Friday, May 18, 1984
The Friday Edition
The weekly arts & entertainment newsmagazine
The sell-out story behind ‘West Side’
Music, dance and
theater collaborate
University Theatre simply can't sell any more tickets
to the upcoming production of "West Side Story" —
it just can't.
All six shows are sold out. They have been for
months.
So the pressure to sell enough tickets to cover costs
is off. The pressure to coordinate and polish the
behemoth production, however, is on.
"West Side Story" is a collective effort of the School
of Music and the departments of dance and drama. It is,
by any standards, a huge production. The dancing,
vocal and acting sequences are complex, and could on
ly be done with the cooperation of the three
departments.
Director John Rindo is a doctoral student in the
drama department; Caroline Shell, who choreographed
the musical, is head of the Dance Department; Exine
Bailey, Richard Clark and Marsha Mabrey, in charge of
coaching the soloists, directing group vocal work and
conducting the orchestra, respectively, are professors
in the School of Music.
Story by Dave Stone
Photo by Mark Pynes
Clark and Bailey have spent several hours each
week since auditions helping the cast perfect their vocal
roles. Bailey coached the 10 cast members who had solo
parts, while Clark worked with the 35 members of the
cast (out of 37) who sing in group numbers.
Rindo started preparing for the musical in January
1983, nearly a year before choosing the cast last
December.
He says “West Side Story" has always been his
favorite musical, and he was one of the early supporters
of the production. Other musicals, such as "Kiss Me,
Kate," were suggested, since "West Side Story" had
been done by several other local companies in the past.
But "West Side" was agreed upon, and it sold out in
the second week of February — "We were really shock
ed" when the show sold out so quickly, Mabrey says.
"John Rindo has been just a super source of energy
and spontaneity in bringing everybody together," she
adds. "It's been very, very pleasurable" working on the
musical.
"It's also been a nice experience for those of us who
are in the music department to get outside of our
department and meet with our colleagues in the arts,'
she says. "It's been a nice stimulus."
The obstacles in putting together "West Side Story"
were " monumental," Rindo says, because of the
geographical separation of the departments. The
School of Music and the theater department, for exam
ple, are at opposite ends of the campus.
Because of the separation, Rindo says that "in the
past people have been reticent to do this kind of
project."
Shell says that "West Side Story" would have been
physically impossible to do without cooperation of the
three departments. For instance, several rehearsal
studios in different departments were needed to
rehearse the different dance units separately.
Artistic decisions also needed to be resolved bet
ween the departments.
"We had to get our heads together with the music
people and make some compromises in terms of all the
elements — in terms of acting and the singing and the
dancing with all the cast," Shell says.
Rindo says problems have surfaced which needed
"creative solutions." Some problems were easily solv
ed, such as the use of studios in different departments
to rehearse the musical's different dance units.
Other problems, however, weren't solved so easily.
The orchestra pit at Robinson Theater comfortably seats
25 or 30 musicians, Mabrey says, hardly enough for
"West Side Story'"s 55-member orchestra.
The solution? The ensemble's rhythm section was
put in a trap room under the stage. But the sound of the
drummers in the tiny room would have been deafening,
so padding was added to the room's walls.
But sound wouldn't carry out of the room, so they
added microphones to boost the sound.
And TV monitors had to be installed so the isolated
University Theatre’s spring sell-out production of “Westside Story” is a campus collaboration
by the School of Music and the departments of theater and dance. The ever-popular musical is
directed by John Rindo (pictured here behind the fence), a doctoral student in the drama
department. David Gustafson stars as Tony, and Lynnette Schenkel as Maria.
group could see the conductor.
The weekend before the show's opening last
Wednesday, Rindo said the show was close to being
ready, and the cast was responding with energy to the
challenges he presents as a director.
"I have very high expectations. I'm not like a
slavedriver or anything, but I think people rise up to the
expectations," Rindo says. "I wouldn't be your Woody
Hayes-type director (because) it works against my per
sonality — I'm not a mean person.
"All the directors involved in the production team
have been very cooperative, and have been very hard
working."
Shell said Rindo chose her to choreograph "Wesi
Side Story" after he saw her work on Dance '83, and for
her reputation as a demanding teacher.
"In talking with some of the students, he had heard
that I'm a real taskmaster," Shell says. "He said that
that's what he wanted — someone who was as much a
taskmaster as he was."
Lynnette Schenkel, who plays the lead part of Maria
in the production (David Gustafson plays the other lead
part, Tony) agrees that the co-directors have been
demanding, but fair.
“None of (hem are trying to work for just
themselves or their department," Schenkel says. "They
all seem to be working for the better of the show."
Shell has been working on original choreography
for the show since last summer, and has made constant
adjustments in the dance sequences since then.
Creating the "totally fresh, contemporary move
ment feelings and images" for "West Side Story" has
been a time-consuming project, she says.
"It's just like pottery. You just have to scratch the
whole thing and start all over until something works.
Students want to be pushed beyond (where) they will
push themselves," Shell continues. "People want to be
challenged, but they don't know how to challenge
themselves."
Schenkel says the cast and crew have been working
hard to perfect the production, putting in about 22
hours a week until recently, when they began to work
up to eight or more hours a day in preparation for open
ing night.
"If the push from the directors isn't enough, peer
pressure is really-starting to come into play," Schenkel
says. "One way or the other... we're all going to be
ready for the show."