For the first time, MSU Department of Theatre and the MSU School of Music will collaborate to bring Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's classic "Carousel" - a musical that embodies and challenges dance, opera and music.
"This is not your typical happy-ending musical," said Melanie Helton, director and assistant music professor. "This gets you thinking, feeling and reevaluating on so many different levels."
Hammerstein's story of domestic violence in synch with Rodgers' touching music scripts, including songs like "You'll Never Walk Alone," has moved audiences.
The award-winning Broadway piece opened in 1945 and soon after won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical. In 1956 it was made into a movie and was nominated for few awards. The story takes place in 1873 in a New England Village where Billy Bigelow, played by theater junior Nathaniel Nose, works for a carousel. Ladies-man Billy soon meets innocent and proper Julie Jordan, played by music education junior Shelagh Brown.
The about 30 cast members have been preparing for the piece for about a month and a half . Because every character must sing or dance and few have experience in both fields, the rehearsal schedule and training of the actors has been particularly arduous and unique.
With majors ranging from telecommunication, information studies and media to music, the cast is composed of individual professionals, each experts in their own field. To help unify the work in all the different areas, students have been put through musical, dance and theater training.
Although the actors have been learning to collaboratively perfect songs like "June Is Bustin' Out All Over," the opera students have been learning how to become professional actors.
"Opera is the combination of all the different art forms, so, the more you are exposed to the different parts and the more you learn from the different experts, the better you can become at it," Helton said.
Assistant music Professor and orchestra conductor Raphael Jimenez has been also rehearsing with a 45-piece orchestra.
This past week the two departments have finally met and began working together.
"All the students get to learn from each other," Jimenez said. "Finally, after all the work and training, everything beautifully comes together."
Helton said she believes, despite the differences between the two departments, it has been more of a learning experience than a competition between students.
"We beautifully complement one another and feed off of each other," she said. "There are no egos here, just hard-working professionals."
