Mingus Union High School junior Jack Murphree, is the props head in A Troupe of Ridiculous Thespians’ spring play, “Something Rotten,” said his favorite part is watching all the dancing.
Even though he mainly does the props and works with the set, about half the dancing is tap, he said.
“I really love the way that the choreography is all set up,” he said, “even though I’m moving buildings around it. It’s still really fun to watch.”
The 2015 show is a comedy set in the 1500s, when two brothers find a soothsayer to see how they can beat out William Shakespeare’s theater performances. The soothsayer tells the Bottom brothers that musicals are the next big hit.
“There’s an entire tap battle between me and Shakespeare,” said senior Jareth Alegria, who plays Nick Bottom.
Director James Ball said he announced the musical to the students in December.
“I go to a lot of plays and musicals,” he said. “It’s the first time in my life — I took my senior officers, as I do every year, and when I went home, I immediately bought a ticket to see it again. There’s so much that I missed.”
He wanted to wait until he had the best cast he could for this show, he said. And this year, he did.
“Knowing that this is a much dance heavier show than it we’ve had in the last year or two, we did the ballet, the Pumpkins Steals Christmas, as like a dance training for that,” Ball said. “And we had so many kids involved with that, which has been great for this production, because we were able to start with a base knowledge of all the kids.”
Senior Lyra Earles, who plays Bea Bottom, wife to Nick Bottom, said her favorite part of it is watching it slowly come together over the last two months.
“There’s even more like aspects in this that deserve to be seen and heard and loved, because we have all worked so hard on it,” she said. “If you love Shakespeare, you’ll love the show. If you hate Shakespeare, and you’ve never seen a Shakespeare play that you liked, the show’s for you, because half the cast hates Shakespeare, half the cast loves him.”
One of the things Earles and Alegria agreed was amazing for this show in particular was the costumes and the hair and makeup.
Melanie Rodriguez, the show’s hair and makeup head, said she’s working with lace-front wigs this year — wigs with lace glued to the actors’ foreheads instead of pinning the hair directly to the actor’s hair.
“I’ve never done a lace-front wig before, but I’ve been having to learn how to do that,” Rodriguez said.
“These lovely actors are my test subjects, but they do it with a smile.”
She “outdid herself,” Alegria said.
Earles’ mother, Holly Behlow, has been helping out with the costuming for the show.
“She’s been in charge of making some of these amazing corsets and dresses for these amazing young women who are in these historically accurate gowns,” Alegria said.
“She’s made me costumes since I was a baby, and so now I get to see her do what she loves for other people,” Earles said. “All four years of high school, has always said, ‘if he does any Renaissance or Regency show, I will be doing costuming for them.’ And then my senior year, he’s doing a Regency and Renaissance show, so she’s amazing.”
Between the singing, tap dancing and Shakespeare references, the show has a lot for everyone, including about 35 different references to other musicals, like “Annie,” “Les Miserables,” “Sweet Charity” and “Oklahoma!”
“It’s a bunch of tidbits all over there,” Ball said. “So for those people who love musicals, it pays homage to them. And if you hate musicals, it makes fun of how stupid and ridiculous and over the top they are.
“I think it might work for this valley, because we have some people because we have some people that love it and some people that hate it. A lot of times they end up dating each other.”
The show will open on Friday, April 3, at 2 p.m. and play the following Friday, April 10, at 6:30 p.m., Saturdays and Sunday April 4, 11 and 12. The Saturday shows are at 6:30 p.m. and the Sunday showing is at 3 p.m.
Tickets bought in advance are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors, $10 for students and children. Each will be $3 more at the door.
Tickets are available at atort.ludus.com/index.php.
