Tag Archives: UC College-Conservatory of Music

In the next installment of UC College-Conservatory of Music’s 2016-17 Studio Series, the Acting Department introduces audiences to the residents of a small town as they search for life’s meaning. Directed by CCM Acting Professor and Department ChairRichard Hess, Will Eno’s MIDDLETOWN runs Thursday, Oct. 20- Saturday, Oct. 22 in the Cohen Family Studio Theater.

MIDDLETOWN runs in CCM’s Cohen Family Studio Theater Oct. 20-22.
MIDDLETOWN, which won the 2010 Horton Foote Prize for Promising New American Play, was praised by the New York Times for its “tart, funny, gorgeous little comments on the big things: the need for love and forgiveness, the search for meaning in life, the long lonely ache of disappointment.”

Will Eno veers toward the avant-garde with his approach to stark realism in MIDDLETOWN. His influences include playwrights Samuel Beckett and Don DeLillo, and the recently deceased Edward Albee was a mentor to him. The play was inspired by Thorton Wilder’sOur Town, which was last seen on CCM’s Mainstage in April 2011.

One of the central characters in Our Town is the local milkman, while MIDDLETOWN gives the spotlight to the town’s celebrity, an astronaut in orbit around Earth. Both plays concern the passing seasons of life and are unapologetically frank and sentimental, according to Hess.

“MIDDLETOWN is about nothing except life and death and everything in between,” Hess says. “With a wry and unexpectedly profound touch, Will Eno has written one of the wisest plays I have ever worked on. Its simplicity is monumental.”

The show will be presented in thrust theater configuration, with set design by CCM student Theron Wineinger. Audience members will be seated close to the action of the play in this intimate setting.

“MIDDLETOWN might make the audience both laugh and cry,” Hess says. “It will hit home for everyone in a deeply personal way. Its wisdom is universal, and, in our crazy world, human to human contact that is sane, rational and open might be a welcome tonic.”

Admission is free for MIDDLETOWN, but tickets are required. Tickets become available through the CCM Box Office on Monday, Oct. 17. They often sell out quickly, so visit ourguide to Studio Series tickets for tips and tricks to secure your seats.

Cast List

• Sydney Ashe as Mary Swanson
• Lauren Carter as Tour Guide/Aunt/Female Doctor
• Kenzie Clark as Tourist/Woman on Date/Attendant 2
• Mafer Del Real as Librarian
• Nick Heffelfinger as Tourist/Astronaut Greg/Freelancer/Male Doctor
• Isaac Hickox Young as Cop
• Meg Olson as Public Speaker/Cop’s Radio Voice/Ground Control/Hospital Intercom Voice/Science Radio Host/Music Radio Host
• Maddie Page-Schmit as Sweetheart
• Andrew Ramsey as Mechanic
• Graham Rogers as Landscaper/Man on Date/Hospital Attendant
• Rupert Spraul as John Dodge

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20
• 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21
• 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22

Location
Cohen Family Studio Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Admission
Admission is free. Reservations are required. Tickets become available at noon on Monday, Oct. 17. Please visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visituc.edu/parking for information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.

CCM Season Presenting Sponsor & Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Photo by Mark Lyons.

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s Mainstage Series continues with nine-time Tony award-winning musical, A CHORUS LINE. Directed and choreographed by Diane Lalawith musical direction fromRoger Grodsky, A CHORUS LINE runs Oct. 20-30 in CCM’s Patricia Corbett Theater.

Centered around Broadway dancers as they audition for roles in the next smash hit, A CHORUS LINE offers a candid look at the backstage world of musical theatre.  Director and choreographer Diane Lala and musical director Roger Grodsky stay true to the show’s origins by setting it in the 1970s,  when A CHORUS LINE was written.

“This show is very special to performers, theatre dancers especially,” says Lala, CCM professor of Musical Theatre. “Everyone wants to know what it feels like to get to that moment in the finale that everyone has been waiting for and sing ‘One’ as the lights pulse and the audience goes crazy. There is nothing better.”

The original director and choreographer of A CHORUS LINE, Michael Bennett, wanted to create a show about so-called Broadway “gypsies” who constantly move from show to show to audition for new productions. Bennett brought some of these migrant performers together to discuss their experiences, both in and out of show business, and recorded the sessions. This dialogue became A CHORUS LINE, with part of the script pulled directly from the recordings. Some of the interviewed performers joined the musical’s original cast to play themselves on Broadway.

“By the end of the show, the audience feels as though they have really gotten to know the dancers and roots for them to succeed,” says Grodsky, CCM professor of Musical Theatre. “The illusion that the audience was watching an actual audition taking place was reinforced in the original production by the orchestra being invisible. This was one of the first shows that completely covered the orchestra pit.”

