Cast chosen for spring musical
The Pirates of Penzance
by Kristi McKim
feaiwes eduor
Production for Behrend's first mu
sical in over ten years, The Pirates of
Penzance, is well underway with the
completion of auditions late last week.
Director Tony Elliot has carefully
chosen the twenty-four member cast
from the nearly-sixty students/faculty/
community members who auditioned.
Last Monday and Tuesday, audi
tions were held in the Studio Theatre,
with final cuts being made Thursday
evening. At the first round of audi
tions, "we looked for the potential in
the voice," states Elliot. Then, in de
ciding the roles for major characters,
we "looked for personality. It's one
thing to sing, another to 'sell' a song."
To cover effectively all aspects of
this musical production, Elliot is as
sisted by Music Director Roberta
Stoughton, a teacher of music and
drama at Iroquois High School, and
Choreographer Rich Tryzbiak.
Stoughton has worked with the show
a couple of times previous, coordinat
ing and directing the music; Tryzbiak
has also choreographed the musical
before, and he has even held the roles
of Pirate King and Frederic. "I'm the
novice here," Elliot laughs, "that is
part of the reason why this is fun for
me."
Since most Behrend productions
consist of an extremely small cast, the
size of this cast is nearly four times
larger than that of most shows. While
most cast members are fairly new to
the Behrend theater scene, the lack of
a real Behrend musical theater tradi
tion explains this sort of inexperience.
"I've worked with very few of these
people, so it is fun and scary," says
Elliot. Nonetheless, nearly all the cast
has strong backgrounds in vocal per
formance and/or acting.
"This is a big vocal show; every
photo by Erin Costello
Music Director Roberta Stoughton instructs Alison 011inger and Gretchen Foust, while Marjorie
Podolsky provides accompaniment on the piano.
body has to hold their weight vocally,"
states Elliot. While all roles, whether
lead or supporting characters, involve
a considerable amount of stage time,
the primary roles are those of the
Major-General, Pirate King, Frederic,
The Sergeant of Police, Ruth, Mabel,
Edith, and Kate.
Selected as the overprotective pa
triarch, Major-General Stanley,
Geoffrey Pieper, 06, Political Science,
feels "quite privileged to be given a
leading role, considering this is [his]
first musical.. Though the cast is in
experienced, they make up for it with
enthusiasm." Though this will mark
his debut role in musical theater,
Pieper, a member of Behrend's Con
"Everyone's really talented; I've never worked with
a more able cast. They learn so quickly; we'll have
no problem being ready by show time."
cert Choir, has had extensive work in
solo/group vocal performance.
In the role of the Pirate King, R.I.
Frelin, 08, Business/Liberal Arts/ Sci
ences, hopes that The Pirates of
Penzance "will be the start of a new
musical tradition at Behrend." Hav
ing starred in high school/community
productions (as Danny Zuko in
Grease, Professor Harold Hill in The
Music Man, and Sky Masterson in
Guys and Dolls), "it's been awhile
since I've been in a musical, and I'm
completely excited about this oppor
tunity," states Frelin. "Everyone's
really talented; I've never worked
with a more able cast. They learn so
quickly; we'll have no problem be
ing ready by show time."
Chosen to act as Frederic, the char
ismatic young man torn between duty
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to the pirates and loyalty to his own
desires, Behrend theater veteran
Michael Lechner, 06, Communica
tions, states that "since this is my first
musical, I'm very, very scared; but
I'm extremely excited at the same
time." Having starred as Haemon in
Antigone, Henry Harry in Brilliant
Traces, and Eddie in Only You, this
production, in which he will portray
the pirate apprentice, marks Lechner's
fourth appearance in a Behrend pro
duction.
Daryl Dambaugh, 04, Business,
who will play the role of the Sergeant
of Police, is "looking forward to a
great show. A lot of talent has come
together to make this all happen, and
I am excited to be a part of the cast."
Having starred as the Scarecrow in his
high school production of The Wiz
ard of Oz, Dambaugh hopes to "bring
experience from high school and put
it toward this."
As Mabel, the young fair maiden
who is a daughter to the Major-Gen
eral and the love interest of Frederic,
Gretchen Foust, 02, Business, also
expresses extreme excitement for the
musical. Having just transferred from
the University of Richmond this se
mester, Foust is "glad [she] was able
to participate here right off the bat.
This is really special and exciting."
Her previous musical experience in
cludes starring roles as Sarah Brown
in Guys and Dolls and the Narrator in
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat. "Those musicals were
TAT E
Erie Th e Behrend
_ College
Features
the most wonderful experiences of my
life; I wanted to be able to do some
thing like that again," states Foust.
