Due to budget restrictions the department can only fund musicians for a limited run
By Morgan Hodder.
BCC drama department presents their winter production on March 5, 6, and 7. The production is the musical “Music Man” and features music by a team of contracted professional musicians. Due to BCC’s stringent finances, the program can only afford the musicians for three days, so be sure to see it, they need every cent. Student tickets are twelve dollars, tickets for the general public are 3 bucks more.
The drama department chair, Tammi Doyle, said that BCC theater has done a lot of off-beat and challenging musicals, but they chose “Music Man,” thinking it was time to do a traditional, American musical. Doyle said the plot of “Music Man” is also incredibly relevant to our nation right now, being all about conning the public.
Since the story follows a line of mild generational warfare, the cast of “Music Man” has worked from their second week of rehearsal on their characterization, trying to get half the cast to act like teens from the era of which “Music Man” was set, and the other half to act like adults. They have also worked for a couple hours almost every day leading up to opening day to get the singing and dancing perfect.
There was a lot of focus on the town in which the musical based, and how to bring it to life. “The town is a character,” said Doyle. While the story plays out in the foreground, the town will always be the backdrop, with its citizens going about their business in some amusing and delightful way.
Doyle said she is very excited by the “Music Man” cast. There are a lot of new actors working on it that are new to the drama department and were already in their second week of rehearsal blending seamlessly with the pros. This is also one of the biggest casts that BCC Theater has ever worked with. They are bringing fifteen local kids between the ages of seven and thirteen years old, which is something very different and exciting.
Doyle wants to inform anyone interested among BCC student body that “Music Man” is looking for volunteers for stage crew. Fulfilling this position would entail running across the stage to set up scenery for the next scene, and occasionally walking through a scene as townspeople. Anyone looking to volunteer for this should go speak to Doyle, her office is located in the theater building.
Brian Davis-Hopkins, BCC student who plays Tommy Djils in “Music Man,” said that people should come to the production because it’ll just be a fun show. The cast has a great attitude and high energy.
Davis-Hopkins said he is their resident stunt man and has brought a lot of dance experience to his role. He said people should also see the show for his impressive and ever so skillful high jumps. Davis-Hopkins hopes the audience will walk away from this show wanting to come back for more.
Eric Schmidt, who plays Marcellus Washburn in “Music Man” said people should come to the show because it’s awesome. The set is awesome, it is full of bright colors, and the music and dancing will make the audience want to stand up and dance right along with them. Schmidt said he will take on his role with a comic attitude, and will hopefully make the production that much more fun. He is really looking forward to opening night, getting up on stage, and having the audience finally respond to everything they’ve been working so hard for. Schmidt hopes the audience will love this production, and leaves singing and dancing down the streets to the songs in “Music Man.”
Corrections: BC’s drama department does not pay students to participate in productions in any facet. The dept. performed Music Man 4 times, not 3 as stated. The dept. performed Music Man 4 times, not 3 as stated. The dept. performed the musical for one weekend due to high royalty fees and difficulty in obtaining appropriate volunteer musicians for longer running performances, not in any way because of college budget cuts.