Up & Coming Weekly

NOVEMBER 4-10, 2009 UCW 13 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Janice Burton, Associate Publisher. COMMENTS? 484-6200 ext. 222 or editor@upandcomingweekly.com Music Man Comes to FTCC by JANICE BURTON NOVEMBER 12, 2009 CAMPBELLTON LANDING GATES OPEN AT 6:30PM CONCERT STARTS AT 8:00PM TICKETS*: $25 IN ADVANCE $30 AT THE DOOR TICKETS AVAILABLE: ONLINE AT WWW.CAPEFEARBG.ORG CAPE FEAR BOTANICAL GARDEN *INCLUDES MEAL AND SHOW ALTERNATE MEAL WILL BE PROVIDED FOR THOSE WITH SEAFOOD ALLERGIES 888$"1&'&"3#(03(t CONCERT AND SHRIMP BOIL Rhythm Benefiting Cape Fear Botanical Garden BLUE DOGS IN CONCERT FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER FAYETTEVILLE ORTHOPAEDICS & SPORTS MEDICINE HEALY WHOLESALE HEDGECOE DENTISTRY JIM'S PAWN SHOP SULLIVAN'S HIGHLAND FUNERAL SERVICE VALLEY AUTO WORLD BMW/VW SPONSORED BY Nine years ago the "arts" and Fayetteville Technical Community College didn't exactly go together. But Sean McDaniel, the chair of the Fine Arts Department at FTCC, and a lot of other folks have worked very hard to change that concept. "When I got to FTCC nine years ago, I didn't have a room designated to teach in. I had to share a room with the math department. But we worked to build a Visual Arts degree program, and now we have a building on the master plan," he said. "At some point, we will have a new building and a new auditorium." The Visual Arts degree started in 2006, and it's bursting at the seams now, accord- ing to McDaniel. He hopes the same thing will happen with drama. "We are building a theatre department at this point," he said. "It is actually very small right now. There is a whole strategy academically. We are adding classes to the student education plan. Now the game is to build the numbers, and then request to carry a degree in drama," he said. For theatre lovers in the community and the small faculty involved in the program, that can't happen fast enough. But until it does, they busy themselves with annual productions, which for the most part have gone unnoticed by the media, but have found a defi nite niche in the community. The plays are held in the Cumberland Hall Auditorium, on the campus of FTCC. There is no admission fee. "The auditorium seats 230," said McDaniel. "Last year we did Fiddler on the Roof, and after the fi rst night, we had to turn people away for every perfor- mance," he said. He's hoping the community will embrace the upcoming performance of The Music Man the same way. "Every year we do a musical in the fall, so we all sat down and reviewed our options," he said. "We have been trying to go with well-known works – Fiddler, Anything Goes, Okla- homa — so Music Man seemed liked a very good pick." The Music Man is a musical with book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson. The show is based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instru- ments and uniforms to naive townsfolk before skipping town with the cash. In River City, Iowa, prim Marian the librarian sees through him, but when Hill helps her younger brother, Marian begins to fall in love with Harold. Harold, in turn falling for Marian, risks being caught to win her. In 1957, the show became a hit on Broadway, winning fi ve Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and running for 1,375 performances. The cast album won the fi rst Grammy Award for "Best Original Cast Album." The show's success led to revivals and a popular 1962 fi lm adaptation and a 2003 television remake. Auditions for the musical were in August, with rehearsals beginning in mid-September. McDaniel said there is a diverse group of people involved in the production. "There's a mixture of students, faculty staff and people from the community," he said. "A lot of the same people have been work- ing with us for the past three or four years, and they tend to come out and audition." McDaniel said the musical will be followed by a spring drama — The Importance of Being Ernest — and be followed by a children's play, Jack and Jill. "In the summer we experiment and this year we are thinking about doing a play written by Dennis Johnson, who is one of the theatre instruc- tors," said McDaniel. Johnson is also the director of The Music Man. Performances of the musical will span three weekends — Nov. 6-7, Nov. 14 and Nov. 20-21 at 7 p.m. Sunday matinees are scheduled for Nov. 8, 15 and 22 at 2 p.m. On Friday, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m. , the FTCC Foundation will host a special dinner theater fund- raiser in conjunction with the performance. Tickets to that performance are $50. All other performances are free. For more information, contact Dennis Johnson at johnsden@fay- techcc.edu or call 678-0092.

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