Danielle Walczak
Staff Writer
The School of Performing Arts brought 90 musicians together Friday night to perform for students, faculty and alumni in its Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein benefit concert, which brought Hauck Auditorium to near capacity.
About a year ago, fourth-year music education student Ben McNaboe came up with an idea to bring together the whole School of Performing Arts to raise money to help them continue their work.
“I think that in general among student bodies when we’re all together all the time, that common experience is really important and there wasn’t anything as cohesive as this has become. Raising money is a great motivator,” McNaboe said.
A four-student board with two faculty advisors organized the entirely student-run production. McNaboe was the music director, conductor and PR chair.
On Friday night musicians and vocalists including The Maine Steiners and Renaissance, UMaine’s male and female a cappella groups respectively, sang show tunes from Rodgers and Hammerstein.
The duo is responsible for some classics of what is considered “the golden age” of musical theater. For 18 years they delivered masterpieces like “The King and I,” “the Sound of Music” and “Oklahoma!” Rodgers and Hammerstein, who have collectively won 34 Tony Awards and 15 Academy Awards, have “made a constant and extraordinary impact on the culture of American people,” according to McNaboe.
Morgan Cates hosted the concert and provided interludes and historical background of each play between songs.
The show opened with Ira Kramer, who recently starred as Prince Charming in the Penobscot Theater’s production of Cinderella singing “It’s A Grand Night for Singing,” along with Robert Gelinas and Molly Abrams.
“It’s really timely,” said Liz Downing, a flute professor and faculty advisor for the board. “It’s an important time of the year, we all need a pick-up when we come back from break.” Downing also played in the ensemble.
Selections from “The King and I,” “Carousel,” “South Pacific,” “The Sound of Music” and “Oklahoma!” were performed. The applause began before the most songs could come to a close, especially those of vocalists Hope Milne and Justin Zhang.
McNaboe said the event was a great opportunity to shine a positive light on the School of Performing Arts.
“I think when people see students working to pull something like this off to better their own program, that speaks really loudly,” McNaboe said.
“This is a way to have a great time while contributing to the School of Performing Arts for all they do because the School of Performing Arts is a great recruiting tool for the university,” Downing said.
McNaboe and Downing stressed the level of professionalism integrated into the entire performance.
McNaboe said it’s been a great learning experience for everyone involved. In a professional manner he scheduled his rehearsals like that of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra or any professional group.
“It’s almost like an internship, it’s a step out into the real world with real hands on experience right here at UMaine,” Downing said.
Despite the success of this year’s rookie event, McNaboe expressed he is already looking forward to next year in an interview before the show.
“I’m really excited for a lot of our faculty to come to the show, not that I think that faculty doubt our abilities or what we can do as a group, but I think they’re going to be really impressed. This show is going to set a new bar. I mean I think it’s really going to show ‘look what we’re capable of,’ now we can’t go back,” he said.
“I think it’s going to set a new bar; why can’t we do something like this every year?”