A CHORUS LINE focuses on the experiences and perspectives of musical theatre performers, but Lala says the show has universal appeal for non-performers as well.

“It is really a universal quest, right?” she suggests. “People in ‘regular’ jobs also are just looking for work, and some are hoping for that next promotion or to be stars in their own profession. This show puts that desire, struggle, hope, success and disappointment out there for the audience to see. I think that is why this is such a powerful show. People feel and can instantly associate with the characters onstage.

“If you are someone with a love for it,” she continues, “everything you go through is worth it to get to stand up there and do what you have trained your whole life for.”

James Kirkwood, Jr. and Nicholas Dante wrote the book for A CHORUS LINE. The music is by Marvin Hamlisch, with lyrics by Edward Kleban. The show opens on Thursday, Oct. 20 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 30 at the College-Conservatory of Music’s Patricia Corbett Theater. Tickets are on sale now.

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 20
• 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21
• 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22
• 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23
• 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26
• 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 27
• 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28
• 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 29
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 30

Location
Patricia Corbett Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Purchasing Tickets
Tickets to A CHORUS LINE are $31-35 for general admission, $22-25 for non-UC students and $18-21 for UC students with a valid ID. Customizable subscription packages are also available.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the CCM Box Office, over the telephone at 513-556-4183 or online at ccm.uc.edu/boxoffice/mainstage/chorus-line.html.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visituc.edu/parking for more information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.
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CCM Season Presenting Sponsor and Musical Theatre Program Sponsor: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation

Mainstage Season Production Sponsor: Macy’s
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Story by CCM graduate student Alexandra Doyle

CCM continues its popular Studio Series with the world premiere of THEY WERE YOU, a musical revue showcasing the songs of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Devised and directed by Aubrey Berg, the Patricia A. Corbett Distinguished Chair of Musical Theatre at CCM, THEY WERE YOU plays Oct. 5-9 in the Cohen Family Studio Theater. Admission is free, but reservations are required.

Conceived and curated by Berg with musical arrangements by CCM faculty member Stephen Goers and choreography by alumna Katie Johannigman, THEY WERE YOUfeatures songs from some of Jones and Schmidt’s most beloved musicals, including The Fantasticks,Celebration and 110 in the Shade. The production represents the first comprehensive revue of Jones and Schmidt’s work.

Jones, a Texas native, is widely known not only for his lyrics and librettos but also for his directing and acting chops. He directed a New York City revival of The Fantasticksin 2006, and also played the role of Old Actor in that production. He has written a screenplay for that show and a book called Making Musicals: An Informal Introduction to the World of Musical Theater.

Schmidt, also a Texan, attended the University of Texas at Austin to study art, but began to play piano as an accompanist for Jones during his time there. In addition to composing some of the world’s most beloved musicals, Schmidt has also continued to work as an illustrator for Life, Harper’s Bazaar, Sports Illustrated, Fortune and other publications.

The duo’s work together earned them several Tony Award nominations and the 1992 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, as well as induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the American Theatre Hall of Fame.

THEY WERE YOU is organized thematically, moving from “innocence” to “experience” through the course of the performance. Each song along the way showcases some universal emotion and lauds the resilience of humanity in the face of sorrow and disillusionment. The program promises favorites like “Try to Remember” from The Fantasticks and “My Cup Runneth Over” from I Do! I Do! alongside other songs from throughout the celebrated duo’s oeuvre.

Admission to THEY WERE YOU is free, but tickets are required. CCM’s Studio Series productions often sell out quickly, so visit our guide to Studio Series tickets for tips on how to secure your seats.

THEY WERE YOU: The Songs of Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt
Lyrics by Tom Jones
Music by Harvey Schmidt
Aubrey Berg, director
Stephen Goers, musical director
Katie Johannigman, choreographer

Cast List:

• Gabe Wrobel
• Emily Fink
• Stavros Koumbaros
• Aria Braswell
• Karl Amundson
• Michelle Coben

Performance Times

• 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 5
• 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6
• 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7
• 2 & 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8
• 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9

Location
Cohen Family Studio Theater, CCM Village
University of Cincinnati

Admission
Admission is free. Reservations are required. Tickets become available at noon on Monday, Oct. 3. Please visit the CCM Box Office or call 513-556-4183 to reserve. Limit two tickets per order.

Parking and Directions
Parking is available in the CCM Garage (located at the base of Corry Boulevard off Jefferson Avenue) and additional garages throughout the UC campus. Please visituc.edu/parking for information on parking rates.

For detailed maps and directions, please visit uc.edu/visitors. Additional parking is available off-campus at the U Square complex on Calhoun Street and other neighboring lots.

For directions to CCM Village, visit ccm.uc.edu/about/directions.