A year in the making: ‘Musical of Musicals’

March 11, 2010 by Bryant Nguyen 

The wait is over.

The UNLV theatre department-produced show “The Musical of Musicals: The Musical” as it takes the stage at the Black Box Theatre located in the Alta Ham Fine Arts Building starting March 12.

“I think it suited the talents of this department very well,” said Josh Penzell, director and UNLV MFA student. “It’s a fun show that I think the audience will really like and it appeals to a wide range of people.”

And yes, as the name suggests, it will pack a whole lot of musical styles in the hour and half show full of singing, dancing and comedy.

Inspired by the off-Broadway original of the same name, Penzell provides his own take on the musical about the classic tale of a damsel in distress expressed in five different musical genres.

In this case, June has trouble paying for her rent that is owed to a greedy landlord named Jitter, but a young man by the name of Billy comes to her aid.

“So it’s that story told in five different styles so it appeals to people who know musicals, but also to people who don’t know musicals,” Penzell said. “I don’t really want to ruin the surprise, but the original was very minimal with no costumes and very few lights in a small theatre. We expanded it a little bit.”

Auditions attracted over a hundred applicants that included UNLV students and performers around the state.

“I love musicals and it’s a hilarious and fun show,” said UNLV student Melody Wilson when asked about auditioning for her role of June. “It’s just not slap-stick comedy, but it’s also really witty and smart.”

Preparing for one musical is already a difficult task, so piling on four more styles makes it an even more challenging feat.

“Usually people would say that musical acting is not as good as straight play acting, but I think it is harder because you have to express yourself through singing,” Wilson said. “It is so difficult because you try to be true to each genre and that is hard. You have to do your research basically.”

Expectations are high for the show on opening night.

“I feel like it is going to be a huge success, especially in the Black Box because I feel like we get really good crowds in the Black Box,” Wilson said. “This is a little off-beat and it’s going to be good.”

Just in case the show doesn’t satisfy enough of everyone’s musical appetite, the show will run until March 21 and will be free for all students with their Rebelcard.