Category: Theatre

REVIEW: Heathers the Musical

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Pictured from left to right: Emelia Hughey as Heather McNamara, Bianca Garfinkle as Heather Chandler, and Lila Harris as Heather Duke taken from Musket’s Instagram (@ummusket)

On November 10th, the University of Michigan’s student-led organization, Musket, put on its opening night performance of Heathers: the Musical. The musical follows Veronica Sawyer (played by Kaylin Gines) as she navigates her senior year as a part of Westerburg High School’s class of 1989 while trying to avoid the titular Heathers, the cruel popular girls of the school. Heather McNamara (Emelia Hughey), Heather Duke (Lila Harris), and the queen bee Heather Chandler (Bianca Garfinkle) make high school a living hell for the other students including Veronica and her best friend Martha Dunstock (Ellie Omori-Sampson). Along with the Heathers, Kurt Kelly (Sohil Apte) and Ram Sweeny (Dylan Bernstein) torment them with their inflated jock egos. It’s not until Veronica becomes a Heather herself and meets JD (Aaron Syi) do her plans of a quiet senior year under the radar go awry.

Heathers: the Musical satirizes the high school experience, portraying it as a battlefield of hostile personalities. It describes high school as a mimicry of the outside world with all of the hierarchies of adult society, posing the question of why childhood had to transform into this. Themes of gun violence, sexual violence, suicide, and grief of loss pervade the story, understanding that, here, the perils and dangers of adult society are inseparably coupled with the insecurity, longing, and anxiety of coming of age. As Kate Ivanov, the director of the musical, puts it in the Director’s Note, “there is a constant need to change, fit in, and be loved and accepted for who you are, when you don’t know who you are yet.”

The production itself is masterfully crafted in the Power Center’s proscenium stage. The set remains simple yet dynamic, always portraying Westerburg High, comprising a catwalk with two movable staircases that lead up to it. Still, in scenes that weren’t set in Westerburg High, there were parts of the set that were present that helped immersion while not detracting from the immersion of other scenes, including the gas station for “Freeze Your Brain” and the pier for “Kindergarden Boyfriend”. This use of the set, by not having any major set changes, streamlined the viewing experience and made it easy to follow the constant stimulation that the musical provides. The catwalk also gives good visual symbolism whenever the Heathers, but especially Heather Chandler, enters, demanding attention to their presence through the fact they are physically and socially above everyone else.

This experience wouldn’t be possible without the amazing performances from each of the actors as well. The way that the Heathers seem like one indomitable unit with their synchronization make the play as they set the tone of power hierarchy to which all of the play centers around, especially in “Candy Store”. Chandler especially commands her presence showcases devotion to the precision of her character work as in every scene she’s in she steals the show with her attitude and poise. When they eventually break off too the actors play faithfully to each of their individual characters’ emanating their respective traits: Duke’s envy and conniving nature  shown through “Never Shut Up Again” and McNamara’s dumbness that gets deepened by the anxiety and vulnerability she shows in “Lifeboat”.

Kurt and Ram play their parts well as the comedic relief, their energy was outstanding, while still showing their ignorance and ego as almost perpetrators of sexual violence in “You’re Welcome” where they really expressed the childish entitlement they felt to sexual favors. Martha, although not playing the largest role in the play, stood out as not only someone with fantastic heart but an exceedingly impressive vocalist (I’m pretty sure “Kindergarden Boyfriend” held the largest applause of the night).

Of course, the leads Veronica and JD were the stars of the show, faithfully executing their characters to a caliber that exemplified the quality of their performance. As the leading lady, Veronica was intelligent and contemplative, executing the larger themes of the musical with ease and immersion. JD was a contemplative character that showed all the warning signs of his unhinged nature, yet the audience can’t help but fall in love with him the same way that Veronica does. They certainly complemented each other with several musical numbers that showed their exceptional vocal performance such as in “Dead Girl Walking”, “Our Love is God”, and “Seventeen” which I especially enjoyed.

Still, each of the members clearly showcased their love of the show of which I noticed their exceeding amounts of energy and the small details they implemented helped the immersion into the world of Sherwood, Ohio. Additionally, to provide a special shoutout, the production couldn’t had reached as high as it did without the performance of the pit orchestra. The score was excellently executed with each of the musical motifs highlighting each and every scene, not just with the musical numbers.

