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Given the wide range of musicals featured in the annual spring showcase being presented by the University of Manitoba Musical Theatre Ensemble, the title Anything Goes! feels like an appropriate one.
The showcase, which features two performances on March 22 and one on March 23 at the Gas Station Arts Centre in Osborne Village, will see students from a wide variety of disciplines and experience levels performing scenes from the musical Anything Goes! from 1934 to the more-recently-debuted Evil Dead musical based on the popular horror film franchise.
“We had so many people graduate last year. We only have a few returning members, so it’s a lot of new people” said ensemble director Donna Fletcher on the rationale for this year’s repertoire choices in an interview on Morning Light. “I had to sort of program for the diversity of people, skills and abilities, and I added a bunch of new pieces we’ve never done before, some of which are a little more cutting edge.”
“It’s been really exciting this year,” shares veteran ensemble member Sandra Goetz about the infusion of new talent into the group. “It’s really just been blowing us all away, those of us who have been there.”
While the levels of experience within the ensemble may vary, Fletcher notes that the strength of musical theatre is that there’s always a way to utilize someone’s skill sets on stage. “You can be an actor who can barely sing and there’s still a role for you,” she says. “You can be an opera singer, and you can sing something amazing from the Golden Age or the more operatic things of the modern canon of musical theatre. I try to fashion something for everyone and everyone in the ensemble is featured in some sort of lead.”
Since everyone has the chance to be a star in Anything Goes!, students have the chance to build confidence and skills regardless of what their goals are with their music degree. “It brings a big sense of stage presence,” says first-year ensemble member Sophie Caron, who also studies cello at the University of Manitoba. “You can add that to any performing, just being able to step out on stage and connect with the audience is really amazing.”
For Goetz, who aims to be a music teacher after completing her degree, watching the way that Fletcher goes about showcasing every single student has been inspiring. “Looking forward to the future, where I’ll be leading my own ensembles, that’s really something that I have taken into account: the work ethic and the organization and the communication and how important that is as the leader of an ensemble.”
Audiences can see the next generation of performers, educators and music professionals strut their stuff in Anything Goes! at the Gas Station Arts Centre in Osborne Village this weekend. Showtimes are at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on March 22 and at 2 p.m. on March 23. Tickets and more information can be found at the Desautels Faculty of Music website.