Members from Off-Broadway, a soon to be official club on campus, put together its first performance on Friday in the theatre building at Cal Poly.
The musical titled “Stuck in the Middle” was an ensemble of students from the theater department. Some students were noticeably more skilled in their ability to sing and dance than others.
It was an unusual approach to do a play with music and dance. The club used a variety of songs from different musicals like “Reefer Madness” and “Hairspray,” and then tied them in to create a story line. All the songs performed, although from different musicals, meshed in well together.
The story surrounds Claude played by Joe Martone, who is on the verge of crossing over into the afterlife. He is hanging onto his life for a reason that is unknown at the onset of the play. The grim reapers, played by Mauricio Soto and Kimberlee Stone, follow Claude throughout his journey.
Even though it had a macabre theme, the musical was comical and stirred giggles and laughter from the audience.
In this journey Claude is awakened through each song. Songs like “Mama, I’m a Big Girl Now” from “Hairspray” and “I still Believe” from “Miss Saigon the Musical,” added an emotional element to the story line. Each song further opens his eyes and enables him to ultimately make a decision. Will he join the grim reapers or go back to his immoral life?
It is discovered through the “I Still Believe” performance that Claude may have been cheating on his partner.
For the finale, the whole cast came on stage and performed a medley of dances. Claude decided on crossing over, he became conscious of the pain he was causing his loved ones.
Lighting design on the set was well coordinated and was an important feature in all scenes due to the lack of props. When a scene became intense, various colors were used to further enhance it. Cheerful scenes were lit with white and yellow flashing lights. A scene with a love song titled “Romeo and Juliet” from “Reefer Madness” was lit with different hues of reds, oranges and some white.
One of the performances that left a lasting impression was the song “Agony” from “Into the Woods Musical.” Daniel Davidson and Daniel Bravo both sang an emotionally charged duet. They both projected their powerful voices loud and clear, which were features many of the other students lacked.
Laura De Lano, a third-year theater studies student, was the vocal coach for the members of Off-Broadway. De Lano explained that Off-Broadway was created in order to accommodate students who wanted to sing, not just act.
“We started the club because there is no musical theater here, so this is our musical theater outlet,” said De Lano, “Many people don’t think they can sing so we want to boost their confidence and just have a positive environment for all the members.”
Members who were not vocally skilled were those who wanted to try out singing for fun.
“Most members aren’t vocally trained…I come from a choral background so I helped out those students who had no musical background,” said De Lano.
Anthony Batiste, a third-year technical theatre student, is usually backstage assisting with the lighting design. He wanted to try out something new.
“It’s a different experience being in front of the curtain, backstage it’s less stressful.”
Batiste’s solo performance included lots of dancing. It was evident he was a novice, nonetheless, he graced the stage with his confidence.
The cast prepared and practiced once a week last fall quarter. During the first week of winter quarter they put in extra work to perfect their performances.
“Everyday this week we did rehearsals from 10:30 PM to 12:30 AM,” said De Lano.
It was pleasant to see students try an out of the ordinary approach to theater. Overall it was a well put together performance.
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