Friday, July 18, 2008
On Tuesday, the University debuted the world premiere of the musical “The Girl the Grouch and the Goat” at Murphy Hall.
Jack Helbig and Broadway composer Mark Hollman wrote the musical with Hollman also writing the score. John Staniunas, associate professor of theater and show director, said he thought this musical was a big step for the theater department.
“It doesn’t get any better then this,” Staniunas said, “It’s like the University theater winning the basketball tournament,”
It is not often that a university gets to perform a world premiere from a Broadway composer, but Stanunas’ relationship with Hollman was one of the reasons the University landed the opportunity.
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Kansas Summer theatre is staging the world premiere of "The Girl, The Grouch, and the Goat" at University of Kansas on July 15. Performances are at 7.30 p.m, Tuesday through Saturday, and at 2.30 p.m on sunday. This new musical by Jeck Helbibg and Mark Holllman will be shown at Crafton-Preyer Theatre.
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When: 7:30 July 15-19 & 2:30 July 20 Where: Murphy Hall Cost: $16 for public, $10 for students, $15 for senior citizens and KU faculty & staff.
Hollman has won many awards for his work on Broadway, including a Tony Award in 2002 for Best Score for “Urinetown the Musical”. He has worked on this project for more than 20 years and has written more than 50 songs for the show, although only 17 songs have made it into the musical, Staniunas predicts the audience will be humming Hollman’s tunes when they leave the show.
“Mark is brilliant,” Staniunas said, “So far it has been pretty amazing and pretty intense.”
The musical is about a Greek who controls the only working well in town and demands high prices for the other residents to use it. The actors describe the show as a “simple but witty” musical.
Jeff Sears, Overland Park junior, plays the lead role of the grouch. Sears said that this musical would keep the crowd engaged and didn’t take itself too seriously.
“I think the audience won’t have to much of a chance to fall out of it because we constantly have narrators and they bring them back into the show,” Sears said.
Since it is the world premiere, this is the first time any actors have played these roles. Staniunas said he was giving the students more freedom in how they present their characters. Sears said being the initial actors to perform these characters was an exciting task.
“You have a completely clean slate so you don’t have a previous interpretation to hinder your ideas,” Sears said.
The show is also different from most because is performed with a smaller cast of just seven people, and many of them will be playing different characters.
Cassie Hollman, Overland Park senior, is playing four different characters for the musical. Hollman said it could be a challenge to try to switch from being an old lady one moment to playing the part of an animal the next. She said the experience also allowed the students to grow as actors.
“A lot of times when you do a show, they give parts to 47 people, this shows how everyone is able to create these different characters,” Hollman said.
- Edited by Rebekah Scaperlanda
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