Opens today: SEMO's production of 'Sweet Charity' a group effort

The Department of Theatre and Dance has squeezed every student body they could afford onto the stage for the production of "Sweet Charity," the spring musical from Southeast Missouri State University. Fifty students, 250 costumes and many more crew and orchestra members will come together to put on the show tonight through Sunday.

"These musicals are just mammoth pieces of work that require collaboration from different areas," said director Kenneth L. Stilson, professor of theater and dance at Southeast. "It makes these things really huge endeavors because of the incredible amount of collaboration."

The story takes place in 1960s New York. Charity Hope Valentine — whose very name suggests her disposition — works as an optimistic hostess in a dance hall where men pay to dance with the women. Dance hall hostesses, or taxi dancers, were largely labeled prostitutes, and with good reason as some carried their duties off the dance floor. But, according to Stilson, Charity remains pure and innocent. The show contains just a little innuendo, Stilson said.

Charity falls in love with everyone she meets, which only leads to her getting scammed, betrayed or left standing alone.

"She has a huge heart and sees the world with rose-colored glasses," said Brittany Kriger, the Southeast student playing the lead role. "No matter what life hands her, she always makes the best of it. That's just something everyone wishes they can do. Just seize life with a positive view."

The show has no scripted villain, just the internal conflict coming from Charity falling in love and getting knocked down.

"She doesn't see the bad in people, so she's constantly getting the wool pulled over her eyes," Kriger said. "It's really just a personal struggle overcoming obstacles that get flung her way."

Kriger came to Southeast to study musical theater after Mary Lou Henry, a family friend in Louisiana, told her that before she hit Broadway, she needed to study under Judith Farris. Farris, the vocal coach at Southeast, originally studied under Mary Lou Henry at Southeast years ago.

"Isn't that amazing?" Farris said. "Coming full circle like that. [Henry] discovered my voice. I'd never sung a note until I took her class," she said.

Farris took on the role of music supervisor as well as vocal director in this production.

"Every time they open their mouths I have to make sure their voices are working properly," she said. That includes tone, breathing, diction and keeping their voices healthy and safe.

"It's like planning out a road trip," she said. "The audience just wants to sit back and enjoy this trip."

She also booked the orchestra, made up of members of the Jerry Ford Orchestra, and made sure they had and knew music for the show.

Rhonda Weller-Stilson scoured thrift shops from Memphis, Tenn., to St. Louis to build the wardrobe. She designed each costume down to chunky bracelets and shiny necklaces.

"I kind of designed it like a big crayon box," Weller-Stilson said. She heads the Department of Theatre and Dance and designs the costumes for several shows throughout the year.

After months of practice, hours of sewing and hundreds of lighting cues, "Sweet Charity" will open at 7:30 p.m. today in the Bedell Performance Hall. The show continues at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets are $17 and $19 at the River Campus box office, 651-2265, www.metrotix.com or MetroTix outlets.

charris@semissourian.com

388-3641