Students’ Union launches preparations for campus musical

After toying with the idea for over a year, the University of Alberta’s Students’ Union is making preparations for its first official campus musical, which is slated to take to the stage in early 2013.

While the musical is still in its early stages, the dates for performances have been confirmed for Feb. 28, Mar. 1, 5 and 6, 2013. Job postings for the positions of campus musical director and choreographer were recently posted on jobkin.ca, with the application process closing on Friday, Oct. 26. Open to any undergraduate students studying at the U of A, these will be the only paid positions within the musical.

SU Vice-President (Student Life) Saadiq Sumar says the postings have already garnered a handful of applications, and that details about which musical will be performed and audition times will be decided on with the help of the director and choreographer following their hiring in the next few weeks.

Sumar has already received some suggestions about potential choices for the musical, including The Music Man, Young Frankenstein and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

The idea for a campus musical was originally conceived in 2011 by then VP (Student Life) candidate Colten Yamagishi, although it never came to fruition due to a lack of time and resources. Sumar says he knew from the beginning of his term that he wanted to have a campus musical, and was able to get a head start on the planning as a result.

“When I talked to Colten (Yamagishi) at the end of last year during transitions, he told me about some of the roadblocks he faced,” explains Sumar. “So what I tried to do, even before day one of my time in office, was start talking to some people about the musical and get the ball rolling a bit so we could be successful in hosting a musical this year.”

Sumar says they’re also toying with the idea of taking the musical one step further by turning it into a dinner theatre, an idea he believes is already popular at other universities and in the Edmonton area.

“If we do decide to go with something that’s more of a dinner theatre, we’re thinking of offering the option of either a dinner or just a musical. So if students are just interested in the musical aspect of it, they can come by for a reduced ticket price. And then if students want dinner, we’d let them in earlier so they can have dinner before,” Sumar says.

The campus musical is part of the Students’ Unions continued efforts to expand their event programming as they attempt to widen their range of events in the coming year.

Keep an eye out on The Gateway Online for further developments regarding the campus musical.

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