With my experience, I was overall blown away by the sheer skill, energy, and love of the show the cast had. The musical was comedic yet contemplative, energetic and fun yet satirical, tonally all over the place yet being able to ground itself when it needed to. Quality-wise, it was almost like watching an off-broadway production, and to think that Musket is a student-led organization speaks to the amount of time, skill, and effort it took to put out such a performance. I would definitely recommend to keep the productions UofM’s Musket in one’s mind if one wants to see great performances.

REVIEW: Orpheus in the Underworld

Ella Larsen Leave a comment

8:00pm • Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023 • Power Center

SMTD’s production of Orpheus in the Underworld (Orphée aux enfers) this past weekend was campy and aesthetically chaotic. The opera was originally written in 1858 by librettists Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy and composer Jacques Offenbach, and is a humorous, irreverent take on the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In this rendition, directed by Mo Zhou, SMTD chose to extend the opera’s original political critique of capitalist power structures into the 1950s, on the cusp of the Kennedy presidential campaign. The result is a complex amalgam of messages and meanings which I will discuss below. 

The notes provided in the program for this performance were essential in interpreting the many points the creative directors wanted to get across. First, the “About the Authors” section conveyed the point that each of the authors drew inspiration from the politics of their time. Mo Zhou elaborated upon that point in her director’s note, drawing from Offenbach’s “turbulent relationship with personal finance” to develop the opera as a statement on the privileged elite and capitalism. Further, the dramaturgical team focuses on how including Public Opinion as an archetypal character frames and translates the plot for the audience. Finally, the dramaturgs suggest that Offenbach wrote feminist meanings into the opera and subverted power structures by making Public Opinion a female character and focusing on Eurydice’s romantic self-determination.

I would not necessarily have read all of these themes into the opera without the program to point them out. In terms of the political and labor meanings of the production, the set did much of the heavy lifting. Larger-than-life vintage advertisements framed the stage, literally presenting each scene through a lens of consumerism. In the scene where the gods revolt against Jupiter’s rule, they carry signs parodying the labor movement with slogans like “Give Me Generational Wealth or Give Me Debt.” 

Despite the dramaturgical efforts to read feminism and liberation into Orpheus in the Underworld, my perception of the gender relations in this story was more cynical. While the role of Public Opinion as a female character was meant to give “the voice of the collective Greek chorus … to someone who historically was not given a voice,” her comparatively minor role in the story didn’t allow a full development of that voice. Personally, Offenbach’s treatment of Public Opinion as a female character felt more mocking of women as arbiters of social control.

All of that said, this performance was a lot of fun to experience, with all of its wacky, unexpected pop-culture references (Elvis as Bacchus?). There was so much going on that I don’t know if my confusion is a critique or a sign of some complex theatrical genius on the side of the production’s creative team. The set and costumes were beautifully and thoughtfully designed, and the cast performed splendidly. Orpheus in the Underworld was both entertaining and intellectually stimulating, and I thoroughly enjoyed picking apart the creative choices which pulled this performance together.

REVIEW: Orpheus in the Underworld

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Unlike what the title suggests, Orpheus in the Underworld (Orphée aux enfers) didn’t focus much on Orpheus being in the Underworld nor did it remain true to the romantic and sorrowful story told in Greek myths. Instead, what SMTD brought to life was a goofy comedy contrasted with powerful French opera, and they described it as “a cheeky twist” on the famous love story between Orpheus and his wife, Eurydice.

In mythology, Orpheus and Eurydice were deeply in love, so when Eurydice met her untimely death, he played the lyre (an instrument similar to the harp) and used his musical genius to charm his way into the Underworld and bring her back to the world of the living. 

In this version, the two shared a terrible marriage and were both cheating on each other. They portrayed Orpheus as a lackluster violinist, which was one of the many things that drove his wife crazy. Eurydice constantly asked for a divorce, but Orpheus always refused with sweet words. He had a different plan in mind to get rid of her. When Eurydice died, he jumped with joy; however, his happiness was short-lived when soon after he was threatened by Public Opinion to save his wife and thus dragged to the Underworld. 

