OCU STRIPPED is beginning rehearsals for their first full-length musical since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The student production company is producing “Songs for a New World” by Jason Robert Brown, a series of musical vignettes centered around overlapping themes. The show will premiere at 8 p.m. March 19-20 on the Wanda L. Bass School of Music’s Stretch streaming portal.
Simón Gómez Villegas, music theater/music composition senior, is the director of “Songs for a New World.” He said he first decided to submit “Songs for a New World” in December of 2019 when he asked Meghan Rooney, music theater senior if she would join him as his choreographer.
Gómez said the themes of community and ensemble sitting at the core of the show fall in line with the values of OCU STRIPPED.
“The nature of STRIPPED is always ensemble. Every time you see a STRIPPED show, you remember how well everyone moves together and creating pictures that everyone helps form,” Gómez.
Gómez said “Songs for a New World” is built around overlapping stories and songs using those overlapping stories to fill out the stage.
“Even the first two numbers, the first 10 or so minutes of the show, shows the entire cast working together to create the world,” Gómez said. “This show is great for STRIPPED because we have such incredible vocalists who can master the challenging music quickly and spend most of their energy on the thematic complexity.”
He said the themes of the show have only become more prevalent since the pandemic started, even though he submitted it months before.
“The first words of the show are a new world calls across the ocean, a new world calls across the sky,’ and I feel like everyone’s noticing that element,” Gómez said. “I’ve seen like five announcements for the show from different companies on Facebook pages throughout the entire country.”
Gómez said the show is driven by rich ensemble work, which is leading the artistic vision for the show.
“I’ve had ideas, plans and dreams for what our show is going to look like, but it is mainly something I am finding out in the rehearsal room,” Gómez said. “The conversations we are having with the cast as we hit the ground running is the key to finding the core of this show.”
Gómez said COVID-19 protocols required the creative team to block the entire production before rehearsals began. He said creating traffic patterns that allow for both proper distancing and intentional stage direction proved to be the greatest challenge going into the show.
“Rooney came up with the idea to use music stands to represent actors, which helped a ton. Figuring out how to direct while following protocols is the hardest part,” Gómez said. “For example, we spent at least 30 minutes trying to figure out how to get blocks off-stage because only the dancers can touch the blocks. When dancers aren’t in the number, we have to figure out how to get them on and off.”
Gómez said the challenges of mounting the musical have been softened by a supportive and innovative creative team.
“We’re really nice to each other, just really supportive. We all have ideas in the space that we try. If they don’t work, we keep going. It’s been a really wonderful experience,” Gómez said.
Rooney said the show’s relevance is at the forefront of the development of the show, both for the development and for the cast.
“The opening number always makes me cry. It’s talking about how you think life is going to be one thing, and then it switches in a matter of seconds,” Rooney said. “I think that’s what happened to us in 2020, and I think it’s also something in the long run that will be very healing for us and the cast.”
Rooney said the show is written for a four-person cast, but it was expanded to 12: eight singers and four dancers.
“I am responsible for choreographing the show, which is new for me, so we’re all getting out of our comfort zones,” Rooney said.
Lisi Levy, acting senior, is the artistic director of STRIPPED. She said the production was planned originally for the fall semester of 2020 but was pushed back to spring so the creative team would have time to become familiar with COVID-19 protocols.
“We were all at a point where we were like ‘we’re one of the first performances up. We don’t feel ready to put something on its feet when we haven’t seen something on its feet,’” Levy said. “The months before school started were really tough to face as a team due to all of the uncertainty.”
Levy said the STRIPPED team, along with School of Music administrators, decided to place “Songs for a New World” on hold until the spring and instead produced “Reclaiming and Reinventing,” a pre-recorded cabaret which premiered on Facebook.
“Songs for a New World” is OCU STRIPPED’s first full-length production since the beginning of the pandemic. Levy said she hopes the production brings a sense of relief to the audience and catharsis to the cast.
“I think that right now, we’re all a little desperate for hope, and I think that this show brings hope. It has a lot of reality in it,” Levy said.
“Songs for a New World” will premiere on the Stretch streaming portal at 8 p.m. March 19-20.
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