Previous Posts
NOVEMBER 2009
– News of guests and master classes ... Remembering EVITA ... SEE ROCK CITY…. Student
Projects... and more…
Frank
Loesser wrote a classic song of the World War II years called “Spring Will Be a
Little Late This Year” and I thought that a good title for this month’s entry
would be “November Will be a Little Late This Year”! Though I intend to update this column at the
first of every month during the school year, keeping up with the activities of
80 undergraduates, along with classes and administrative work, doesn’t allow me
the flexibility in my schedule that I wish I had!
Our
fall production of EVITA in the Mendelssohn Theatre was a sell-out success. The show was in such demand, in fact, that
even the final dress rehearsal was nearly
sold out! You can see credits and production pictures by
visiting the site.
GRADUATES IN
Many
graduates have performed in Detroit this fall, and all have been able to visit
Ann Arbor. Cortney Wolfson and Alex Puette
were at the Fisher Theatre in the national tour of LEGALLY BLONDE. Jimmy Ludwig was at the Fox in the new musical
101 DALMATIONS directed by Jerry Zaks. And the national tour of LITTLE HOUSE ON THE
PRAIRIE is playing at the Fisher Theatre in December with no fewer than 4 UM
graduates: Kate Loprest, Lizzie
Klemperer, Jessica Hershberg, and Garen McRoberts.
AND IN
I
want to give special mention to the Broadway-bound new musical THE ADDAMS
FAMILY with a score by UM graduate Andrew Lippa, starring Nathan Lane and Bebe
Neuwirth. The show opens in Chicago on
December 9th at the Oriental Theatre. Fittingly, it began previews in November on
Friday the 13th! For more
information, click here.
And
for a feature story about Andrew and THE ADDAMS FAMILY, written by Bryan
Langlitz, a 2009 MT graduate, for the current issue of the Michigan Muse, click here.
AND ALL THE
PLACES IN BETWEEN…..
VISITORS TO
CAMPUS
This
has been a busy fall season for us, with numerous guests here on campus to speak
at labs, work with students in classes, or teach master classes. Highlights include the following:
Alan
Eisenberg,
the former Executive Director of Actors’ Equity (and a Michigan graduate!), and
John Connelly, the current Executive Director of Actors’ Equity,
Michael
Kirsten,
an agent with the Harden-Curtis Agency in New York City.
Jimmy
Ludwig
(mentioned above).
Lauren
Kennedy,
who was in the area to give 3 concerts in Kalamazoo, with music direction and
accompaniment by faculty member Catherine Walker Adams.
Brad
Alexander,
composer of SEE ROCK CITY (see below).
Mark
Esposito,
who choreographed EVITA.
And
last (but certainly not least!), Patti LuPone, who had a special
question-and-answer session with the MT senior class, sponsored by Bob and
Pearson Macek, and Ken Fischer, President of the University Musical
Society. Patti was in town for a concert
with pianist Joe Thalkin in Hill Auditorium and of course, all of the students
attended and were a very vocal audience!
She was actually here for an earlier concert many years ago, also in
Hill, and afterwards, she performed a memorable rendition of “Meadowlark” for a
select group of students at a private reception (a picture of her and the
students is included in the souvenir book from the Anniversary Concert). For a picture of Patti with the current
senior class, visit the photos section of this website.
A
WORD ABOUT THESE GUESTS: All of us,
students and faculty alike, are deeply grateful to the Friends of Musical
Theatre for making the visits by these guests possible. The contributions of this group truly
transform the educational opportunities we are able to give our students. (If any of you would like to know more about
the Friends, or to join the group, please contact Anna Sampson at asamps@umich.edu ).
SEE ROCK CITY: DECEMBER 10 - 13
Our
studio production in the Arthur Miller Theatre is the new musical SEE ROCK CITY
AND OTHER DESTINATIONS by Brad Alexander and Adam Mathias. The show is actually 6 short one-act
musicals, all taking place at different tourist locations. Though these stories seem unrelated at first
glance, they are all united by theme. ROCK CITY has been in development for several
years, winning two prestigious awards for new works: the Richard Rodgers Award and
the Jerry Bock Award.
How’s
this for a new approach to a production (even in 25 years, it’s one I’ve never
tried before): Because ROCK CITY is
largely 2 and 3-character scenes, and because of the extraordinary level of
talent within the Department, the production has been cast with two complete
sets of actors. The show is not ‘double
cast’ in the traditional sense. Both
casts have rehearsed independently (we call them the MAIZE and the BLUE casts!),
and until the final two performances, neither cast will have seen the work of
the other. Character interpretations and
staging choices are somewhat different in each production. My goal has been to give as many students an
opportunity as possible. ROCK CITY
originally called for a cast of 7, utilizing considerable doubling of the
roles. With the two casts and no
doubling, along with the addition of a 6-member ensemble, the Michigan
production has a cast of 32! None of the
students in ROCK CITY were in the cast of EVITA, so between the two productions
this fall, the vast majority of students has been active, to say the
least! (When Brad Alexander arrived to
speak with the cast and saw 32 student students ready to go, I’m sure he
thought that I had visions of becoming the next Cecil B. DeMille!)