In the, role of Kate, a sister to Mabel,
Lisa Perrette, 04, Political Science,
"knows this will be a lot of work" but
she is especially "looking forward to
the choreography and singing. Ev
eryone seems nice, and [she] is really
excited to work with everyone."
Though she has never acted in a mu
sical before (except for the role of
Dorothy in her sixth-grade production
of The Wizard of Or!), Perrette is in
volved with the Behrend Gospel
Choir and Concert Choir. "I'm glad
this campus is finally doing a musi
cal," Pen - ette states.
Additional cast members include
Jonelle Wilson as Ruth; Dawn
Mitchell as Edith; Joel Gross as
Samuel; Bond Davis, Buck Goedicke,
John Grolier. John Hanley, and Larry
Mitchell as Policeman/Pirates; Tom
Burger, John Champagne. Leo
Hanley, Aaron Horneman. George
Morales, and Chris Reed as Pirates;
Jennifer Jacob, Danielle Marshall,
Tricia Michel, Alison Olinger, and
Amanda Pieper as Sisters.
Working as stage managers for the
production will be Len Hupp, Jason
Loucks. and Jennifer Quadri.
This dedicated ensemble, along
with the triumvirate of directors, will
be spending nearly 15-20 hours per
week of rehearsal. Their rust goal is
to get vaguely familiar with their
parts, and then they will break into
smaller groups for more intense re
hearsal.
R.J. Frelin
"Pirate King"
style of theater at Behrend, extensive
measures are being taken to ensure the
quality of the production. This grand
spectacle of musical theatre will take
place in the Reed Commons (which,
for this musical, will seat 250-300), a
space which will better accommodate
such a large production. A major dif
ficulty is that the sets will have to be
assembled in one place and then trans
ferred to the Commons. Another set
back lies in the fact that the room is
not wired for lighting or acoustically
accommodating for such vocal perfor
lb accommodate for such a new mances.
"At its heart, this is a goofy story,
extremely melodramatic and typical
of the mid-nineteenth century Roman
tic comedy," states Elliot. "This is a
very different style than we're used
to."
ACROSS
1 Japanese
entertainer
7 Streetcar
11 Steal
14 Tie with ropes
15 Distinctive air
16 Birthday number
17 In dreamland
18 "Hud" star Pat
19 Affirmative vote
20 Resolute
22 Cried loudly
24 Blighted tree
25 Attention-getting
sound
28 Houdinl's last
name
29 Capital of
Suriname
32 Cartoon portrait
35 Definite article
38 Tennis event
39 Typewriter roller
42 Quaker pronoun
43 Giraffe, formerly
47 Affirm
50 Country singer
K.T.
____
52 Arkin or Bates
53 School org.
56 Word inventor
58 Trappers
61 Gore and
Jarreau
62 Marine shockers
65 Garden blooms
66 Permit
67 Diligent devotion
68 Honshu city
69 Nlnnyhammer
70 Form a vortex
71 Expressionless
DOWN
1 Woods clearing
2 Artist's stand
3 Arabic religion
4 Lean-to
5 Colors
6 Look
7 Khaki shade
8 Wish undone
9 Part of U.A.E.
10 Neighbor of
Zimbabwe
Thursday, February 5, 1998 Ihe Behrend College Collegian - Page 7
photo by Erin Costello
At final cuts on Thursday, January 29, Alison 011inger auditions
for a vocal role.
All rights reserved
"Goodfellas"
co-star
Curved mold
ings
Necklace units
The one there
of intrigue
Flightless bird
Disfigure
Dickens
character
Solitaire starter
Changing
schemes
Divide the deck
Cigar dropping
King's
supporters
One of the girls
Ultimate act
Parcel of
property
"The Naked
____"
Actress Gardner
Country singer
Tiflis
Time periods
36
37
40
41
44
45
48 Iniquity
49 Nothing to at
50 City south of
Gainesville
51 Parts of shoes
53 Payment for
burritos
In addition to the technical chal
lenges, Elliot laughingly states that,
with the extremely large cast, this is a
"scheduling nightmare." Though this
may be a scheduling hassle for the cast
and crew, there should be no hesita
tion for those theater/musical fans to
schedule this production into their
calendars; The Pirates of Penzance
will be produced March 26, 27, 28,
and 29.
Reservations can be made two
weeks prior to production; ticket
prices are $3 for students, $5 for gen
eral admission.
Deuce toppers
Ore analysis
Marsh growth
Asian sea
Baltic capital
Young boy
Crafty