Operas place a greater importance on music than storytelling, so although the dialogue was in English, the majority of the show was in French. Orpheus in the Underworld was performed at The Power Center for the Performing Arts, and they provided screens with English subtitles for the audience to follow along. Some technical difficulties threw off the timing of the words, but I wasn’t that disappointed since the students’ acting and singing were so captivating it felt like a waste to take my eyes off them.

The story took place in the late 1950s, so all of the backdrops, from the farm to Olympus and the Underworld, were all unique. I also loved the wardrobe, especially the outfits of the gods. They were totally different from the traditional white robes I normally associate with Greek mythology. My favorite costume was when Jupiter, also known as Zeus, transformed into what was supposed to be a seductive fly.

Overall, I had fun! It was my first time watching an opera, and it combined humor with musical prowess. I’ve really enjoyed each of SMTD’s productions and look forward to watching more.

REVIEW: Menopause the Musical

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Menopause the Musical is about four women who are, unsurprisingly, in menopause. They each have distinct backgrounds, such as being a housewife, a failing celebrity, a businesswoman, and a hippy. They meet at a mall while shopping and fighting over the lingerie on sale. Despite their differences, they soon after quickly bond over the changes taking place in their bodies, proving that all women can relate to one another during this difficult time in their lives.

Each of the actors perfectly embodied their characters’ personalities from the way they walked to their accents. There wasn’t a strong emphasis on dancing; instead, they focused on singing an interesting selection of music with a wide variety of genres ranging from In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle to Y.M.C.A.

It was funny being one of the few, if not only, college students in a crowd of elderly white women. Obviously, Gen Z isn’t the target audience so I didn’t understand the references regarding menopause (e.g., memory loss and hot flashes), and didn’t resonate with the humor. However, the crowd certainly loved it and it felt like there was never a pause of laughter. In fact, I heard people talking about having watched different renditions of this same musical.

The venue was the Michigan Theater, in which I’ve only watched movies or orchestral performances. The stage was beautiful and the crew did an excellent job of making it look like a high-end shopping center. Unfortunately, the audio of the microphones wasn’t very loud or clear. The backtracks of the songs were often louder than the singers and that did take away from the experience.

To be honest, I wouldn’t watch this musical again and don’t recommend it. Although it was impressive and interesting to watch, the ticket was very expensive and wasn’t worth the cost. Still, if you’re intrigued you can give it a shot!

REVIEW: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

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SMTD’s performance of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was so good: it was immersive, hilarious, and well put together. It sounds like it’d be a wholesome musical since the main characters are children but to my surprise, it wasn’t child-friendly at all. The script made use of sexual innuendos, exaggerated stereotypes, and religious satire to crack jokes. The audience, me included, ate it up. As described on the SMTD website, it truly is a musical that “charms audiences with effortless wit and humor, making the Bee one unforgettable experience”.

One part of the experience I loved was how they included the viewers in the spelling bee and gave each of them fun and quirky personas, such as “being raised by wolves” and having “denim as their favorite color”. The actors looked so natural when interacting with the audience members that it took me a bit to realize it wasn’t staged. If the participants spelled their given word wrong, they were escorted off the stage with a juice box and were serenaded with the song Goodbye that poked fun at their failure in the bee. The funniest part was when to proceed with the plot, it became time to kick the surviving participants off the stage by challenging them with ridiculous words. Despite their efforts though, one of them actually managed to spell something incomprehensible from a Scottish dialect, shocking everyone. The actors did a great job of improvising by calling her back to the microphone and giving her another word, which this time she failed to spell. As a reward for being the last one standing though, she got her own special rendition of Goodbye sung to her. 

The characters that stood out to me the most were William Barfée, a snotty (quite literally) nerd, Logainne Schwartzy, a girl with a heart of gold, and Leaf Coneybear, who for some reason always had to spell the names of South American rodents. However, my favorite character was actually Vice Principal Douglas Panch. The actor did such a good job of portraying the classic slightly odd and suspicious adult figures I remember from my own elementary school days. Although these characters left the biggest impression on me, I genuinely loved everybody because they all had so much personality to them.

An inconvenience though is that it took place at The Encore Musical Theatre Company, a performance venue in Dexter that’s an eighteen-minute drive from central campus. Once I got there though, I realized how big of a role the stage set-up and background played in really bringing this musical to life. Most importantly when performing Pandemonium, a song and dance that really showcased the crazy and wild side of children. They were running around, jumping on tables, spinning seats, and even hanging from the basketball hoop. 