For
any of you in the area, we’d love for you to see the show. It plays in the Arthur Miller Theatre from
December 10 – 13, with each cast featured in 3 performances. For information about specific times and
tickets, call the box office at 734-764-2538,
STUDENT
PROJECTS
With
80 ambitious and enterprising students in the Department, the number of
projects they undertake in one semester is truly astounding. A few highlights of the fall include:
*The
fall semester MUSKET production of HAIR, produced in the Power Center and
featuring many MT majors.
*An
original musical in Basement Arts with a score by juniors A.J. Holmes and
Carlos Valdez, and an enormous Facebook following.
*The
classic musical OKLAHOMA! at
A REMINDER
FROM LAST MONTH WHICH IS WORTH REPEATING
As we continue to welcome extremely talented students to the campus every year, the Department’s ability to attract the best students in the nation is largely due to our reputation. We don’t advertise, we don’t visit high schools throughout the country, and we don’t actively recruit ---not because we don’t want to, but because of the limited time of our faculty. (As you surely remember, it’s everything we can do to keep up with the 80 students who are here!) However, despite our limited interaction with high school students, you can help us. Every time you mention Michigan in a bio, especially in production playbills and in interviews, it’s gold in the bank for us. Prospective students scour these sources, and repeatedly tell us that their interest in our Department solidified when they learned of the activities of our graduates. PLEASE continue to keep Michigan in your bios. If ‘Graduate, University of Michigan Musical Theatre Department’ is too long for a bio (which I hear repeatedly), all you need to say is ‘BFA Michigan,’ and the message still works. This insures that the legacy you helped to create will stay strong for generations to come.
_______________________________________________________
OCTOBER
2009 – The New Freshman Class ... Fall Production of EVITA ... 1st Tim
Millett Scholarship Recipient... Anniversary Concert Souvenir Book is
Still Available... and more…
Welcome to the launching of the MT Department Alumni Website. My
monthly column will feature news of our Department, written
specifically to keep the graduates informed about current activities at
the school. I’ll include updates about our productions, labs, guests, and events ---- anything that I think will be of interest. As the website continues to develop, if you’d like to share thoughts on anything you see here, I’d love to hear from you. As we say in classes, this is most definitely a ‘work in progress’! Let me express my gratitude to Marisa Meyer for initiating this inspired idea and for the great website design. If you have performance dates you’d like to add to the calendar, please feel free to contact Marisa at info@uofmmt.com
Announcing the New Freshmen Class
In early September we welcomed the arrival of 10 men and 10 women who will begin their 4-year
EVITA
Our fall production in the Mendelssohn Theatre is EVITA, playing October 15, 16, 17 and 18. Autumn is the perfect time to visit
For specific details about EVITA, visit the site by clicking the link.
Scholarship Concert
Twenty-five MT majors participated in the annual Scholarship Showcase concert in the Mendelssohn Theatre on September 20. Our
featured selection was the great choral piece “On My Way” from VIOLET,
which many of you will remember as the finale from numerous senior
showcase performances. A particular highlight of the
concert was the announcement of the first recipient of the Tim Millett
Scholarship, Erika Peterson, a first-year student from
Master Class with Graduates
Our Department hosted a sensational master class in early September with
Department Studio Production
Our Studio Production, slated for December 10 – 13 in the Arthur Miller Theatre, is the new musical
Anniversary Concert Souvenir Book
Our
Anniversary reunion weekend in March was the ultimate event of events –
one which indeed has already attained well-deserved legendary status. In
addition to hosting a whirlwind 3 days of activities and memories, we
produced a beautiful anniversary souvenir book celebrating 25 years of
the Musical Theatre Department, with numerous photos and a history of
the Department. These were distributed to all 4000 people
who attended the Anniversary Concert, but for those of you who weren’t
here, (or if you left yours at one of the many parties afterwards), we
have extras, and would love to send you a copy. Just contact Rosalind Martin (rpmartin@umich.edu) in the Theatre/Musical Theatre Department Office in the
News of Graduates
Did you know that our Department website has a listing of current and recent activities of the graduates? It’s as up-to-date as I can make it, which is to say that omissions and inaccuracies are probably plentiful. Please send me any additions or corrections. This listing is especially useful to us for recruitment, and for donors. http://www.music.umich.edu/departments/mustheatre/alumni.htm
A Final Thought as We Embark on Year 26
As
we continue to welcome extremely talented students to the campus every
year, the Department’s ability to attract the best students in the
nation is largely due to our reputation. We don’t
advertise, we don’t visit high schools throughout the country, and we
don’t actively recruit ---not because we don’t want to, but because of
the limited time of our faculty. (As you surely remember, it’s everything we can do to keep up with the 80 students who are here!) However, despite our limited interaction with high school students, you can help us. Every time you mention
_______________________________________________________
