Spring Break
The London underground comes to campus
Sarah Cutsforth
The Daily Barometer
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" SRC="http://media.collegepublisher.com/media/paper854/thumbs/t_40a50405dee25-12-2.jpg" target=new>It is hot. Backstage, in the makeup and costume rooms of Withycombe Theater, the cast of "The Threepenny Opera" is preparing for Tuesday night's dress rehearsal.
The lights at the makeup station make it hot. The number of people make it hot. It's just really, constantly hot.
"Who needs the whore makeup?"
"Me!"
A tube of skin-colored cream gets tossed. Somebody needs a sponge wedge. Someone else keeps talking about spirit gum. And as more cast-members file in, strip down, paint up and start singing, the room becomes even hotter.
It's a disorienting place for an outsider. The lights, the heat, the noise, the fact that you have no idea what spirit gum is -- all these factors make the scene overwhelming.
"Spirit gum is a theatrical adhesive," Delaney Deaver explains calmly. "You use it to stick things on your face."
Deaver, a theater major and music minor, is calm because she's used to the lights, the heat and the noise. So is everyone else. Their show, a musical by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, marks a joint production of the University Theatre and the Department of Music that's been two years in the making. So the 28 cast members are not disoriented -- they are excited.
The cast of the musical is composed of Oregon State University students, faculty and members of the community. Stage-directed by Charlotte Headrick and musically directed by Tina Bull, the show also features George Caldwell as the scenic and lighting designer, Richard Poppino as the vocal coach and OSU student Tyler Mackie as the costume designer.
Based on John Gay's eighteenth-century ballad opera, "The Beggar's Opera," Brecht's 1928 script focuses on the story of Mack the Knife, the master of the London underground. Circulating amongst gangs, whores and the general underbelly of Victorian Britain, Mack's story is definitely colorful.
"Brecht liked his material to be in your face. He didn't want his audience to be passive watchers," says Deaver. "He really enjoyed breaking down that fourth wall."
This encouraged participation is evident in the musical's opening, which begins as several trussed up cast ladies solicit select members of the audience.
"I get to play a whore," laughs Deaver. "I guess it's really not a show for children."
The play's leads include Conrad Buck as Macheath, along with fellow music major Emily Tyler as Polly Peachum, one of Macheath's many love interests. OSU athletic band Director Brad Townsend plays Tiger Brown, a sheriff and Macheath's boyhood sidekick. Richard Wagner and Shirley King, both on the OSU faculty in music and foreign languages, respectively, portray Mr. and Mrs. Peachum, the couple in charge of most of London's beggars.
Other OSU students compose both Macheath's gang and his bevy of "ladies," all of whom were responsible for developing authentic Cockney accents for the musical.
One "lady," Helen West, is an exchange student from London and served double-duty as the show's dialect coach.
"I'm very happy with the result," West says. "Everybody put in their own time and it's been so much fun."
"Acting and singing in the English accent has been interesting," comments Tyler. "Some of the vocal rules get thrown out when it comes to Cockney. And that helps, it opens your voice up."
Tyler came to the University Theatre after taking acting classes through the theater department.
"Music is my number one priority, but I believe acting and music go hand in hand," she says. "I'm definitely interested in Broadway, ultimately."
Tyler's co-star Buck has similar plans to pursue a career beyond the doors of Withycombe. Graduating this term in music with an emphasis in vocal performance, Buck will study opera and classical voice at the Peabody Conservative in Baltimore.
"My eventual goal is opera, but I did not act, dance or sing a note until the end of my senior year of high school. I came to OSU as a business major but I realized vocal performance combines all the passions I have in life."
After rehearsing since March, most members of the cast are more excited than nervous about the show.
"If I'm prepared, I'll only have nervous energy," Townsend says. "And that will leave as soon as the production starts."
"I'm excited to have the audience there," Tyler says. "It's a completely different feeling when you have that around."
"I'm ready," Buck says. "It's been a great time. Not just the show, but the whole program and my time here at OSU."
"This is a good place for an undergrad voice major and this is a perfect way to end my stay, with a great cast and a great experience."
The show, which opened Thursday night, will hold performances tonight and Saturday. Performances are also scheduled next week for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. All shows begin at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are on sale at the University Theatre Box Office located in Withycombe Hall. Box office hours are 12-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 6:45 p.m. on evenings of performances. Ticket prices are $10 for general admission, $7 for seniors and $6 for students.
The Threepenny Opera contains language and situations that some people may find objectionable, and is not recommended for young audiences.
Sarah Cutsforth is a Diversions writer for The Daily Barometer. She can be reached at baro.diversions@studentmedia.orst.edu.
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