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Experimental Musical: Anyone Can Whistle by Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents
Thursday-Saturday 7:30 P.M. February 7-9
Wilder Main 135 W. Lorain St
Tickets the nights of performance are $4 and will be available at the door. Advance tickets are $3 and are available at the desk in Wilder Hall.
For more information, contact Wilder Main at 440/775-8102
Sponsored by the Oberlin Musical Theater and Oberlin Student Theater Associations
OBERLN COLLEGE STUDENTS TO PRESENT SONDHEIM MUSICAL FEBRUARY 7-9
JANUARY 31, 2002-- A student production of the experimental musical Anyone Can Whistle -- with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and the book by Arthur Laurents -- will be presented Thursday through Sunday, February 7-9 at 7 P.M. in Oberlin College's Wilder Hall.
The director is Lev Rosen, a junior English and creative writing major. The music director is Jeffrey Nelson, a junior composition major, with choreography by first-year student Amelia Samms. The production stars sophomores Bob Brennan and Amanda Nelson and junior Leah Patriarco. Rosen also directed Sondheim's A Little Night Music last semester for the Oberlin Musical Theater Association.
"The show is considered wonderful and strange," says Rosen, who will be assistant director for Sondheim's Sweeney Todd at Oberlin this spring. "It's about insanity and miracles and lies, conformity vs.nonconformity. It takes place in a bankrupt town whose corrupt mayor and her town council devise a fake miracle to attract tourists.
"When residents of the town asylum mix in with 'pilgrims' seeking the miracle cure, the town leaders launch a campaign to separate the sane from the insane -- assisted by a newly arrived psychiatrist with unconventional methods."
The original 1964 production starred Angela Lansbury, Lee Remick and Harry Guardino. Despite its short run on Broadway, Whistle in subsequent years gained a following as a "cult musical," considered far ahead of its time for its innovations in construction and subject matter. The musical is also considered the turning point in Sondheim's career as composer/lyricist; his subsequent musicals would include such prize-winning works as Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and Passion.
Media Contact: Betty Gabrielli
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