UB Theater was on fire this year with presentations of everything from the experimental to the just-off-Broadway.
Last fall, the Department of Theater and Dance presented "The Wild Party," in the first production of the musical since it's off-Broadway premiere.
Not every college production receives as much attention as a premiere, so it's exciting for the cast to be giving life to a relatively new piece.
Andrew Lippa, who wrote "The Wild Party," visited UB during the show's run and will attend a few performances. The cast, however, did not see the writer's visits as anything distracting.
"You need to have that focus for any show, but (Lippa's) visit adds a palpable layer to this production," said Dan Korzelius, a senior musical theater major. "Few composers write well for an actor ... Since he's written the book, lyrics and music, there's a cohesiveness about it that is necessary in a show like this."
For the second year in a row, UB students performed in Eve Ensler's runaway hit, "The Vagina Monologues."
The monologues cover a variety of vaginally related topics such as rape, the plight of homeless women, child abuse, childbirth, tampons, thongs and the dreaded visit from the woman doctor.
Interspersed between the monologues are "happy facts" and answers to questions including what vaginas would say if they could talk, what they smell like and what they would wear.
"(The play) really helps put men and women's issues on similar planes," said cast member Annelise Abrams, a senior musical theater major.
Directed by Dora Ohrenstein, and presented by The UB Opera Workshop, "Serse" packed audiences at the Center for the Arts Drama Theater.
UB's unique incarnation of Handel's opera featured an interesting twist on the Italian tradition. Typically, male castratti singers would assume the high-pitched, female roles. But in UB's production, the male leads were actually played by women: Kimberly Grant as King Serse and Margaret Mair/Beryl Fanslow as his brother Arsamene.
Operating on about a $6,000 budget, the UB Opera Workshop created an atmosphere that both matched and surpassed the expectations of their financial constraint.
Although it was apparent the sets were made on a shoestring, the costumes, many of which were tailored in-house, were particularly lavish. Although unable to be seen from a distance, intricacies such as hand stitching and patterned beadwork atop the layers of colorful garments enhanced the visual spectacle.
Finally, the spring musical allowed UB students to perform the work of Buffalo native Michael Bennett in "A Chorus Line."
The brilliance of Bennett's narrative is that it derives it's life from actual chorus members' stories, shared during workshops and rehearsals. There's no holding back, particularly in Val's "Dance: Ten; Looks: Three."
"People think it's crazy and fun," said Kristin Hopwood, a sophomore musical theater major, who plays the eccentric Val. "Everyday, we are putting our whole heart and soul out there."
"For people who have never been to an audition, they see that not much changes," said Christine LaDuca, a junior musical theater major who plays Zack's (played by Adam Zelasko, a sophomore musical theater major) former love interest Cassie. "Between a 32-year-old and a rookie, the audition process is the same."
Alie Light, a senior musical theater major who plays the aging but feisty Sheila, sums it up simply: "We can't picture ourselves doing anything else."
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
