The Utah Festival Opera & Theatre will perform "Les Miserables" with a full orchestra

According to Michael Ballam, founding general director of the Utah Festival Opera & Theatre, the festival is one of the last places in America to see classics akin to “Les Misérables” as intended.
“’Les Mis” is huge,” Ballam said. “People here will get to experience it differently than they have any place else because of the full orchestration that we’re using. Our orchestra are principle orchestra players from all over the U.S.”
According to Gary Griffin, managing director of the festival, Broadway shows have a cap of 13 musicians.
“The last time I went to see ‘Oklahoma’ there were 13 musicians in the pit,” Griffin said. “That’s what you get when you go to Broadway.  If you’re lucky you get 13 and most of them are synthesized. We’ll have a full 30, 40 piece orchestra.”
Ballam said that operas require a full ensamble and that enables them to produce the classics as scored.
“We have them because we do opera as well which requires the larger orchestra,” Ballam said. “And we’d like to present the classical musical theater pieces that people can’t experience in the way that they were conceived. That’s part of our mission.”
“Les Misérables” opens July 12th.

The Utah Festival Opera & Theatre replace Michael Ballam in "Les Mis"

The founding general director of the Utah Festival Opera & Theatre, originally scheduled to perform the role of Jean Valjean in “Les Miserables,” has stepped aside citing his responsibilities in running the festival. “Les Mis” fans need not worry as the lead role will now be played by Grammy Award winner Patrick Miller.
“We found someone extraordinary,” Ballam said. “And he is going to be amazing.”
With posters and brochures already printed announcing him in the role of Valjean, Ballam turned to his connections in New York to find his replacement.
“I have friends who are agents in New York and when we determined it was best for me to manage the company rather than be an absentee person for the run of ‘Les Mis,’ I called some of my friends who have Jean Valjeans on Broadway and said, ‘Do you have anyone in your stable of artists that we ought to look at?’"
Ballam said he had several to choose from but Miller was the obvious choice.
“He went into a practice room and sang through most of Jean Valjean, live, into the computer,” Ballam said. “It’s not like going into a recording studio where they can adjust the knobs and you’re not really sure what you are hearing. If you go in with a cheap video camera you know exactly what somebody sounds like. We had a number of possibilities but Patrick was far and above the frontrunner.”
According to Gary Griffin, the managing director of the festival, Ballam will be missed, but Miller will not disappoint.
“Some people will be disappointed,” Griffin said. “But once they hear Mr. Miller, they’ll be pleased.”
Ballam agreed with Griffin and said that he will be back.
“I’ll be back next year to do ‘The Man of La Mancha,’" Ballam said. "Yeah, I’m not quitting.”

The Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre starts its season by breaking records

The Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre began selling single tickets on April 7th for its 22nd season and broke its record for sales in one day.
“We had our biggest sale on the 7th,” said Michael Ballam, the founding general director of the Festival. “I think Nancy told me that we sold $30,000 in tickets in one day.”
According to Gary Griffin, the managing director of the Festival, that is double of what it has done in the past and attributed it to their lineup for its 2014-2015 season.
“We thought ‘Les Mis’ would be a runaway but it’s all of them,“ Griffin said. “All of them are doing quite well.”
Ballam agreed with Griffin and said that they had hoped that by delaying single ticket sales by one month people would purchase subscriptions.
“We wanted to incentivize that to happen because we’d really like them to see everything we do, not just one of the shows.”

The Chase Fine Arts Center gets $1.5 million for improvements, but no one will see them

The state legislature awarded $1.5 million to Utah State University for improvements to the Chase Fine Arts Center, but staff members agree that it doesn’t address the needs of its students.
According to Jerrod Larsen, the manager of the Chase Fine Arts Center and assistant director for production services, the Morgan Theater was amazing when it was built in 1967, but time and lack of funding have caused it to wane.
“The building was built in ‘67 so there’s a lot of stuff that was just great when the building opened,” Larsen said. “But after 40 some odd years, it’s not great or it’s not up to current standards.”
The money awarded is for improvements to existing buildings. Larsen said that USU had the building inspected by an outside firm to evaluate its needs.
“In 2010 USU facilities hired a company called Method Studios to do what we call the ‘code review’ of the entire fine arts complex,” Larsen said. “So the Morgan Theater was part of that. The purpose was to identify where we’re out of compliance for code or where we’re lacking in things that we need.”
Larsen said that the company found issues involving the seismic connections to the roof deck as well as air issues involving ventilation, heating and cooling.
“We’re talking the seismic connections of the roof deck to the walls above the ceiling," Larsen said. "The Cat-walk system to access everything above the ceiling isn’t up to current code. There are some HVAC, some heating, ventilation and air conditioning issues where the units are either failing or they’re not very efficient. A lot of stuff was stuff no one would ever see.”
According to Larsen, the Morgan Theater needs a lot more than the amount awarded to meet current standards. Until recently, the lighting students were using a “cobbled together” control console.
“We were training kids that had a solid background in the concepts of design, but actual experience working on equipment they would find out in the world, we just couldn’t do it,” Larsen said. “And in reality we still can’t without some serious funding and I know that the college administration is doing everything they can to do that.”
In order to make the theater program competitive, a lot more funding is needed.
“The Morgan, all told, needs $3.5 million,” Larsen said. “What we can have for $1.5 million is a very safe and improved Morgan Theater.”
Matthew Stowe, the technical director for the department, said that much could be done to improve the theater as it's being worked on.
“If you’re going to tear things apart,” Stowe said. “You might as well put it back together right instead of back together the way it was when it was wrong - or at least wrong for what we’re doing now.”
According to Stowe, it makes sense to do an acoustic study before replacing the ceiling.
“If they’re going to redo the ceiling, you want to do an acoustic study along with it to make sure that the space sounds good because honestly, this space is awful to do sound for a musical."
Stowe said that the Morgan Theater is a Shakespearian theater and was never meant to house musicals that required speaker clusters.
“The sound system, the way it is now, it’s been redesigned and rehung but we’re bandaging a bleeding wound,” Stowe said. “We’re trying to fix a room that was never meant to have speaker clusters in it. We’re shooting reinforced sound at hardwood which is bouncing straight back at the microphone which creates a sound-loop which creates feedback which is hard to control.”
Larsen said that the department’s main priority is safety, but so too is making sure its students are prepared.
“Ultimately,” Larsen said, “what we want is for our student to go out into the world prepared for what they’re going to find there.”

