with each student's idea to do something positive to help our planet.

The concert lasted about 40 minutes and as the crowd dispersed, students handed out flyers in support of voting for a plan to place solar panels on five of Southport's public buildings. A vote on that is scheduled for June 12.