Daily Egyptian - Arts & Entertainment - Carbondale, Illinois
All that Jazz
Rachel Lindsayrlindsay@dailyegyptian.com
With a wistful smile gracing her features, Victoria Whitlow looked into the audience and told them why she and her last boyfriend were no longer an item.
"I guess you could say we broke up because of artistic differences," she said. "He saw himself alive, and I saw him as dead!"
Uncaring, Whitlow joined her fellow students as they danced about the stage for the end of the number "Cell Block Tango" from the musical "Chicago."
Whitlow, a senior music major, is one of the four directors of "Musicale: An evening of Musical Theater Scenes," which will take place at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Old Baptist Foundation. The performance, which will be followed by refreshments, is free and open to the public.
In addition to directing three of the scenes, Whitlow participates in several of the 12 musical numbers scheduled for the evening. In the jail scene, she plays Mona, a disgruntled artist who killed her boyfriend for cheating and is locked up in a women's cellblock, awaiting trial.
This particular scene will be directed by Jennifer Cannon, a second-year graduate in opera/musical theater from Orlando, Fla. Cannon said the musical began as individual projects for the directors' musical production class, but somewhere during the semester, the four students decided put on a real show.
"There's not really a theme among the different scenes, but their form is similar," she said. "So we thought, why not combine it and make it something really good."
Tania Coambs, a first-year graduate in opera/musical theater from Champaign and another director, said she has had a great experience putting the show together, but hopes the production comes across more like an event and less like a final presentation. She said they have put a lot of time and effort into publicizing the show, hoping to bring in a crowd of more than music majors and music professors.
"The audience is really key to any good show," she said. "The performers feed off the audience's reactions. If we can bring people in, that is going to make our show better."
But the audience is only part of putting together a show, Coambs said. For this class, the directors must cast and choreograph the entire production. They hold auditions each fall, which are open not only to the music department, but also to the entire campus and community.
Once the casting is done, the directors must create costumes that fit the individual performers, both literally and figuratively. They must also work with the available lighting, which in the case of OBF is not all that great. Whitlow said this year, the directors had to bring in their own form of lights. She said part of the experience is working with what you have, especially since each student is on a "zero-dollar budget."
The most important part of putting together a production is the rehearsals. Whitlow said the ratio is about one hour of rehearsal for each minute of acting and three hours of rehearsal for each minute of dancing. She said she has ended up with rehearsals at all times of day on all different days of the week.
"It's been a long process, but it's been very rewarding," Whitlow said.
Coambs said they continue to strive for the best show possible, testing new ideas and changing details at every rehearsal, even the dress rehearsal.
"You come in with an idea - 'I want this to happen and this to happen and this to happen," she said. "And then you get to know the individual performers, and you say, 'Now that I know this person's particular style, I think this would be really great.' So you throw it in and try it out."
Coambs said it was the little things that make a performance better. However, Whitlow said it was definitely challenging to direct all the layers of a performance. She called the singing, dancing/movement and acting a "triple threat" for directors, who must bring out the nuances behind every word and gesture.
"This is for a class - and we want to do our best - but also this is a performance experience," she said, "and we want to push all the actors to their highest potential."
The show's main element is "Chicago," and three of the 12 scenes are from the musical. Other scenes are taken from "Guys and Dolls," "The Fantastic," "The Mikado," "Fiddler on the Roof," "The Boys from Syracuse," "Godspell" and "Baby."
Refreshments will follow the performance.
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