Shelbie Harris
Staff Writer
“Musical of Musicals: The Musical!” will be presented by Idaho State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance on April 17, 18, 20, 24 and 25 at the Black Box Theatre in the Stephens Performing Arts Center.
Directed by Vanessa Ballam, this show will highlight and delve into the background of five different styles of musicals and their composers using satire, but include them all within one large show.
“We parody five of the most famous musical theatre composers, or composing teams,” said Ballam. “There’s five different sections and so each of those sections have to have a really definitive style, meaning vocal style, chorographic style, costume style, lighting style and acting style, plus you have to know all the references.”
The first section of the show will parody the American musical theatre team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, who are known for producing “Carousel,” “Oklahoma,” “The Sound of Music” and among many others, “The King and I.”
Ballam said the title of the first section is called Corn, and although it’s most similar to “Oklahoma,” It will still parody nearly everything the duo have written in some way or another.
“My students had to do a lot of research to understand these composers,” said Ballam.
“I feel like in order to parody something correctly you have to have a really good understanding and appreciation for it.”
The second section, A Little Complex, will focus on musicals by Stephen Sondheim, who is most famously known for composing “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods.”
“He used very intricate rhyme schemes. There’s a lot of dissonance in his musicals and darker themes,” said Talia Lenker, who plays the character of the matron.
Jerry Herman and compositions such as “Mame” and “Hello, Dolly!” will be the focus of the third section of the play titled “Dear Abby.”
Lenker said this section will feature extravagant gowns, headdresses and snappy show tunes.
The next section of the musical, titled Aspects of Junita will showcase compositions by Andrew Lloyd Webber, famous for “Cats,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Evita.”
“A big thing with him is there is this scandal involving plagiarism, which is pretty interesting, but the show will be really extravagant with crazy set changes and a fog machine. It’s more about spectacle than the show actually having substance,” said Lenker.
Lastly, the segment titled Speakeasy will focus on compositions by the duo Kander and Ebb who are known for what Lenker called the sexy and slinky style of “Chicago” and “Cabaret.”
This production has featured a few differences from the normal composition for ISU Theatre students in the fact that the casting was completed in November of 2014, as well as the cast only featuring seven members. The script originally called for only four.
“For [the performers] it’s nonstop for every single one of them,” Ballam said. “A few of them rarely leave the stage and it features constant choreography and constant singing.”
Ballam also said that all the performers are understudies for each other, meaning they all have to learn not only their own parts, but also those of the other performers.
Not only will the performers be acting in the musical, but they will also be required to participate in chorus numbers as well.
“Vanessa is amazing, probably the best director I have ever worked with,” said Andrew Katseanes, who plays the villain. “As an actor it’s really taxing because we have do so many different things with the small cast. It definitely feels like there is more people in it.”
Tickets for this show are available for purchase in person at the Stephens Performing Arts Center Box Office or over the phone by calling (208) 282-3595.
