STORY BY COLE WATSON
This season Sheridan’s Performing Arts students will put on six productions.
Before the production year begins The Canadian Music Theatre Project will be holding its second annual Festival of New Musicals from Oct 8 to 10 at Sheridan’s studio theatre at Trafalgar Campus.
The project, led by producer Michael Rubinoff, wants to give audiences a taste of the new musicals being developed by Sheridan’s performing arts students and talented writers in the industry.
The audience will get to experience four productions in a “live read” format over the three days. These productions have no sets, costumes or choreography.
“A live reading gives writers a chance to get feedback, take notes and engage in discussion about how they can improve upon their piece before it becomes a full production,” said Rubinoff. “It also allows us to take risks and develop a piece that can make a significant contribution to Canada’s musical theatre.”
In the first production slot of Dec 1to 13, audiences will get to experience the award-winning musical, Legally Blonde, based on the cult-classic film.
The play follows the transformation of Ellie woods as she tackles stereotypes and scandal in the pursuit of following her dreams while attending Harvard Law.
Legally Blonde, at MacDonald-Heaslip Hall is sure to be hilarious and heart warming.
If audiences are looking for something new then they may be interested in seeing The Enlightenment of Percival von Schmootz.
This new musical, developed under the Canadian Music Theatre Project last year,
is a satirical comedy about a ridiculously optimistic young man named Percival and his quest to bring light and hope to the dark ages with disastrous results.
“Whenever we go into developing a season we always involve our music theatre faculty and technical production faculty,” said Rubinoff. “ We want to choose shows that we think can best show off our students and give them an opportunity for them to learn and grow as performers.”
The curtain goes up on Damn Yankees and Sweet Charity in February.
“We certainly chose a great season to perform a baseball musical in,” said Rubinoff.
Damn Yankees is about a jealous man named Joe Boyd, who loves his fictional team, the Washington Senators, just as much as he hates the constantly winning New York Yankees.
Joe gives up everything he has ever loved, including his wife, when he sells his soul to the devil to become the greatest player of all time and takes his Senators on a historic winning streak.
Sweet Charity allows the audience to experience the bold and colorful world of 1960s’ New York through the eyes of dance hall hostess, Charity Hope Valentine.
Miss Valentine dreams of falling in love so much that she continues to lose sight of who she really is and gives her heart to all the wrong guys.
Two serious themed musicals, Grand Hotel and Sunday in the Park with George take over in April.
“I believe that one of the great things we can offer is a slate of programming that is quite diverse,” said Rubinoff. “We are doing a lot of comedies this year but we knew we wanted to include something contemporary and serious for the last production slot because it has a great deal of challenge to it.”
Grand Hotel is a drama set in one of the Europe’s most prestigious hotels in Berlin, Germany during 1928.
The hotel is host to guests of every social class and reveals their lifelong desires and passions during one of histories most dangerous times.
Lastly, Sunday in the Park with George is a romance about a struggling artist named George Seurat, who is in search of a new artistic path to follow.
Seurat’s journey brings him to the last century where his great grandfather of the same name is finishing his most famous painting and destroying his relationship with his lover Dot.
“This piece is compelling, daring and dangerous,” said Rubinoff. “Everything good theatre should be.”
If you’re interested in attending any of the musicals put on by Sheridan’s talented Performing Arts students, this map can act as a guide to plan your schedule.