This was truly a musical I’m so lucky to have seen, and I highly recommend others to see it if given the opportunity!

REVIEW: Orpheus in the Underworld

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Orpheus in the Underworld (translated title) marks the premiere opera this season for the School of Music, Theater, and Dance’s vocal department at the Power Center for the Performing Arts. This runs for one weekend only, so get your tickets soon! Of the many versions of Orpheus and Eurydice’s tragic tale, this reigns as the goofiest production thus far. This whimsical satire is accompanied by fanciful costumes, a wholly creative set, and an ingenious allegory about the nature of capitalism. Director Mo Zhou brilliantly stated: “[Orpheus] is a mirror that reflects not only the capricious antics of the deities but also our contemporary world. It teases out the subtleties and complexities within the upper echelons of society, a world painted in various shades of grey.” (I don’t think I could give a more brilliant explanation if I tried!) I thoroughly enjoyed this opera and thought it was a refreshing choice after last season’s close with Don Giovanni by W.A. Mozart. If opera-singing and can-can-dancing Greek gods are an interest of yours— this opera is for you!

Orphée aux enfers is a French-language opera composed by Jacques Offenbach with a libretto by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy (English translation by Jeremy Sams). You may be familiar with the famously known and cheekiest song from the opera, the “can-can”, which is often used in pop culture. In the score, it is called the “Galop infernal,” roughly translating to “the hellish gallop”, as they famously kickline in Hades’ Underworld. This opera is conventionally all performed in French, but for this version, all the dialogue was performed in English with arias performed in French. I came into the performance skeptical of this method for continuity’s sake but left the theater agreeing with the decision for a predominantly English-speaking audience. Since many of the performers were native English speakers, it was much easier to make conscious acting choices since they were not dealing with French diction. For an academic setting, this was a great choice! The arias were beautifully performed in the original French, with phenomenal, stand-out performances by Tyrese Byrd (Arsteus/Pluto), Jack Morrin (Jupiter), Sohyun Cho (Eurydice), and Veronica Koz (Cupid). The chorus was equally thrilling and brought a beautiful liveliness to the atmosphere of the show.

The design for this show was spectacular. Scenic design was created by Kevin Judge, costumes by Sarah M Oliver, lighting by Marie Yokoyama, and hair/make-up by Brittney Crinson. Truly, there was always something to look at, or a small detail to become enamored with. Each tableau filled the entire space on the Power Center stage. Within the first moments after the curtain, the set had transported me somewhere. The world that was about to be created was immediately understood by the audience. The colors, dimensions, and vintage image backgrounds were all so charming. The 1950s setting was a very lovely stylistic choice, and I found it well executed throughout. The style was consistent between direction and design choices and these ideas flourished well throughout the show’s tableaus and costuming changes. SMTD has an undoubtedly polished and impressive design team, consistently dazzling audiences with their work on University Productions.

Orpheus in the Underworld was directed by the infamous Mo Zhou, who is fairly new to the School of Music, Theater, and Dance, having joined as an opera director and assistant professor in 2021. Ms. Zhou is greatly appreciated by the opera community for her innovative and fresh ideas in beloved classical works. She has a decorated resume and has worked with renowned classical music programs such as Glimmerglass and Music Academy of the West. She has worked domestically with the Virginia Opera, Minnesota Opera, Boston Baroque, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Dallas Opera. Additionally, Professor Zhou has extended her skills to international levels, working with the National Centre for the Performing Arts in China, Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, and Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. Ms. Zhou’s direction is playful, methodical, and keen. Orpheus was a testament to her brilliance—she created beautiful tableaus and effortlessly hilarious yet dramatic moments between characters. I admire her attention to detail in world-building and the thoughtful intentions behind each character. 

Orpheus in the Underworld proved to be a hit this Friday at the Power Center. There will be performances on Saturday, November 4th at 8 pm and a Sunday matinee on November 5th at 2 pm. Up next for the voice department will be Gianni Schicchi, the hysterically scandalous Puccini opera. This will be performed in McIntosh Performance Hall in the Moore Building on North Campus, on November 30th and December 1st. 

Images thanks to The University of Michigan and the School of Music Theater and Dance Facebook.