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ENLARGE
Actors sing a song from RENT during a practice in the Betty Long Unruh Theatre last week.
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ENLARGE
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Actors sing a song from Spamalot during a practice in the Betty Long Unruh Theatre last week.
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Karissa Cullett has to be alone. She only has three minutes to take herself from an upbeat, bubbly teen in “Hairspray” to a downtrodden, forlorn, scorned woman ready to confront her romantic rival in “Jekyll and Hyde.”
It's not easy, Cullett said, getting out of costume, makeup, and character only to jump right into one that is completely opposite. She has to take as much time as she can in a relatively quiet backstage to get herself into character.
Meanwhile, onstage, the two masters of ceremonies discuss the show to come, making jabs at and giving credit to their Broadway ratings. Their costumes and smiles glitter in the lights. The show is filled with performances just like a night at the Tony Awards — and that is exactly how director Melody Schwegel wanted it.
“Generation Broadway” is the brainchild of Schwegel, who is also Umpqua Actors Community Theatre's executive director. She's drawn from a compilation of musicals representing the past 10 years of Broadway performances, she said. Twenty-four songs from 15 musicals were chosen because they “deal a lot more with real issues than fake love stories,” according to Cullett, one of the 20 cast members.
“We are kind of taking a chance,” Roseburg actress Bethany Barton said. “It is more what is going on in Broadway now as opposed to 50 years ago. I think it brings a little bit of modern Broadway here.”
Barton said the show strays from the format of most musicals performed in Roseburg. It touches on contemporary issues rather than a more common “fantasy musical” played through the years, she added.
The idea came to Schwegel almost a year ago. It would be at least 10 years, she thought, before any of today's Broadway plays would be performed in the area. So, she would just speed up the process, she thought, choosing 50 shows that have affected our generation the most, and bringing out a taste of them.
“It is a completely new play that no one has ever done,” Schwegel said. “There is not really a plot.”
Instead, scenes, music, and plot lines — from “Wicked,” “Avenue Q,” “Rent,” “Mary Poppins” and “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” — scatter across the small stage at the Betty Long Unruh Theatre, much the way they would at a major awards show.
Schwegel said she was impressed by the incredible talent of the men, women and children cast for the show. She had to turn away 35 people at the September auditions, she said.
Amanda Lanning, the show's musical and costume director, said it was a little crazy coming up with costumes for so many scenes and eras. She has only had to sew 10, picking the rest up at thrift stores. Lanning said she is happy with the results.
It would be hard, she said, to find someone who didn't love at least one of the songs performed in “Generation Broadway.” There are a lot of different musicals that will attract a wide variety of fans.
“The audience isn't just getting one show or one type of music,” Lanning said. “(There are) 15 musicals of a big variety. It applies to all ages and all kinds of people.”
• You can reach reporter Heather Morse at 957-4208 or by e-mail at hmorse@nrtoday.com.
It's not easy, Cullett said, getting out of costume, makeup, and character only to jump right into one that is completely opposite. She has to take as much time as she can in a relatively quiet backstage to get herself into character.
Meanwhile, onstage, the two masters of ceremonies discuss the show to come, making jabs at and giving credit to their Broadway ratings. Their costumes and smiles glitter in the lights. The show is filled with performances just like a night at the Tony Awards — and that is exactly how director Melody Schwegel wanted it.
“Generation Broadway” is the brainchild of Schwegel, who is also Umpqua Actors Community Theatre's executive director. She's drawn from a compilation of musicals representing the past 10 years of Broadway performances, she said. Twenty-four songs from 15 musicals were chosen because they “deal a lot more with real issues than fake love stories,” according to Cullett, one of the 20 cast members.
“We are kind of taking a chance,” Roseburg actress Bethany Barton said. “It is more what is going on in Broadway now as opposed to 50 years ago. I think it brings a little bit of modern Broadway here.”
Barton said the show strays from the format of most musicals performed in Roseburg. It touches on contemporary issues rather than a more common “fantasy musical” played through the years, she added.
The idea came to Schwegel almost a year ago. It would be at least 10 years, she thought, before any of today's Broadway plays would be performed in the area. So, she would just speed up the process, she thought, choosing 50 shows that have affected our generation the most, and bringing out a taste of them.
“It is a completely new play that no one has ever done,” Schwegel said. “There is not really a plot.”
Instead, scenes, music, and plot lines — from “Wicked,” “Avenue Q,” “Rent,” “Mary Poppins” and “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” — scatter across the small stage at the Betty Long Unruh Theatre, much the way they would at a major awards show.
Schwegel said she was impressed by the incredible talent of the men, women and children cast for the show. She had to turn away 35 people at the September auditions, she said.
Amanda Lanning, the show's musical and costume director, said it was a little crazy coming up with costumes for so many scenes and eras. She has only had to sew 10, picking the rest up at thrift stores. Lanning said she is happy with the results.
It would be hard, she said, to find someone who didn't love at least one of the songs performed in “Generation Broadway.” There are a lot of different musicals that will attract a wide variety of fans.
“The audience isn't just getting one show or one type of music,” Lanning said. “(There are) 15 musicals of a big variety. It applies to all ages and all kinds of people.”
• You can reach reporter Heather Morse at 957-4208 or by e-mail at hmorse@nrtoday.com.
