Gordon Schwinn, a talented young songwriter, learns that he has a brain tumor and needs an operation urgently. While in hospital, Gordon’s greatest fear is dying with his greatest songs still inside of him; and so from his hospital bed, and in while in a coma, he begins writing the songs. Gordon eventually has surgery and recovers completely – his near death experience encourages him to re-evaluate and better appreciate the people and relationships in his life. The show is an uplifting story of determination and hope, featuring music by William Finn and Jason Robert Brown, and book by James Lapine.

Auditions will be held on campus at the following times:

 
For more information, please see the attached audition pack. To book your audition, please email – get in quick, because appointments will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis!

UMMTA – A New Brain – Audition Pack

After a successful application and selection process, UMMTA is very excited to have assembled most of the production team for its Semester 2 show for 2010: A New Brain. However, there are still a few roles available, so we’re sending out a second call for creative people interested in broadening their experience and talents working on this standout production.

We’re looking for people interested in the following positions:

• Choreographer
• Assistant Director
• Lighting Designer
• Set Designer

For further details, drop us an email at – don’t worry, we’re friendly and won’t bite!

Gordon Schwinn, a talented young songwriter, learns that he has a brain tumor and needs an operation urgently. While in hospital, Gordon’s greatest fear is dying with his greatest songs still inside of him; and so from his hospital bed, and in while in a coma, he begins writing the songs. Gordon eventually has surgery and recovers completely – his near death experience encourages him to re-evaluate and better appreciate the people and relationships in his life. The show is an uplifting story of determination and hope, featuring music by William Finn and Jason Robert Brown, and book by James Lapine.

You can find a full synopsis of the show at http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_n/newbrain.html

We are looking for talented, dedicated and enthusiastic applicants for the following roles:

• Director and Assistant Director
• Musical Director
• Choreographer
• Production Manager

Your submission should include any relevant previous experience, other anticipated show, work or university conflicts during Semester 2 and an expression of your creative vision for the show (if relevant). Performance dates will be the 21st – 30th of October 2010, in the Guild Theatre at The University of Melbourne.

Applications must be sent to by Friday the 11th of June.

Expressions of interest and requests for further information should also be directed to .

We are also happy to receive expressions of interest for the following roles:

• Technical Director
• Lighting Designer
• Sound Designer
• Stage Manager
• Costume Designer
• Set Designer
• Vocal Coach
• Rehearsal Pianist

We look forward to hearing from you!

UMMTA presents The Wedding Singer
Performances 14th – 22nd May
Union Theatre, University of Melbourne

Buy Tickets Now!

If you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know the story of The Wedding Singer – it’s 1985, and Robbie Hart is a hugely popular wedding singer in New Jersey. He’s a hopeless romantic who could say all the right things to salvage any situation, but his luck changes at his own wedding to high school sweetheart Linda. Unfortunately Robbie is left standing alone at the altar – he sinks into a deep depression and ends his career as a wedding singer altogether.

Things are looking down for Robbie, until Julia Sullivan appears. She’s a new waitress at the banquet hall where Robbie plays his wedding gigs, and is engaged to Glenn, a fabulously wealthy junk bond dealer. Robbie and Julia quickly become friends, and while planning her wedding together, romance develops between the pair. What ensues is a comedy of errors – unless Robbie can pull off the performance of the decade, the girl of his dreams will be gone forever!

With a brand-new score that plays loving homage to the pop songs of the 1980’s, The Wedding Singer takes us back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up, and a wedding singer just might be the coolest guy in the room. Slap on your spandex and enjoy the ride!

Presented by the University of Melbourne Music Theatre Association
Music by Matthew Sklar
Lyrics by Chad Beguelin
Book by Chad Beguelin and Tim Herlihy

14-15, 19-22 May 2010 at 7:30pm, Matinee Saturday 22 at 2pm
Union Theatre, ground floor, Union House
University of Melbourne VIC 3052
Tickets: Full $23, Concession $18
Phone bookings 0406 330 825
 
 

Review by Justina Lui (Union House Theatre)

Going to an UMMTA show is like snuggling up on the couch with a mug of hot milk and a chocolate chip biscuit: comfortingly satisfying. With a name like the “University of Melbourne Musical Theatre Association” it is pretty clear what they do and with last year’s productions of ‘Into the Woods’ and ‘Camelot’ garnering numerous Guild nominations and commendations it’s clear that they do it pretty well. Splendour in the Guild ventured into slightly different territory (more like a slice of rocky road: a mish mash of chewy bits and coconut but still involving chocolate). Billed as “a concert celebration”, co-director Hannah Dennison introduced the evening as “the songs that we’d always wished we could do”. Songs from newer musicals such as The Last Five Years, Spring Awakening and Avenue Q were mixed in alongside older favourites from Ragtime and Les Miserables.

From the very beginning there was a feeling that you were amongst friends – the cast were all familiar faces from previous UMMTA shows. The presentation was very clean and simplistic: the program notes were kept to a minimum, the staging was sparse, no costumes and only a single keyboard for accompaniment. It was performers who were on show and it was a miracle they managed to fit all their talent into the Guild.

A variety of musical theatre was on offer from ‘jazz hand‘ moments (Goodbye! from The Producers), comedy (No Me Diga from ‘In the Heights’) to heart warming (Wheels of a Dream from ‘Ragtime’) and heart breaking (Still Hurting from ‘The Last Five Years’). Moments from UMMTA history were relived: Agony from ‘Into the Woods’ and My New Philosophy from ‘You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown’ were crowd favourites. Sure there were some wrong entries, forgotten lyrics and interesting chord progressions but the audience were extremely supportive and vocal and were soon rewarded a hair raising rendition of Bui Doi from Miss Saigon (a flawless solo by Raphael Wong) and a very impressive full cast ensemble in One Day More from ‘Les Miserable’. The male chorus in Luck be a Lady from ‘Guys and Dolls’ packed a punch, looking and sounding a million bucks. Standout performances by Annie Johnson, Matthew Holt and Sarah Murphy-Gamble were the icing on an already delectable cake. But enough with the food analogies.

Congratulations to Giancarlo Salamanca for his top MDing efforts, the vocals were all exceptionally strong. Also congratulations to directors Hannah Dennison and Michael Leaver for managing to convey the context of each song effectively. ‘Dream team’ casting combined with a solid selection of repertoire left this reviewer convinced that UMMTA certainly knew what they were doing when they christened this show “Splendour in the Guild”.

Originally posted at http://union.unimelb.edu.au/theatre/review-splendour-in-the-guild

All tickets $12, booking available online or by calling 0406 330 825