Construction at USU elicits opposing views on student education

The Morgan Theater at Utah State University is scheduled to begin renovations this summer. The department head for theater arts said it won’t impact the student’s education, but not everyone is convinced.
Kenneth Risch, the department head, is confident that the renovations will not interrupt the theater program.
“The students come here to learn,” Risch said. “And they know that their education will not be affected by the project in a major way.”
He later said that it will influence the type of shows selected for production.
“The only thing it affects is the choice of musicals,” Risch said. “We will not be doing anything on the scale of ‘Tarzan’ until we can get back into the Morgan.”
Matthew Stowe, the technical director for the department, is of a different mind.
“Saying it won’t, I think, is ignorant,” Stowe said. “I think in the end it will be better for us but certainly for a year, year and a half, they won’t have the same education.”
While supportive of the renovations and the department’s decisions, Stowe said that the lighting and scenery students will miss out on training unique to the Morgan Theater.
“It will affect our lighting and scenery students,” Stowe said. “Lighting, sound, scenery, all of that is different in this kind of space so most certainly the project will affect it.”
According to Risch, the students will work in the Caine Lyric Theater, which is off campus in downtown Logan.
“It’s a beautiful little theater that we hope the USU students will want to give a try,” Risch said.
The theater is equally equipped in comparison to the Morgan but, according to Stowe, the lighting and scenery students will not be able to learn the challenges unique to larger venues.
“Small scenery has its own issues,” Stowe said. “And large scenery has its own issues. If you’re not able to design on a large stage then you don’t necessarily gain that perspective.”
Both Risch and Stowe agree that the renovations in the Morgan Theater are overdue and that the safety of its students is the priority.

The Cache Theatre Company prepares for its 25th anniversary

The Cache Theatre Company's 24th season hasn’t even ended but preparations are already being made to celebrate its 25th anniversary in September.
Karlee Heaps, the president of CTC, is still planning its 2014-2015 season but likes the theme of paying homage to the past while welcoming the new.
“Next year we’re celebrating our 25th anniversary so we’re trying to blend new and old,” Heaps said. “We’re doing one of the first musicals they ever did, ‘Shenandoah’ and then we’re also trying to do a brand new musical but we’re still deciding."
“Shenandoah,” according to Jared Rounds, the head of the artistic department, is beautiful and will have a guest director.
“It's a beautiful piece that I think people in the valley will love to see,” Rounds said. “And I like that Floyd Salisbury, who was the original president of the company, is coming in to direct.”
According to Rounds, there is something that the company hasn’t done before and he hopes it gets people planning.
“This is the first year that we are announcing our complete season beforehand,” Rounds said. “So hopefully that will get our patrons planning around us.”
Traditionally the CTC had only performed musicals but, according to Heaps, the company is adding plays to its repertoire.
She said that she wants to continue the traditions that make CTC great and at the same time continue to inject it with new ideas.
“I think new ideas are what keep you alive,” Heaps said.

Callbacks for Utah State University's production of "Bus Stop" are posted

Utah State University’s theater department is preparing for its 2014-2015 season by posting its callbacks on Tuesday for its production of “Bus Stop.”
Richie Call, an assistant professor of acting and the director of the play, said he loves the production by William Inge and hopes to be surprised.
“I’m always looking for people who surprise me,” Call said. “So if they make a choice that I haven’t thought of, that’s always attractive to me because I think, ‘Maybe they’ll do this in the rehearsal room.’”
He said that he’s less interested in actors who just memorize lines and stage direction because anyone can do that.
“I’m more interested in people who take what they have and then, based on that, make interesting choices,” Call said.
Sydnee Fullmer, a theater student at USU, was one of the few called back. She auditioned for the role of Grace and is thankful it’s not a musical.
“I get a little more nervous when it’s musical auditions,” Fullmer said. “You have to sing and do pieces and dance usually. This big of a scene - you memorize it, you do it and it’s not too bad.”
The cast should be posted by Friday. Show dates for the 2014-2015 season have not been announced.