TWU Music takes its first try at musical theatre

Oct. 28, 2024 – DENTON – It's difficult enough under normal circumstances to navigate the pitfalls of musical theatre.

For the first musical theatre show in the division's history, TWU Music is challenging itself with Out of the Blue, a new production which will take the stage in the Margo Jones Performance Hall November 2-3.

"I think this is a little unique for most of us," said Melissa Hall, a voice instructor at TWU who has overseen half of the rehearsals. "Normally in this situation, we would call this a workshop, but we really felt strongly about making it a full production for the students to have an opportunity to really have blocking and really kind of dive into their parts. We've had several updates to the script, several updates to the score. The students have really had to kind of learn how to be adaptable and work through creation."

Alyssa Serrano, a freshman who is the lead in Saturday's shows, may have put it best: "Our job is to act the hell out of whatever we're given."

Out of the Blue is a musical under development by an Emmy-award-winning creative team. Inspired by true events, it's the story of 17-year-old art student Sienna who is losing her eyesight during her senior year in high school, and her ensuing struggle to fulfill her dream of attending college and becoming an artist.

The story and book were written by Mark Mazzarella and the music and lyrics by Sean P. Pallatroni. Mazzarella is an Emmy-winning writer, a two-time Tony award nominee and founder of Revolutionary Youth Theatre, and has written, produced and directed hundreds of productions. Pallatroni is an Emmy-winning composer, songwriter, director and pianist.

Mazzarella and Pallatroni were to arrive in Denton the week of the performance to make final adjustments and direction, while faculty and staff members Hall, Tracy Jordan, and Jeffrey Tarr have run rehearsals.

"Once Mark gave some really wonderful ideas about the storyline and how the artistic point of view came, we were able to do it," Hall said. "The thing that I think that we do really well is kind of stay in our own lanes. My expertise is in the music side of things, and so I'm really focused on how they're sounding and Tracy is doing blocking. There are a few times that things overlap where we want to do a song rehearsal and they've done most of the blocking, but there's just a few parts and I'll be like, okay, let's just block this really quick."

However, blocking – the positioning and choreographing of actors on stage – has been done in a space smaller than the larger Margo Jones stage, so there will be some adapting in the final week of rehearsals.

"The Division of Music is so large and there are concerts almost daily where we have set ups and tear downs, trying to work with that stage has been a little bit of a struggle," Hall said. "It's just the nature of the beast. When you have this many people working with one stage, you try and accommodate as much as possible. We're doing the best we can."

"It's been a process, certainly," Serrano said. "I think that it's been varyingly difficult for many of us. For me personally, I came from a program where things were changing all the time. I grew up in theater, and I think that when you think about it, artists aren't scheduled people to begin with. And so if you just live with the understanding of, like, we're making art here with artistic people."

Serrano shares the role of Sienna with Angeleen DeWitt, a senior. While both actors have plenty of stage experience, this experience has been a departure.

"It is unique, and it's kind of fun, too," DeWitt said. "It's fun in the way that there's no one I can compare my character to. I get to decide, with the director's help. But at the end of the day, Alyssa and I are Sienna, and that's really, really cool."

While they have no previous Siennas to evaluate, Serrano and DeWitt have compared their own notes.

"All the time," DeWitt said. "I think Alyssa is extraordinary. She's younger than me, I'm not 18 anymore, and she is. I just love watching her. She is so great at just bringing the rawness of Sienna in, and that feistiness. I feel like she's just not afraid to put her all into a character. And I definitely appreciate everything I've been able to get from her Sienna and from my Sienna and kind of mix it together to create this unique character."

The fact that Sienna will be performed by different actors poses a challenge to those who are in both shows, like Colin Nguyen, who plays Sienna's rival, Jackson.

"Character development has been harder," Nguyen said. "I have to learn how to interact with them separately, especially with the Siennas. They are very different. They're similar in the fact that they're both very talented and they're both very charismatic. But they're very different people. It's easy to distinguish how I act between both of them, but the timing and dialogue are different because everyone has their own way of speaking lines."

Add to that the challenge of the changes to the script. Out of the Blue is a show still being developed by Mazzarella and Pallatroni.

"This is still technically a draft," Nguyen added. "So we've gone through, I think, three different iterations of this script now, which have added scenes, deleted scenes, and changed dialogue. It's a great opportunity, because I know if I want to continue in this field, I will eventually have to take concepts like this, work with them, and they'll evolve and change. So this is a great learning experience, and a great thing to have on my resume."

Helping Sienna through her journey are her friends Rory and Jade. Rory will be played by Jessie Lucas on Saturday and Jocelyn Losak on Sunday, while Jade will be performed both days by Ruth Ngeny.

"Jade is described as an all-American girl," Ngeny said. "She really is the medium between Rory and Sienna. Sienna is very stubborn. She's going through a lot. And Rory is a more eccentric, creative friend. Jade just fits right in the middle."

Ngeny also finds herself in the middle of the two actors portraying Sienna.

"In a sense, I see them in Sienna's character," Ngeny said. "Angie, she's the more mature side of Sienna, while Alyssa, she's the younger side of Sienna. I love the dynamic because it challenges me having to just play this Jade but adapting to a more mature Sienna and a more playful, rowdier Sienna."

Rory, on the other hand, is the high-energy friend.

"Rory is very much a drama queen," Lucas said. "She is loud and unabashedly herself. She can be kind of bossy and a little bit hotheaded at times, but she really just has Sienna's best interest in mind. She's very protective, and she just wants her friends to have fun with each other.

"The music is challenging and fun, the characters are interesting and the plot is so touching at the end," Lucas said. "It's lovely. And I've really enjoyed making friends with all the people in the production, too. There are a lot of people in the show that I've seen around, but I haven't really been able to spend much time with them on account of music majors are very busy. So now that we have, like, prescribed times when we're all together, it's really lovely to sort of get to know everyone and see how they perform."

Out of the Blue

Cast
Kat Cashon
Hayley Cavazos
Angeleen DeWitt
Stefani Estrada
Karina Colon Fuentes
Paige Gurnsey
Andrew Hauenstein
Alaina Hooker
Anna Kate Scott
Cody Levek
Jocelyn Losak
Jessie Lucas
Ruth Ngeny
Colin Nguyen
Sofia Ramirez
Hannah Rhodes
Alyssa Serrano
Three Smith

Performances
Saturday, Nov. 2, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 3, 2 p.m.

Tickets
$10 for adults, including TWU faculty and staff.
$5 for students and senior citizens.
Free for children under 12.
Tickets are available online.