Thu 11/19-Sat 11/21 @ 8PM
Sun 11/22 @ 2PM
Baldwin Wallace University’s Department of Music Theatre is one of the country’s top programs, which routinely places graduates on Broadway, in touring shows, on TV and in films. Clearly it would be a setback for the current students if they had to sit in their dorm rooms and not get hands-on performing experience. But then there’s this pandemic thing …
Luckily the folks at the BW music theatre department are creative. For their first virtual performance of the year they’re staging the 2006 rock musical Spring Awakening. It’s a show that couldn’t be more perfect for a college cast since it deals with young people struggling to cope with growing up, their own sexuality and what they do and don’t know, or erroneously believe, as they grapple with the consequences. Surprisingly modern, it’s based on a late 19th century German play.
But clearly they couldn’t gather together on a stage to dance, sing and interact. Nor did they want to do a simple Zoom reading. So they came up with innovative ways to put on an actual production. Much of it was shot “guerilla-style” on smart phones at more than 40 locations around the region, such as parks and cemeteries; intimate scenes were filmed in front of student-created backdrops in their homes, with actors recording their parts separately. Students recorded their singing in their dorm rooms, and their vocals were mixed together in post-production to create full-chorus numbers. And dance numbers were rehearsed on Zoo and then performed and filmed both outdoors and on an indoor stage fully masked and using safety protocols.
Performances, with two different full casts, will be shared Thursday November 19 through Saturday November 21 @ 8pm and Sunday November 22 @ 2pm. Each will have a five-minute intermission so you’ll feel like you’re really at the theater.
Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students and seniors, and $40 for group viewing. Go here to order
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Baldwin Wallace College, Berea, OH 44017