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CONNECTING |
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The Musical-Theater Program |
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Celebrating
25 Years |
With
the simultaneous staging of two musicals at Austin Arts Center’s Garmany
Hall this January, Trinity’s musical-theater program will mark its 25th
year of productions. An annual performance opportunity for students from all
disciplines, the musical-theater program has been a facet of many Trinity
students’ liberal arts experience since the program’s inception in 1977.
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Students rehearse for
this month's production of William Finn's A New Brain. |
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Behind the program’s success is Professor of Music and Chair of the Music
Department Gerald Moshell. Upon being hired by the College—primarily as
the conductor of the concert choir, in addition to teaching courses in music
history and theory—Moshell asked then Dean of the Faculty Ed Nye that a
portion of his teaching load be devoted to musical-theater production.
“I
was surprised—but quite pleased—that he agreed,” Moshell says.
Since
then, Trinity students have performed in over 100 musicals under the
direction of Moshell, who claims that Trinity is distinguished as the only
“top-25” liberal arts college with an extensive musical-theater program.
“Students
at Trinity, given our number and range of productions per year, get more
actual performing opportunities, in leading roles, than they typically will
at NYU or Carnegie-Mellon or the University of Michigan or at any of the
other renowned musical-theater programs around the country. And that’s a
huge plus,” Moshell says.
Each
year, Moshell stages a revue-style show in the fall, a festival of two to
five smaller-scale musicals in January, and a fully mounted spring show in
Goodwin Theater. “That’s a heap of performance opportunities for students,”
Moshell says.
Another
unique characteristic of Trinity’s musical-theater program is its history
of staging lesser-known and often rarely performed productions. Moshell
explains this decision as both practical and philosophical.
“I’m
constantly asked why we don’t do ‘the classics,’ the Rodgers &
Hammerstein shows or
Guys and Dolls or My Fair Lady. Part of the reason is that these shows are
done to death in high schools and community theaters and in Broadway
revivals, and part of the reason is that most of them are hopelessly dated
in sociological ways,” he says. “I’m particularly devoted to recent
musicals—ones that not only have great scores but also deal with ideas and with
contemporary concerns and sensitivities and production values.”
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Scenes from a 1996
performance of Kurt Weill's Johnny Johnson. At the time, the
performance, supported in part by a grant form the Kurt Weill
Foundation, was the first American staging of the musical in many
years. |
Performance
careers after Trinity
The
musical-theater program has seen its share of budding actors, many of whom
have gone on to successful careers on stage and in television and film.
Joshua Weinstein ’95, who in 1995 appeared on the cover of The Sondheim
Review with fellow Trinity cast members—a first for a nonprofessional or
college group—has pursued a successful acting career, landing roles in
major television commercials and, more recently, in Spike Lee’s satirical
drama Bamboozled. Mary McCormack ’91, another alumna of Trinity’s
musical-theater program, recently co-starred with actor Kevin Spacey in the
2001 drama K-Pax and played the role of radio personality Howard Stern’s
wife in his 1997 motion picture autobiography.
Perhaps
as significant is the impact musical theater has had on Trinity graduates
who have sought careers in seemingly disparate fields from the performing
arts.
Jennifer
Carvalho ’01, an admissions counselor in Trinity’s department of
admissions, says her experience as stage manager of many musical-theater
productions introduced her to people from a range of disciplines whom she
otherwise might not have met in the process
of completing a double major in biology and music.
“It
really expanded the range of people that I
knew,” she says. Carvalho, who oversees student tour guides, also credits
the responsibility she was given as stage manager with further developing
her organizational and leadership skills—key elements in her current job.
“Having that experience where I was, in a way, in charge of my peers,
prepared me for being in charge of student workers,” says Carvalho.
Attracting
prominent guests to the program
Moshell
says Trinity’s proximity to New York City facilitates visits by prominent
figures in the musical-theater community. Since the program’s inception,
students participating in musical theater at Trinity have been afforded the
opportunity to meet, perform for, and dine with such composers and lyricists
as Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Charles Strouse, Elizabeth Swados,
David Evans, and Tom Greenwald.
“I
know that these visits have been a thrill for many of our students,”
Moshell says, “and for me, too.”
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Joshua Weinstein '95
(center) in a production of Stephen Sondheim's The Frogs. |
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In
1992, the program hosted a Stephen Sondheim symposium in conjunction with a
production of Pacific Overtures, with several high-profile panelists
including New York Times head drama critic Frank Rich and singer-actors
Elaine Stritch and Jim Walton. Another coup for the program was the
first-ever performance, on any stage, of William Finn’s entire
“Falsettos” trilogy, two shows of which were running on Broadway
at the time. Following tricky negotiations to obtain the trilogy’s
performance rights, the show indeed went on,
attracting a visit by the producers and four leads from the Broadway cast,
in addition to Rich and Finn himself.
Students
who wish to bring their musical-theater experience into the classroom may
enroll either in topical course offerings in the music department such as
The Birth of Modernism and The Contemporary Musical Theater, related courses
in music theory, or voice lessons. Moshell notes that a variety of courses
in acting, directing, and movement may be taken through the department of
theater and dance.
Despite
the countless opportunities available to students who become involved in
musical theater at Trinity, Moshell reiterates that participation is the key
to the program’s success.
“The most outstanding of the [student] opportunities is simply to have
many yearly chances to participate in the absolute very best combination of
intellectual and recreational activity that exists: musical theater,” he
says.
– Michael
Bradley
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